Day 45 **Bonus Post** - A Christmas Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDrG4InMU855I&v=rG4InMU855I

Is there anything that brings as much joy at Christmastime as Christmas music? I know anyone who work in retail may strongly disagree and may even be swearing at that statement, and I understand – every day, all day since early November might be a little too much, even for people like me. But there is just something indescribable about the joy that Christmas music brings to me.

Some of it may be the infectious tunes, the lyrical simplicity or just the sheer novelty, but as someone who is a compulsive dancer, you can always tell when I’m listening to something Christmassy because some part of me will be moving – be it my head, my fingers tapping or, if space allows, full blown dad-dancing (yes, I’m 17 but as I hope you’ve picked up from my articles if you’ve read a few, roughly I have the mental age of a 45 year-old!).

I think one of the main draws about Christmas music is the way it spans genres – be it Ariana Grande’s pop-banger ‘Santa, tell me’, Bing Crosby’s classic ‘White Christmas’ or even Theory of A Deadman’s rock song ‘Missing You this Christmas’ - the fingers of Christmas music has truly spread into all the nook and crannies of the musical world.

I think with Christmas music, there is a temptation to fall back on the same ‘Top 50’ songs. You know the type – those on constant repeat in shops across the country. The ‘All I want for Christmas’, the ‘Last Christmas’, the ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’, ‘Driving Home for Christmas’, ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’, the list goes on and on and on. And I get it. There are a lot of truly awful Christmas songs around, so sticking with those we know, enjoy and trust can feel like the best way forwards when we have a house full of people.

However, it is my experience that I get the most joy from Christmas music when it's the first time I hear it. Now that is certainly not to say I don’t absolutely love the classics, but there’s something about stumbling across a gem of a Christmas song by complete accident. For example, YouTube Music has an automatically generated ‘Christmas Mix’ which blends my favourite Christmas songs which I listen to every year with songs I have never heard before, but which seem to match my tastes. Now I’m not saying it’s perfect, I have been subjected to a few clangers, but overall it has worked marvellously and the occasional favourite thrown in is just the icing on this musical Christmas cake.

Now you may wonder where I’m going with this, but don’t worry, I’ve got there. I think the reliance on old favourites can extend past just our Christmas music. Just think for a moment – does your church use the same verses every year to tell the Christmas story? It’s a common joke at our church that there must be a limited number of ways you can tell the Christmas story but yet every year we find a new angle, a new lens. One year it was by telling the Christmas Story through chocolate, this year it’s through looking at the story through the prophecies that were made. We’ve knitted the story, sewed the story, built the story. And next year, I have no doubt we will find another new way to do it.

Inspiration is everywhere, if only we have eyes to see it. I know for a lot of churches this can be daunting, especially if you’re expecting larger audiences than usual, many of whom will not be regular church-goers, it might feel necessary to go the traditional route and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

All I am saying is maybe consider, like listening to new Christmas music, new ways to tell the Christmas story. There are resources all over the internet which might provide a spark of inspiration. And if you worry about not worshipping ‘properly’, have no fear. There is no correct way, as John 4:24 tells us, "For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” Therefore, as long as we mean what we say when we worship, who cares whether it's an ‘All I want for Christmas’ or a new album – as long as we do it with joyful hearts!

Well, that’s that for another year! As this is my last article for the year, I’d like to take a moment to thank you all for reading my strange, bizarre and frankly tangentially-related-to-the-subject-at-hand articles. I hope that your Christmases are full of light and warmth and that you will all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Harry Booton