Alright, alright... I know I have done a few Christmas-themed blogs and you are all probably really tired of them, but bear with me for a moment.
Christmas music is really weird... I mean, I love it... but it is weird. Think about the lyrics of some of your favorites, and they are just plain strange. "So bring us some figgy pudding, bring us some figgy pudding, bring us some figgy pudding, bring some right now!" ... crickets... A little demanding are we... Don't get me started on "Frosty the Snowman"... I mean it's a snowMAN that runs around with little kids before he melts in the heat of the sun...ok, so I got started... The point is that with a lot of Christmas music there really is no point but the fun. And the fun is great, but we are not talking about real high poetry or anything.
The exceptions, of course, tend to be in the Christmas hymns. They are beautifully written, poetic, moving, and typically paint wonderful pictures of what that first Christmas must have been like. "Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head. The stars in the sky look down where he lay. The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay." I could rattle off lists of Christmas hymns that have moving metaphors and deep powerful music. They lift the spirits and elevate the mind, and if you let them... they take you to a very foreign place in a very foreign time.
Now, I love both types of Christmas music. There are only maybe one or two Christmas songs that I don't like... but I think the majority of people get sick of Christmas music at this time of year because they spend more time listening to the sugary, sweet Frosty the Red-Nosed Santa Claus type of stuff and not enough with the truly moving and glorious.
So hit up a Christmas Eve service tomorrow at your local church... if you are in the area come by mine (FPC Haines City, 5:30, 7:30, 11:00)... and take in the heart and soul of Christmas music.
No comments:
Post a Comment