Advent – Joy – Day 19

What’s your favorite Christmas carol?

Sweet Husband and I found ourselves singing “Deck the Halls” one night this week while washing dishes and clearing the kitchen. As far as the secular options go, it’s gotta be my favorite.

Fa-la-la-la-laaaa-la-la-la-la! After all, who doesn’t like speaking in nonsense syllable sounds?

However, if I’m reflecting on the birth of Jesus, there’s nothing like a strong “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” 

O come, all ye faithful
Joyful and triumphant
O come, ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him
Born the King of angels.
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
Christ the Lord!

It’s hard not to have some Christmas spirit when singing such a joyous song. Bah-hum-bug attitudes are banished when you consider the words, for they center us in the “reason for the season.”

I’ve got others that I love for their words and meaning, their melodies and harmonies, and their rhythms and cadences.  

I can just see the scenes from the Bible playing out in my mind when I listen to them. 

How about “We Three Kings”? I see camels, laden with regal riders and ornate gifts, plodding across desert sands and rocky lands, all while an incredibly bright star gleams against a sky of midnight blue.

“Little Drummer Boy” is self-explanatory. It’s gotta be a sixth grader in the beginner band at school doing his best to keep the beat while Mary and Joseph wrinkle their aching foreheads. They’ve got brain fog from lack of sleep due to Baby Jesus keeping them up at night, but of course, right now He’s sleeping through the concert.

“Go, Tell It on the Mountain” is a weird mash-up of the Smoky Mountains and the Holy Land. The shepherds have come from “them thar hills” down into the city, but they’re not looking for a fine time at the Dixie Stampede. After finding the Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph out back of the Apple Barn, they’re ready to go tell Meemaw, Peepaw, Cousin Buford, and Little Leeroy all about it, but the family won’t believe them. After all, those boys done told too many of them wild alien tales, and everybody knows the only thing out back of the Apple Barn is the gift shop.

Oh, but those songs are not the original Christmas carols.

In our quest to celebrate Christmas, we focus our attention on the shepherds, the wise men, the nativity scene, and the star. Our traditional songs reflect our fascination and wonder with all of those features surrounding the birth of Jesus.

But what about Mary’s Magnificat? Luke 1:46-55 records Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, during which Mary is inspired to sing words of joy and praise to God. 

How about Zechariah’s prophecy, called the Benedictus, recorded in Luke 1:68-79? Zechariah had lost his speech for not believing the angel Gabriel’s message, but after the birth of John (who would become John the Baptist) and his subsequent writing “His name is John” on a tablet, his speech returned. Zechariah’s words centered around the deliverance of Israel through the coming Messiah.

Then we have the one we all know, because it’s short, sweet, and was famously spoken by Linus in “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown”: 

“Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!’”

Luke 2:13 KJV

The declaration of the angels celebrates God’s majesty and announces peace on earth. We sing this in the chorus of “Angels, We Have Heard on High,” in the refrain, “Gloria in excelsis deo,” the only time I can think of that I sang Latin in a Baptist church. As a child, I got a kick out of seeing how long I could hold out “Glo – – – – – – – ri – a!”

Honestly, I still do.

The last song is the Nunc Dimittis (“you may now dismiss” for us non-Latin speaking people), the words uttered by Simeon upon God’s promise being fulfilled: “it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah” (Luke 2:26 NIV). Simeon was guided by the Holy Spirit into the temple courts where he found the young family fulfilling the Jewish law through consecration of their firstborn son and offering a sacrifice. 

Simeon, guided by the Holy Spirit, recognized the Messiah and proclaimed that He would be the source of salvation, a light to the Gentiles, and the glory of Israel. God had fulfilled His promise, and old and faithful Simeon was ready for God to “dismiss” him in peace.

I wish someone would come along and set the beautiful words of these hymns to music. All of them are filled with the joy of the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of the world.

So sing “Deck the Halls,” “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and “Jingle Bells.” You’ve got one more week before our local easy listening radio station, Magic 96.5, stops playing 24/7 Christmas music and reverts to Wham!’s “Careless Whisper” instead of “Last Christmas.”

Sing “Silent Night,” “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” and “Joy to the World.”

Sing them all, and while you lift your voice, let the lyrics and tunes of Christmas carols lift your spirits and remind you of the joy of the Christmas season.

Just don’t forget the original praise songs of Christmas. We’ve got Mary, Zechariah, the angels, and Simeon to thank for them.

They’re gonna be hits one day, I just know it.

“Mary, Did You Know?” is a lovely song, but the words really don’t hold a candle to Mary’s Magnificat. Sorry, Mark Lowry. She outdid you on that one.

In the meantime, I’ll work on new imagery for “Go, Tell It on the Mountain.” 

After all, everyone knows the only thing out back of the Apple Barn is the gift shop, but I bet this time of year, you can get a really nice ceramic Nativity figurine.

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Reflection and Prayer: Take the time to read more than just the Christmas story. Read all of Luke 1-2, and especially savor the four nativity hymns. Thank God for the joy expressed in each one, and find your own words with which to praise Him.