Christmas with Luther – Christmas Carols brings us to a touchy subject. If you want to evoke an emotional response, give someone a candle on Christmas Eve and play Silent Night. To the outsider looking in, this is curious.
Christmas Candle
It’s not just the candle the people and the music. The reason Silent Night can evoke an emotional response is because there is a lifetime of Christmases, different (or same) churches, childhood memories, and yes, candles that go into that emotional response. Christmas dresses, all the work that goes into planning, purchasing (and paying for…), and wrapping gifts, kids being off from school, and finally – if you’re me at least – snow. Yes, I thought you couldn’t have Christmas without snow. Twenty-three years into my Carolina call, yes I understand that’s nuts, but what I’m trying to explain to you is that Christmas carols are complicated. I haven’t even gotten to the lynchpin of the topic, Jesus.
The Reason for Song
Why do we sing at Christmas? People have been singing praises to God for millennia. The Bible is chalked full of songs. Not the music, mind you. That doesn’t mean God’s Old Testament Christians didn’t use music. It just means that we don’t know the tunes. We sing because God was born. I suppose the very first carol was the song uttered in the heavens by the angelic choir. The shepherds weren’t a great audience, but that’s part of the wonder of Christmas! God chose the humble not the proud. God chose the weak not the strong. God chose the sinner not the saint. God chose me when he should’ve passed me by. It is this incredible divine love that we call grace. This is why we sing. There might just be a tear in the eye when we do it.
Want to hear more? Watch this week study from our series, Christmas with Luther – Christmas Carols.