Art courtesy of Greg Garrison, geg@stellarmedia.net
Used by permission.
In December 1987, soon after hearing a duet of Ricky Skaggs and James Taylor singing "A New Star Shining", I was inspired to write a song about Jesus' birth in relation to the reason He came. Later, I arranged the flute part so that my daughter could accompany as I played guitar and sang it as part of our church's Christmas music. Added to my website in 1997, it has been found and performed around the world ever since.
This song is included on both of my albums, "Til Jesus Is All" and "Til Pondering Turns to Praise". It has also been featured on Christmas albums by Sylvia Fleming, Hunter Hayes ("Holidays with Hunter"), and others.
New recording! (Bluegrass) Christmas 2020, by Bob Dick on his album "More Tidings of Comfort and Joy" at Appleland Music (see the Bluegrass Version link, to the right).
Rolling Stone featured an article (December 18, 2015) in their online Country Music section, entitled
"Flashback: See a Young Hunter Hayes Perform 'More Than a Child'.
Here's the lead sheet of his performance.
Hunter Hayes' original recording of the song is discussed at Song Facts.
"It is SUCH a great song! It has a strong lyric that says so much from the point of view of a thankful believer acknowledging the humility yet awe of the savior he/she serves." - Hunter Hayes
Visit Hunter's official website at hunterhayes.com
More Than a Child is also included on the Songs of Praise Christmas Music Page.
There are currently translations in Dutch/Flemish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
If you perform this song, I would love to hear about it! You can email me at larry@larryholdermusic.org.
If you would like to record this song, just visit my permissions page for more info, and email me if you have any questions.
Words, Music, and Arrangement by Lawrence Keith Holder
Copyright © 1997 Lawrence Keith Holder (Larry Holder Music, ASCAP)
MIDI (P) 1997 & 2003, MP3 (P) 2001 LKH. CCLI song 3126615
For permissions, please see
Larry's Songs of Praise and Worship
 Larry Holder (1995)
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 Larry Holder (2018)
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 Hunter Hayes (2008)
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 Romania (2011)
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 Netherlands (2010)
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 Maryland (2020)
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 India (2017)
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 Krystal Goldschmidt (2017)
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 Peti P. (piano) (2018)
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Netherlands (2017) Crawford School, Canada (2009) Irma & Marga, Netherlands (2016)
UCCP Children's Choir (2015) Kara (2013) Gkai & Jasmine (2013)
Stephanie, Germany (2012) Rolando, Philippines (2012) Erlyn, Philippines (2012)
Kelly (2012) Andreea & Mihai (2010) Asia (2009) Dana, India (2015) Roann (2015)
[ Accompaniment MP3 (in D) ]
[ Accompaniment MP3 (in F) ]
[ MP3 from Larry's album (in D) ]
[ MIDI Sequence (in D) ]
[ Order an Accompaniment CD, Album, DVD ]
[ Melody, Piano score (in D) ]
[ Guitar Tab (in D) ]
[ Flute score (in D) ]
[ 2-part Vocals, Piano score (in F) ]
[ Flute score (in F) ]
More than a child born in the hay,
Jesus, my Lord, on that first Christmas day.
More than the son of a carpenter man;
You carried the weight of the world in Your hand.
For You are the Hope of my soul,
All that I see, and all that I know.
In You, there is peace in my life,
For one day You came, as angels proclaimed,
The Light of the world for us all!
(flute solo)
More than a star shining that night,
More than the shepherds amazed by the sight,
More than three wise men with riches of gold;
You, the Messiah, the prophets foretold
Would come, bringing newness and life,
Freedom from sin, deliv'rance from strife.
In You, there is peace evermore,
For one day You came, as angels proclaimed,
The Light of the world for us all.
Yes, one day You came, as angels proclaimed,
Redeemer and Lord of us all!