(or thoughts for mid December)
It’s mid-December and the secular expression of Christmas is well on its way – Family gatherings are planned, children practicing songs for their school’s Christmas concert. Thanks to modern radio programing, many stations offer Christmas tunes – sacred and not so sacred, all day every day, until December 25th. We find ourselves joyfully singing along to Bing Crosby’s White Christmas; Mel Torme’s Christmas Song (i.e. chestnuts roasting on an open fire); Grandma got run over by a reindeer, Rudolf the Red nose Reindeer. Silverbells, and Santa Claus is coming to town. Don’t forget about the music in our ownCD collections. Mix in a few sacred themed hymns and we can’t help but sing along because we know them so well.
I wager you did just that as you read the list – you sang the songs out loud or silently- with little to no reflection regarding what you were singing. Take a minute and I’m sure you can create your own list of closely held meaningful melodies; each song placed on the list simply because you like it or it is a personal tradition to sing.
Please understand, I am not degrading tradition or the joy that we feel as we sing Christmas carols, most of which were put away last January only to be pulled out around the fourth week of November. My point is that December is filled to overflowing with guarded traditions which we keep under wraps only to expose them during the final four or five weeks of the calendar year.
Then quietly and o so quickly Christmas Eve arrives and with it many families head to their place of worship, line up in a pew for that annual Christmas devotion. Where we resurrect one more time, the more sacred music selections, usually including O’ Come all ye faithful, joyful and Triumphant; Hark the herald angels sing, Silent Night, Joy to the World; and Go Tell It on the Mountain. You know them so well that you don’t even need to open the hymnal to follow the music.
But such familiarization is not good without meaning; We must cast aside the conversant Christmas practices to measure our Christmas observations if any of us hope to be more than Christian consumers. We must slow down and reflect on the meaning of the words of our favorite Christmas hymns We must answer the question:
What child is this, who, laid to rest;
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
If our answer is AMEN! Will, our lives reflect this reality when we walk out the sanctuary doors – that is do we live under his Lordship? This is Christ this is Christ the King, whom Shepherds guard and Angel’s sing. If we do not display this holiness then we are absentmindedly placing them in the same category as Frosty the Snowman, and Jingle Bells. The message quickly becomes shallow, and banal as if we are actors in a redundant Hallmark movie. Any sense of holiness must not be cast aside for our own sentimentality, where worship is nothing but something you do instead of being a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.
This year, take the time to do more than recite familiar words and let their message be absorbed into your heart and soul. Let this silent night, be a truly holy night set apart so that we may deepen our love for him: Why? The purpose of Christmas is for us to embrace God’s gift. The child born into lowly conditions is more than the subject of songs, he is God himself joining in creation so he will save the same (John 3:16) via a crib which takes us to the cross so that we will know him as Christ. Anything less than clearly linking his birth to his passion, cross, and resurrection misses the point of his incarnation. This baby was born to die. Yes, the crib points us to the cross, where we find the Christ. Each tune rings in our hearts great comfort of tradition and familiarity which only have meaning when we nail them to the cross. Let the world with its troubles and cares move on for some other day and time for this is Christmas and these songs make life right. The Son – the infant in the manger -has made it right
Joy to the world, the Lord has come;
Let earth receive her king
May the holiness of this Christmas shape our lives so that every heart will prepare him room. Making all calm, and all bright. God bless us all everyone!
- Joel Grigg, 2023