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November 25, 2006
Christmas bells are ringing...
For a seven or eight years now, my dad's side of the family has celebrated Christmas on the Saturday after Thanksgiving--. While I do like the fact that it makes it easier to "schedule" Christmas (what a concept!) and while I appreciate the fact that, unlike every retail store, we at least wait until after Thanksgiving to celebrate, I do find it hard to feel get into the spirit with my belly still full of turkey.
Music helps at least a little. And on the way home today, we enjoyed Sufjan Stevens's Songs for Christmas. It's good. Very good. I especially enjoy the arrangement of "Come Thou Fount." And a new (to me) favorite is "The Friendly Beasts." Jason made the very interesting observation that Christmas carols are full of good theology. So much depends on the Word made flesh...
And so the season begins. Welcome, Christmastime!
Posted by Renae at November 25, 2006 08:55 PM
I too love the arrangement of "Come Thou Fount." We did it at RUF a couple times last year when Andrew was around and leading worship. Nothin' like adding banjo to hymns.
Posted by Bethany at November 26, 2006 12:20 AM
Jason's right. The theology of most Christmas songs is pretty darn good. Makes you wonder if Destiny's Child has any concept of what "the dawn of redeeming grace" means when they belt it out on their Christmas CD.
I came across an article (http://www.str.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5564) from Stand to Reason a couple of years ago, and this quote really stuck with me:
"...at Christmas time there are these wonderful hymns. If we look at them, they are absolutely stunning if we pay attention to the words, and we can’t help but worship when we speak the words that are expressed in these hymns. They are so much about God and His purpose, and spoken in such sublime language. There is no "I" and "we" in those hymns. The focus is all on God. Then after Christmas we go back to singing about ourselves, our experience, and how lucky God is to love us, because now we feel wonderful."
I'm thankful that our church doesn't keep the hymnal closed from January through November.
Posted by Mike Wittmann at November 27, 2006 10:30 AM
i just got the box version of those songs: the packaging is pretty freaking cool. and, of course, the music is a delight. (said in a granny voice)
Posted by caron at November 27, 2006 01:08 PM
the oddest thing: as i read this post of yours, COME THOU FOUNT by SUFJAN STEVENS was in fact playing. that occurance DESERVED the yell-caps.
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