Advent Hope in Christmas Carols
For those who don’t know me personally, music is a big deal in our house. Both my husband and I have been in bands and choirs for most of our lives and currently participate in our church’s praise team. It seems we’ve passed this love of music onto our children as well. Whether in our home or throughout the aisles of Costco, Selah is constantly singing (my apologies to the fellow shoppers who were serenaded with Let it Go on our last Costco run). Even Micah, though still an infant, screeches like a pterodactyl in joy throughout the day.
I absolutely love that the Advent season has a soundtrack. There are songs that I’ve sung since I was a kid that I now get to teach to my kids. There are new, talented renditions of wonderful classics that we can enjoy. And of course there are the silly songs about grandmas and reindeers that serve a purpose too, I suppose.
But, as wild as this is going to sound, it wasn’t until about two years ago that my heart paused and truly worshiped for the first time alongside one of these Christmas hymns.
You see, there was a disconnect for me that I didn’t realize. I saw Christmas hymns as a fun tradition that everyone loved and nothing more. We paused our regularly scheduled worship music for four weeks and sang songs we would never think twice of throughout the rest of the year. They all held this surface level shine that I never bothered to dig past.
Until the Christmas after I had fought against postpartum depression for the majority of the preceding year. We had planned to sing “O Holy Night’ at church one Advent Sunday and were going over it in practice. We all sang the words “A thrill of hope the weary soul rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn! Fall on your knees…”
I could barely keep it together. These words pierced my weary soul. They reminded me of the hope I had in Jesus and how unshakeable it had been throughout the trial I had just come through. And for the first time in my life, I worshiped with the Christmas hymns we were singing.
I do hope I am alone in this thought process, but I don’t think I am. So often we walk through traditions for tradition’s sake and Christmas hymns are about as traditional as they come. We only sing them at one time of the year and they hold a joyful familiarity for so many.
But they aren’t just a novelty.
Music is a truly wonderful thing. It has the unique ability to nestle notes and words into people’s hearts with them realizing it. Take it from me who has countless Disney soundtracks completely memorized simply because I’ve listened to them over and over and over again.
This is why the songs we choose to sing at church are so important. Without necessarily intending to do so, we will carry the song’s message in our heart well past Sunday morning. We hum them as we work and we get them stuck in our heads. If these songs hold bad doctrine, bad doctrine is going to weasel its way into our hearts. It’s imperative that we are singing songs that hold solid, biblical truth in them so that our hearts are not inadvertently taught insufficient doctrine.
So why should Christmas time be any different?
In a season meant to help us remember the miracle born in Bethlehem and to look forward towards Christ’s second coming, the songs we sing should help build our expectation! Christmas hymns that proclaim the birth of Jesus Christ ought to be sung from a heart of worship. Singing these songs just because it’s Christmas minimizes the magnitude of the manger.
Take a look at some of these lyrics. They are absolutely stunning.
“Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.” - Come Thou Long Expected Jesus“O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o'er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.” - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel“Glory to the newborn King
Peace on earth, and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled” -Hark the Herald Angels Sing
The heart of these familiar songs is the gospel. There is a longing conveyed as we wait for the King to free his people from Satan’s tyranny. A desperation for a Savior to release us from our sin and fear. A joyous proclamation that God and sinners have been reconciled!
It doesn’t get much better than that! These songs hold so much hope for the Christian. They remind us of the gospel that rescued us. They point us to our King. They bury the truth of the advent season deep in our hearts.
Don’t miss the wonder in these songs this season. Let them turn your heart towards the manger that held the Savior of the world. Let them spur you on to worship our glorious King.
