Let the Carols Lead Us to Christ
By Jesse Yi-Gray, Director of Music
Going into my first Christmas season as a married man, I knew there was one conversation my wife and I needed to have that wasn’t covered in our pre-marital counseling. Whispers of Mariah Carey and Michael Bublé, advertisements for Starbucks seasonal drinks, December worship planning meetings getting added to my calendar all led to one question. “So, when do we start putting up Christmas décor?”
Those who know me know that I have not been much of a Christmas guy. I love that Jesus was born and that we take time as the worldwide Church to revere and celebrate Christ’s birth, and that has routinely been where my excitement stopped. The stresses of gift-giving, Christmas service planning, and sleigh bells build that anti-Christmas pit in my stomach that lasts until January 2.
However, a major shift occurred in my first year of grad school. I was given much more creative license at my regular places of worship to pick what Christmas songs our congregations would be singing. While musically liberating, this required me to deeply analyze every Christmas song we had, judging theological accuracy, musical styling, and cultural relevance.
Suddenly, the Christmas songs I’d gotten to know as a musician became works of art revealing the awe and wonder of the newborn Christ. I found myself listening to Christmas music with genuine enjoyment, seeing the hope and awe and joy it can bring. Since then, I’ve made it a goal to listen to Christmas music with intentionality, remembering that this music not only gets me into the Christmas spirit, but reminds me of the story of Christ.
How fitting, then, is this sermon series “The Story Behind the Songs” where we get to see this same story laid out through those Christmas carols of old. Last week, we got to hear Pastor Ellis speak on the carol “O Come O Come Emmanuel” and that we can rejoice that God is with us! We can have hope and faith in Him who came to dwell among us! The scripture that informed that song gives me the hope and joy that can only come from knowing that God is with me, and this Advent season allows me to experience that once more.
So, how do the Christmas carols we know and love continue to form us?
When we sing Christmas carols together, we are not just setting ourselves up for the Christmas ramp-up. We are engaging with God in musical worship, reinforcing and affirming how we have come to understand the story of Jesus. We get the vivid imagery of the world in wait of its Savior, and we see the earth’s rejoicing as he entered into our world. Whether we encounter these carols in middle school band concerts, packed out arenas, Fred Meyer background noise or our church pews, we see the whole world proclaiming Jesus.
Throughout this Advent season, we’ll worship together with these classic Christmas carols in many different ways, some familiar and some new. We’ll hear some carols led by our Chapel Ringers handbell choir, some by electric guitars and drums, some by our gifted organist. Whether you are excited to hear the songs you know or are nervous that the nostalgia may be lost in the newness, my encouragement to you is this:
Let every song we sing, old or new, lead you back to the joy of the story of Christ.
Carry that worship outside of these walls, too! As “O Come O Come Emmanuel” so brilliantly puts it, “Rejoice! Rejoice!” Purposefully, intentionally, joyfully. Bring these songs into your week. Your workplaces, your schools, your homes. What you do outside of Chapel Hill can echo what we sing together on Sunday mornings. How beautiful would it be if we, as a church formed by “The Story Behind the Songs,” carried that formation into our places of being through this advent season and beyond.
I pray we’ll join together in that this season.
Advent peace and joy to you all,
Jesse