r I was listening to Christmas music on the radio when it dawned on me they weren’t playing many songs about Christ.
Oh, the weather outside is frightful, and there are plenty of songs about that. Baby, it’s cold outside when you’re walking in a winter wonderland, going on sleigh rides, and making snowmen. Sometimes those snowmen come to life and we give them names like “Frosty,” or pretend they are Parson Brown.
There are plenty of songs about Santa and how he is coming to town. How he doesn’t like pouting. How he watches us when we sleep. There’s even a song (“Santa Baby”) where a woman tries to seduce Santa into giving her very expensive gifts. (I despise that song.)
You’ll hear more songs about reindeer than about the Baby Jesus.
There are songs about bells. Jingle bells and silver bells and sleigh bells and here come the bells, here come the bells, so many bells, SO MANY BELLS!
There’s “Last Christmas,” in which a woman breaks up with a guy on December 26th, and a year later he is still obsessing over her and singing about it. (Dude, I think it’s time to move on.)
Finally, there’s even a song in which figgy pudding is demanded! (And bring it right now!)
Mentions of the Baby Jesus are few and far between. In fact, in December of 2014 the website fivethirtyeight.com did a feature about the songs with the most air-time on Christmas radio stations, and absolutely NONE of the 20 most-played songs mentioned Christ!
What can we do about it? Keep singing the real Christmas songs. Every time you hear “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” follow it up with “O Come All Ye Faithful.” After each “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” let’s hear “Oh, Holy Night.” For every “Chipmunk Song” let’s get “Away In a Manger.” Each “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” could be followed by a “Silent Night.” And, every time you hear about how bad Batman smells and Robin lays eggs, give ’em some “Joy to the World.”
Look, I like crooning along with Dean Martin when he sings “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow” as much as the next guy. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I just think that we should also occasionally remember that “it is the night of our dear Savior’s birth.”
A few “Hallelujahs” and “Hosannas” never hurt anyone.
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