Christmas songs: Merry Xmas everybody

A couple of years ago during Advent we had a series on the four songs of the first Christmas.  This year we're going to look at four popular Christmas songs.  This week it's "Merry Xmas Everybody" by Slade.

No Christmas playlist is complete without this song, so it had to be included in these reflections, and as Noddy says



Before we look at the song itself, there should perhaps be a comment on the use of the word 'Xmas' in the title.  The use of 'Xmas' is sometimes decried as a secular way of taking 'Christ' out of 'Christmas', however its use (or versions of it) go back almost as far as the English language itself.  'X' is a common abbreviation for Christ, and comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christos and is usually rendered as the English letter “X”.  There is no doubt that there is a worrying increase in the amount of people who don't know that Christmas is to do with the birth of Jesus, but using 'Xmas' is not necessarily part of a campaign to secularise the festivities!

Holder wrote the lyrics to reflect a British family Christmas, but also to bring hope to a country that was suffering economically.  Looking forward to the arrival of Santa (if the fairies have managed to keep him sober!) or the arrival of family, and all the fun to be had excites in us the optimism of “Look to the future now, it's only just begun”.  No wonder people also love to sing “I wish it could be Christmas everyday” (which incidentally was beaten to the 1973 Christmas Number 1 by Slade). Celebration and hope are two of the emotions often associated with Christmas and for good reason.

The beginning of Luke's gospel, in which the four songs of the first Christmas are found, is full of celebration and hope.  John the Baptist's father, Zechariah, says “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them...[and will] shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”  Children often find it hard to wait for Christmas, but the Jewish people had been waiting for Jesus for about 1000 years, since God's promise to King David of the everlasting reign of one of his descendants (2 Samuel 7), and for around 430 years since the last of the Old Testament prophets spoke of the coming of the Lord (Malachi 3-4). So Jesus' birth was the cause of great celebration as the longing for the coming Messiah was now at an end, which meant it was now the beginning of a better future.

Just as Slade looked for salvation from poor economic circumstances, the people of Israel looked for salvation from their political enemies, which at the time of Jesus' birth were their Roman occupiers.  But Jesus would bring salvation from the root cause of poverty, war and all humanity's ills – the darkness of sin and the shadow of death: he would “give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke 1:77).

However you're celebrating this Christmas, whatever hopes you have for the future, don't miss out on the chance to join in the real cause for celebration and the only hope that will not be disappointed.  As the angel said to the shepherds “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).  If you do you will have yourself a merry little Christmas!

Christmas Songs: "All I want for Christmas is you"

A couple of years ago during Advent we had a series on the four songs of the first Christmas.  This year we're going to look at four popular Christmas songs.  This week it's “All I want for Christmas is you” by Mariah Carey.

“All I want for Christmas is you” picks up on a very common theme as a lot of Christmas songs are about being with loved ones or like this one missing them. Whether they're 'driving home for Christmas', or asking someone to 'please come home for Christmas'; counting 'five more nights' or are having a 'blue Christmas' people can't help singing about loved ones at Christmas. And the heartache of a broken relationship 'last Christmas' or of the 'fairytale of New York' gone wrong seems much worse at Christmas.

This is because there is something about Christmas that makes us focus on what truly matters. Unlike the superficial singer of “Santa Baby”, the singer of “All I want for Christmas is you” won't be made happy by presents, toys or even snow. Her only wish is the presence of her loved one for Christmas. And when we reflect on what truly matters in life the answer is often loving and being loved.

It's no surprise that this is a major theme of Christmas given that the reason for the season is, as Christina Rossetti wrote, that 'love came down at Christmas'. News of the birth of any baby is usually a cause for celebration and feelings of love, but that can't explain the enduring appeal of Christmas which can't even be completely obscured by all the glitz and commercialism. The birth of Jesus is on a completely different scale to any other birth because it is a sign of God's love for us: “This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9).

But Jesus isn't like a Christmas present that is just a token of love that is greatly appreciated when it is given, but soon becomes ordinary. The gift of Jesus is not just God-with-us but God-for-us: Jesus came not just to be a wise teacher and an example of how to live, but so that he could be “an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10) by his death on the cross. Through his teaching and his example we see how far short of God's standard we fall short, and that our failures mean that we deserve eternal punishment and eternal separation from God: but that's not much of a present! “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17). So after showing us the depths of our sin, he showed us the heights of his love: “For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us!” (2 Corinthians 5:21 TLB).

