This past Wednesday was time for our annual churchwide Christmas caroling expedition. After dinner, we divided into groups & visited various shut-ins & nursing homes from Danville to Dry Fork. It was a fun time 
of ministry & fellowship. I believe that the singers as well as the listeners were blessed. Afterward, we all warmed up to some hot chocolate in the church fellowship hall. This whole experience inspired me to give thought to my own favorite Christmas songs. Although it’s hard to narrow down the list, here’s my personal Top Ten.
1. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. My absolute favorite Christmas song. It’s really a song of Advent, a song of yearning for the Messiah to come and “ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here.” This ancient song has a strong Jewish feel, a haunting melody, and compelling words of spiritual desire. I love it.
2. Sweet Little Jesus Boy. An old Negro Spiritual that
expresses a heartfelt sense of our human struggle and our deep need for Jesus. It’s a beautiful, soulful prayer addressed directly to the Lord. Near the end, it poignantly offers Him an apology for the world’s rejection & mistreatment of Him: “Please, sir, forgive us, Lord, we didn’t know ‘twas you.”
3. Mary’s Boy Child. The newest (1956) song on my list. A joyous, Caribbean-flavored tune about the birth of Christ. Harry Belafonte first recorded it, and then Mahalia Jackson. I love it. The song's chorus—“And man will live forever more because of Christmas Day”—does not mean that everyone will automatically go to Heaven just because Christ was born. It means that if Christ had never come to earth in human flesh, there would have been no cross, no resurrection, and thus no hope of forgiveness, redemption & eternal life. Jesus' sacrificial death for our sins is our only hope of ever attaining Heaven. But even then, it's not automatic. There's a personal response of faith that each of us must make.
of ministry & fellowship. I believe that the singers as well as the listeners were blessed. Afterward, we all warmed up to some hot chocolate in the church fellowship hall. This whole experience inspired me to give thought to my own favorite Christmas songs. Although it’s hard to narrow down the list, here’s my personal Top Ten.1. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. My absolute favorite Christmas song. It’s really a song of Advent, a song of yearning for the Messiah to come and “ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here.” This ancient song has a strong Jewish feel, a haunting melody, and compelling words of spiritual desire. I love it.
2. Sweet Little Jesus Boy. An old Negro Spiritual that
expresses a heartfelt sense of our human struggle and our deep need for Jesus. It’s a beautiful, soulful prayer addressed directly to the Lord. Near the end, it poignantly offers Him an apology for the world’s rejection & mistreatment of Him: “Please, sir, forgive us, Lord, we didn’t know ‘twas you.”3. Mary’s Boy Child. The newest (1956) song on my list. A joyous, Caribbean-flavored tune about the birth of Christ. Harry Belafonte first recorded it, and then Mahalia Jackson. I love it. The song's chorus—“And man will live forever more because of Christmas Day”—does not mean that everyone will automatically go to Heaven just because Christ was born. It means that if Christ had never come to earth in human flesh, there would have been no cross, no resurrection, and thus no hope of forgiveness, redemption & eternal life. Jesus' sacrificial death for our sins is our only hope of ever attaining Heaven. But even then, it's not automatic. There's a personal response of faith that each of us must make.
4. O Come, All Ye Faithful. One of the classics. In my mind, I think of it (along with Silent
Night and Joy to the World) as one of the “Big 3” Christmas carols. All three are special, but I personally prefer this one to the other two. It’s a great worship song. The chorus—“O come, let us adore Him”—is a wonderful admonition to all of us, at any season of the year. In fact, many churches today sing the chorus (and variations of it) at various times other than Christmas.5. Good King Wenceslas. It’s technically not a Christmas carol, although it’s always considered as such. It
tells of a king who goes out to give alms to the poor on St. Stephen’s Day (December 26th, the day after Christmas.) The weather is cold and the snow is deep. The king’s page, who accompanies him on the journey, reaches a point where he feels he cannot go on. But with the assistance of the king, the page survives. The song ends with this phrase, “Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing, ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.” All in all, the lyrics of the whole song are rather strange, but I love this tune. It plays in my head every Christmas.6. Coventry Carol. An old English carol dating from the 16th Century. It has a dark, somber, reflective tone. The words are heavy—referring to Herod’s edict to slay all of the young infants born around the time of baby Jesus—and the melody is quite haunting. But it really touches my heart. It has a strange beauty to it.
7. Beautiful Star of Bethlehem. This old bluegrass/ country song has a strong mountain flavor to it. In fact, it’s quite popular in the mountains of Appalachia, the place of my heritage. I love the feel and message of this song. And you can’t do it justice vocally without the strumming sound of a good old acoustic guitar in the background.
8. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. There are some powerful
lyrics in this old carol, most notably, “Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day, to save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray.” Whenever I hear a secular recording artist sing this song, I always wonder if they are grasping the true meaning of what they are singing.9. O Holy Night. A beautiful song. Its great lyrics point to the world’s desperate need and longing for a Savior—“Long lay the world in sin and error pining”—as well as our need to respond to Him in worship—“Fall on your knees!”
10. We Three Kings. A song about the journey of the wise men. When
you hear it, don’t you just feel like you’re riding on a camel? OK, we don’t know that these men were actually kings and we don’t know that there were actually three of them in number, but it’s a beautiful song nonetheless. The verses describe each of the three gifts—gold, frankincense & myrrh—and how they relate to Jesus’ royalty, deity and death. The final verse refers to Him as “King and God and Sacrifice.”Well, there you have it. I’m sure a few of the songs on my list may have surprised you. But they’re truly my favorites, although I like many others as well. I also enjoy a few secular songs of
the season, but I won’t delve into those now. I want to keep the main thing the main thing. After all, Jesus IS the reason for the season. By the way, what are YOUR favorite Christmas songs (and why)?Pastor Danny
