Christmas Music

I love Christmas.

I think perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I’m named for my grandmother, Joann, who was a major Christmas fan as well but that's beside the point.

The point, ladies and gentlemen, is that I put on Christmas music when it is not socially acceptable to do so.

September.

June.

March.

February.

Whenever.

And before you get all judgey on me and tell me how I’ll wreck my taste for Christmas music let me explain. I love Christmas and Christmas music because it’s good news.

I need good news. I need a story to cling to, a concept to put my hopes on when I come home feeling emotionally and physically exhausted. Babies keep dying, being abandoned, losing limbs. Story after story of sad and hurt. That’s life in a fallen world anywhere. There is pain here too deep to be fixed with band-aids and platitudes. We need something deeper.

We need Christmas.

Not Santa Claus.

Not Rudolph.

Not Baby it’s Cold Outside.

The Incarnation. Christ coming to us and becoming the God-Man. 100% of each in some deep and wonderful way that I don’t understand.

I need the promise that HE was here. That HE walked our dust. That HE was temptemted in every way. That HE came and suffered for us. That HE loved us enough to come. That HE loves the babies who are abandoned, who die, who lose limbs, who are healthy, who are somewhere in between.

I think that’s why I love the book of Hebrews. Over and over again the writer stresses that Jesus came and was a worthy sacrifice. A worthy high priest. He could give as no one else could because only his sacrifice could make full and lasting atonement for the sins of the people.

I know that that’s all properly classified as theology. And I know that I can read it in Hebrews. And I do. A lot.

But then again I’m a human and I think God put a couple of desires in our hearts that explain why Christmas and Christmas music are so important to me.

First, we need music as people. Something wells up deep within us as we listen. I don’t know why. The neuroscientists are working on it but if I had to guess it is because God birthed in us a love of beauty and creativity. He himself loves music, that’s why it surrounds his throne in Revelation. And we are in his image so it follows that we too would love melody and harmony, verse and chorus.

Secondly, we need a mechanism to remember. God didn’t plan feasts just for kicks. I think he gave his people days to stop and remember because we are very easily distracted. I’m a very forgetful person. I don’t remember well on my own.  So I rely on lists in the short term. But in the long term, I need to remind me of who God is and what he has done. In the short term that’s time in the scriptures, etc. Long term, though, I think that’s why we need Easter, Christmas, Passover, and Purim. We need them to remember what God did.

And that is why I love Christmas music. The festivities are great and the music does remind me of precious times with family and friends but I need to stop and remember and music helps me do that. If a little holiday cheer is a bonus, well, I’m not going to complain.