Christmas songs and films often describe of the lengths that people will go to and the sacrifices they will make to be with their loved ones at Christmas. This is a small reflection of the lengths that God went to so we can be with him for eternity. All God wants for Christmas is you. So, if you want to be truly loved this Christmas come to God, confess your sins and receive his forgiveness through Jesus' atoning sacrifice. It's a Christmas present that will last for eternity!

Christmas Songs: "Santa Claus is coming to town"

A couple of years ago during Advent we had a series on the four songs of the first Christmas.  This year we're going to look at four popular Christmas songs.  This week it's “Santa Claus is coming to town”.

This is one of those songs where the music and the lyrics are seemingly at odds with each other. The music is very jolly which makes it sound like it's a song of joy celebrating the imminent arrival of Santa with “little tin horns and little toy drums, Rooty toot toots and rummy tum tums...And curly head dolls...Elephants, boats, and kiddie cars too”. On the other hand the lyrics are a not-so-veiled threat aimed at children that if they don't behave (even when they're sleeping!) they won't get those goodies. A similar threat is heard daily from parents to their children: “if you don't behave you won't get any presents!” although it is rarely, if ever, carried out.

Santa, however, is making a list of all those who are naughty and nice, although these days he may be in contravention of GDPR by doing so. The tradition of a figure that rewards good behaviour and punishes bad behaviour is an old one, and is very useful for parents and other adults who want a way to control children. The real St Nicholas, a fourth century bishop from Greece, though, gave gifts not on the basis of behaviour but need. The most well-known of his acts of kindness is when he gave money to a penniless family so that the daughters could pay the dowries necessary to marry, thus rescuing them from being forced into prostitution. However, Nicholas is also alleged to have slapped someone at the First Council of Nicaea in 325AD. This Council was a gathering of bishops who discussed amongst other things the divinity of Jesus; according to a later legend Nicholas slapped someone who held the Arian belief that Jesus wasn't divine. So perhaps Santa should be giving to alleviate suffering and punishing heresy!

Categorizing people as good or bad is a very human trait, we love to put people into boxes or label them, although we very rarely put ourselves into the 'bad' category unless it's to say that we're a loveable rogue or too cool to be good. And this also colours a lot of people's idea of what happens when you die. After death, so this thinking goes, our life will be judged. Our good deeds put on one side of some scales and our bad deeds on the other. If our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds we get the reward of heaven, but if our bad deeds outweigh our good deeds we will be punished. This line of thinking usually also believes that most people will get rewarded and only a few really bad people (Hitler, Stalin etc.) will get punished.

I can't see why anyone would want to be judged on this criteria. Jesus tells us that no-one is good except God, and that being angry with someone is the same as murder, and James writes “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10). The pass mark for being 'good enough' for heaven is 100% and none of us can get anywhere near that. So is there any hope? Yes, because Christmas is about the coming of someone more exciting than Santa and who has a more important list.

In the book of Revelation, John has visions of the spiritual realm and he sees “Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books” (Revelation 20:12) and only those whose names are written in the book of life will enter into God's presence for eternity (Revelation 21:27). What are the deeds that have been done by those whose names are written in the book of life? They have had their sins forgiven through repentance and faith in Jesus (Revelation 3:5, 7:14 and 1:5). This Christmas, make sure your name is written on the only list that matters: Jesus' book of life.

Christmas Songs: 'I believe in Father Christmas'

A couple of years ago during Advent we had a series on the four songs of the first Christmas.  This year we're going to look at four popular Christmas songs.  This week it's “I believe in Father Christmas” by Greg Lake.

This is an odd song to be a Christmas favourite because is really an anti-Christmas song.  The singer recalls he was told the dream of Christmas and then remembers his disappointment and disillusionment when he finds that Christmas is not what he was promised.  And perhaps this is why this song is so popular, because it mirrors our own experiences of Christmas.  Everywhere we look we seem images of the perfect Christmas: perfectly white snow, perfectly cooked food, perfectly behaved family, perfectly chosen presents, but the reality is usually not quite so perfect!  The post-Christmas blues are not just caused by exhaustion and over-indulgence, but also by a sense of sadness that yet again Christmas didn't live up to the dream we'd been sold.

