By: Ian McKerracher

It is that time of year when we are inundated by wave after wave of a particular set of musical sounds that go by a specific name. These are the Christmas Carols, the whole list of which are utterly familiar to us all. Some of the hearers of these well-known choruses are a little annoyed by the music that is wafted into every pore of our consciousness during the last couple of months at the end of every year from various store speakers, elevators, radios, and TV commercials.  Others, like me, enjoy the dulcet melodies of the traditional songs sung by traditional voices of yesteryear. It was Perry Como, Tony Bennett, and Ella Fitzgerald, and the other great, bygone names in the extensive choir of carolers, who animated the vinyl voices of the last 75 years or so of Christmas recordings. My satellite radio plays all of them this time of year and I love it.

I have taken it upon myself to put in a little time and investigate some of these songs and then share my thoughts with you, my Christmassy Reader, in the hope that you use this blog in the building of your worldview about Noel (Noel means the time of the birth of Jesus) and to further your enjoyment of this blessed season. To accomplish this, I have listed the songs in 4 easily seen categories, which fall into place in the field of study. I will mention most of the more well-known ones and will, assuredly, miss one or two of your favorites. (There are 100s!) I am thankful that God has told you that, if I do, you have to forgive me. So bravely, I soldier on! 

The divisions will be 1. Traditional Christmas Carols, 2. Songs about Christmas as understood by Christians, 3. Songs about Santa Claus, 4. Songs about winter in the Northern Hemisphere of our planet which we sing at this time of year. I will start with number 4 and work my way up to the Traditional ones. I could have included a fifth category of songs that are uhmmm… strange. That would include songs like Gramma Got Run Over By a Reindeer, Dominick The Italian Christmas Donkey, and the emotional manipulations of shoe buying. I did not.

            Most of the songs in Category 4, that are not really Christmas songs, are actually written about the weather here in the Great White North in December. A few of these popular songs, like Sleigh Ride and Jingle Bells, mention sleigh rides which apparently figure big in the enjoyment of being together in the chilled air. That togetherness is of the special variety called ‘courtship between people who are dating’, making these songs, for all intents and purposes, love songs. Walking in the Winter Wonderland is a song that fits the description of courtship between a blessed couple but is without the sleigh. It is significant to me that, in that song, unlike what passes for love songs presently, marriage is the goal in mind as the natural outcome of the dating.

From inside the house, we have a couple more love songs, Baby, It’s Cold Outside and Let It Snow. The first song has fallen from grace a bit, especially in “progressive” circles, who see something sinister in the exchange between the two participants in their verbal playfulness. I always wondered why the guy doesn’t offer to walk the lady home, but nowadays, that may also be a revision of propriety. For the other one, my comment would include some sweet memories about lingering in a few extended episodes of “goodbye-ing” during the courtship with my girlfriend, now my wife of 43+ years. I remember that sweet sense of “all the way home, I’ll be warm”! CAUTION…wanting to get to the wedding vows with our goals of purity intact meant that we didn’t linger too long in any case.  

            I understand that Santa Claus is persona non grata in some Christian circles and, if you are a member of one of those, skip this paragraph about Category 3. As parents, we explained to our children that he is a man in a red suit and all their gifts come from people who love them, which seemed to satisfy their curiosity about all that. In terms of the songs, we can easily see why this is a worldview minefield that needs careful attention. Rudolf, The Red-Nosed Reindeer is a song about bullying in the workplace which seemed to have stopped when the value of Rudy was acknowledged. Unfortunately, it is not his intrinsic value as an equal that is celebrated, but his utilitarian value.  In Santa Claus is Coming to Town, we have an image of Santa, stalking the children to know when they are bad or good, seeing them when they are sleeping and awake; similar to a peeping tom. If he was God, that would be acceptable because he would then have the ability to lead the kids into redemption and restoration, something the jolly old elf just cannot do. The song Here comes Santa Claus has the lyrics;

Peace on earth will come to all if we just follow the light

So let's give thanks to the Lord above, 'cause Santa Claus comes tonight

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I am unsure where to go with that vast jump in worldviews, especially when we consider the greed of the consumerism contained in Waiting for the Man with the Bag and the utter greed of the woman who sings Santa Baby. (Really?) I am just thankful that I am not married to her!!!

            The next category is Category 2. It is the songs about Christmas that cannot be properly called “Traditional Christmas Carols”. Among them are a few about bells, Carol of the Bells, Silver Bells, and I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. The last one is a gospel tune that describes the undercurrent of despair outside of a biblical worldview. The despair is reconciled with a change in perspective as the person hears God speak in the bells, especially when we remember that the good will to men is from God to us.

In this category are also songs about Home at Christmas, shaking the tree of our deepest memories. I’ll be Home for Christmas and White Christmas trigger nostalgia to be with loved ones when we are far away. And The Christmas Song captures the same sort of feelings when they are fulfilled in the familiar comforts of a loving circle of family, reflecting, at least in part, the purpose that God had in designing the Home. Just an aside, there is an interesting history related to White Christmas. It may be worth your while to look it up in Wikipedia. In this group of songs, I have included When a Child is Born. As I was checking out the lyrics of this one, I was left a little confused. I am unsure what the author is talking about or what the story is, but it is an interesting song.

Finally, I get to the #1 Category, “Traditional Christmas Carols”. There are many and they are familiar to us all. Still, in these well-known lyrics there are some oddities and theology bombs going off. The First Noel has, in perhaps a fit of poetic license, the shepherds being the ones who are led by a star to the stable in Bethlehem. In the song, Away In A Manger we have a description of the first miracle that Jesus performed (sorry Marriage at Cana). Jesus, as an infant, is the perfect baby. Doesn’t cry when he wakes up (possibly because of a drum solo from somewhere). One wonders if his diaper ever needed changing. The shift from the stable to my own cradle is a swift plot turn in the middle, possibly causing mental whiplash. Once we recover, though, we find the shift of focus most welcome. Silent Night includes a reference that we enlightened men of the 21st Century would not touch with a ten-foot pole, namely to call a pregnant woman a “round yon virgin.” regardless of whether she is a virgin or not.

Angels We Have Heard On High reminds us through the chorus written in Latin saying, “Gloria in excelsis Deo” that the history of the Church goes back to the time when this was the common language of much of Europe. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear and Oh Little Town of Bethlehem are clearly gospel songs, great to hear and useful to remember what was accomplished on that blessed morn. 

            Here we get to my 2 favorites of all time. Oh Come All Ye Faithful and Joy To The World. Recently, I had the opportunity to seek out a recording of these, wanting to include them in a worship set in the bible study my wife and I run. I came away disappointed. For me, these songs should be sung with a loud, rousing, joyful and triumphant voice. All I could find was some drab, slow, limp renditions of one or two verses length. The best I could come up with was Boney M. (heavy sigh)

I strongly suggest that you search out the original lyrics of these two and the others and see what real song writing looks like. The theology is deep and dense. The exaltation of God is pure and rousing. You cannot help but worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness for His amazing plan that includes the incarnation, death, burial, and the triumphant resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is the central purpose of this whole season. I can appreciate the short bursts of illumination from the limited revelations of all those other songs, but the great gospelizing of songs of this caliber is unmatched when we look at Christian music in general and Christmas music in particular. Singing along to these songs attaches my heart to the collective hearts of all Christians, down through the ages of History as we join the “whole family of God in Heaven and Earth” (Ephesians 3:15) to worship and praise this amazing Father of ours and His design and plan for us, as expressed in the placing of that first Christmas in the context of history in our world. From Faith Beyond Belief and my family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with pleasant surprises.