Father, thank You for the ability to accomplish so much this weekend. My body is rebelling a bit, but I am pushing forward. Thank You for extra hands and the determination of youth.

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I love Christmas music, as anyone knows me can attest. And I have very eclectic tastes, as well, as can clearly be seen in my Christmas playlist on Spotify. It is composed of 972 songs by a wide variety of artists in a wide variety of styles. If you listened to every single song it would take you more than two days – it is 54 hours and 38 minutes in length!

But one thing that gives me pause every Christmas season – and this is a bit morbid – I cannot help but think that so many of my favorite songs are sung by people long dead. And it just makes me stop and think.

Not many listen to music from the 1940s but a lot of us do at Christmas time. In fact, many of us know many of them by heart!

“White Christmas” (1941)
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas” (1943)
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (1944)
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1949)

…to name a few!

And who sang them in those early years? Bing Crosby, Perry Como, The Andrew Sisters, Frank Sinatra…again to name a few. And not one of them is still with us.

Another famous Christmas (technically Advent) song goes back even further, all the way back to the 700s – not the 1700s but the 700s! Its author is long gone, and it is so old that we don’t even know who wrote it! The hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel to our knowledge was originally written in Latin and was used in a call and response fashion during the vespers, or evening, service in worship. Eventually, it was translated into English by John M. Neale in 1851 and that is the version we know. (If you’d like to read a bit more of its history, click here.)

The point I want to make is that regardless of who writes a song or who sings a song, it can go on literally for centuries, impacting innumerable lives. But most important of all is the fact that Christmas did not begin with snow or jolly old Saint Nick, it began with the birth of Jesus over 2000 years ago!

And, truth be told, though He lived amongst us so long ago, and yes, He died as well, but the difference is, He did not remain in the grave. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, rose from the dead on the third day, conquering sin and death. And because of His victory, we too can conquer sin and death, as we live in obedience to Him.

Know that as we once again enter this time of remembering Jesus’ birth that death, though it is all around us, does not have the final word! God Himself saw to that!

[Christ] has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Hebrews 9:26-28 NIV

A beautiful rendition of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel for you to enjoy.

Nov 29th, 2020, Sun, 9:51 pm