Many of us have our favorite Christmas music. Some of our favorites may be songs that we have sung for years — some sacred and some secular. We listen to them and sing them year after year. Other favorites may be new songs that have been written and recorded in recent years. All of them, though, become part of our celebration year after year.
Some of us grew up with songs like Irving Berlin’s “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas.” The first public performance of the song was by Bing Crosby, on his NBC radio show The Kraft Music Hall on Christmas Day, 1941. He and many others would go on to record the song. The song may not mean much to people who live in milder climates, but to those of us who have lived for many years in the North, it is rich with meaning. Another favorite is “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” written by Meredith Wilson in 1951. The song was a hit by Perry Como. Many of us hear his smooth tones singing it in our heads whenever we hear the music.
Then there are, of course, the wonderful Christmas carols that, along with the Gospel record, have chronicled for us the birth of Jesus and the meaning behind his birth. Songs like “Silent Night, Holy Night,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” and others begin to play in our minds and find their way to our lips at this time of year.
In more recent years, some of us have been captured by new Christmas songs as well. The little chorus “Emmanuel” comes to mind, as does a Chris Tomlin song that we have sung at Westwood the last two years: “Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground.”
Of all the songs of Christmas, though, there are some “hymns” expressed in poetry in Luke’s Gospel that are part of Luke’s Christmas narratives. They take us deep into the Christian message of Christmas and help us understand what God was doing when he came to earth and was born in a manger in Bethlehem. This Christmas, I will lead our congregation in taking a close look at four songs of Christmas in Luke — one by Mary, one by Zechariah, one by the angels to the shepherds, and one by Simeon. These songs can once again help us see how Christ’s birth blesses our lives. Go to Luke 1 and 2, read them, and be blessed.
