Advent 2018 – 01
Christmas is a multi-cultural experience in many ways. It is a holiday that snarls traffic in New York City, Jerusalem, Tokyo and São Paulo, Brazil. Last week in Montreal, one of the more secular cities in North America, Christmas decorations hung from nearly every store window and on every lamp post in a bustling downtown metropolis. Christmas music greeted us in many places.
Wherever Christmas is celebrated, it is usually sung. Songs of Christmas fill the air not only in churches, but in stores, malls, and even bars. Sometimes the song is sung in the language native to the country and sometimes in English. It is an odd experience to walk into a delicatessen in largely Muslim populated Dubai and hear Christmas songs broadcast … in ENGLISH!
Most of us have a heart song that speaks to us of Christmas. If you grew up in the United States, the music of Christmas was unavoidable. For some, the song may be without religious meaning. But for most, there is the story of a virgin, a manger, a baby born to be a Savior, angels appearing, a Gospel proclaimed…and not just Jack Frost nipping at your nose.
My Christmas heartsong is “What Child is This.” The melody of Greensleeves touched something deep within me when I was just a small child. Even when I hear the tune simply performed as a folk melody with no words, I fill in the blanks. Christmas is being sung.
Sing your song this Christmas. It is one of the gifts we are given to help us proclaim with the angels the reality that “unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given.” (Isaiah 9:6)
Prayer: “Thank You Father and Giver of every perfect gift, for Jesus who came to take our sin, and give us His righteousness. Truly, we have something joyful to sing about at Christmas… and always. Amen.”