The song ends on a very chilling note: “the Christmas we get we deserve”.  In some ways this is obvious; if we want the world to be a better place we have to try our hardest to make it better.  But it also taps into a modern idea of 'karma', i.e. that if you do something bad then something bad will happen to you.  We sometimes see on social media a sort of glee as people look forward to karma getting revenge on someone who's harmed them.  But we know this isn't the way the world works.  We know that bad things happen to 'good' people and that good things happen to 'bad' people.  One biblical writer puts it this way: “it made me jealous to see proud and evil people and to watch them prosper...all goes well for them, and they live in peace. What good did it do me to keep my thoughts pure and refuse to do wrong? I am sick all day, and I am punished each morning” (Psalm 73:3,12-14 CEV).

Ironically, the modern concept of karma neither reflects reality nor does it correspond to the traditional understanding of karma.  In Hindu philosophy all karma is bad, it is like a debt that we all have.  Life is about doing good things to work off that debt and if we have worked off more karma than we accrue, when we die we are reincarnated as a better form of life. (Conversely if we increase our karma by doing bad we are reincarnated as a lower form of life).  The aim is to work off all our karma until we reach a state of nirvana, or non-existence.

It is the 'Israelite' of Lake's song that instead of being a fairy story is actually the answer to this problem, but first we need to recognise that actually all of us are 'bad' people.  Jesus said “No-one is good, except God alone” (Mark 10:18).  The Bible agrees that our badness or sin is like a debt, but it acknowledges that we cannot pay this debt off ourselves because we will always sin.  It also tells us that “We die only once, and then we are judged.  So Christ died only once to take away the sins of many people. But when he comes again, it will not be to take away sin. He will come to save everyone who is waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:27-28 CEV).  Sin and evil will be judged and punished when Jesus comes again, but those who ask God to forgive their sins and then seek to live his way will be saved.

And what is the biblical picture of salvation? “On this mountain the Lord All-Powerful will prepare for all nations a feast of the finest foods. Choice wines and the best meats will be served” (Isaiah 25:6 CEV).  “God’s home is now with his people. He will live with them, and they will be his own. Yes, God will make his home among his people. He will wipe all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain. These things of the past are gone forever” (Revelation 21:3-4 CEV).  Sounds like the perfect Christmas to me!

An Alternative Nativity story

Here's my article for December:

Christmas is coming and for many of us we'll be hearing again the story of Jesus' birth at the first Christmas, or watching children act it out. Some of us may even go back to the source of the story, the Bible. Of the 66 books in the Bible, the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) tell us about Jesus' life, death and resurrection. But only two of them tell us about Jesus' birth. John simply tells us of the eternal Word becoming flesh and living among us, and Mark says nothing about Jesus' birth at all. But of the other two only Matthew tells us about the visit of the wise men, and only Luke tells us about the shepherds in the fields. The Christmas story we retell is a composite story bringing in elements from Matthew's and Luke's accounts.

However, the birth of Jesus is also described in the book of Revelation but this account is radically different from the Gospels. In Revelation 12:1-6 John tells us of a vision he had of a woman giving birth to a son who “will rule all the nations with an iron sceptre” - a quote from Psalm 2 which the Early Church saw as referring to Jesus. So far, so normal. But the woman is described as being “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.” Stranger still, instead of being surrounded by angels, shepherds and adoring magi, next to the woman stood “an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads...so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.” I'm yet to see a nativity play with this in!!

William Blake, The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun, c. 1805, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC 

The book of Revelation is packed full of strange images and complex symbolism which can make it tough reading It also makes it fertile ground for lots of different groups to claim they know exactly how to interpret each and every detail. Always be wary of anyone who is certain they know what it all means!! For example, the woman obviously represents Mary, who gave birth to Jesus, but she also represents Israel (the twelve stars remind us of the twelve tribes of Israel); and Creation (sun and moon); and Eve whose 'seed' will crush the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15); and from verse 6 onwards, the Church. The dragon is a major character in Revelation and the symbolism of his appearance is explored in more detail as the book goes on, but there is a parallel here with King Herod who wanted to kill the infant Jesus but, like the dragon, fails (Matthew 2).

So what are we to make of this third 'nativity'? It reminds us that the birth of Jesus has a cosmic and eternal significance. It's easy to hear the Christmas story as being like a fairy tale, but the reality is that it is the pivotal event in the battle between good and evil (the overall theme of Revelation). The dragon wants to devour the child at his most vulnerable because it knows that the child would ultimately defeat it. Throughout Revelation and the rest of the New Testament we discover that this defeat happens through the death and resurrection of Jesus (Colossians 2:15).

This is why the shepherds, angels and wise men come to worship the child; they recognised the universe-changing event that had taken place. As you hear again the Christmas story what will you hear: a fairy tale or the good news that the defeat of evil is now certain?