Even Ringo knows what Christmas is about...

I currently have a play list on my computer with 70 Christmas songs (well 67 – one is Auld Lang Syne which, truly, is a New Year’s song and 2 are Hanukkah songs). There are more actually (84) but the rest are repeats by different artists. How can one chose between Marvin Gay or Dean Martin or Nat King Cole singing The Christmas Song? And should I need more variety for my Christmas listening pleasure, I have my choice of Pandora holiday stations featuring Christmas music in the style of swing, rock, folk, classical, and more. I must have them all, because unlike 99% of the radio-listening population, I can never get enough of Christmas music.

This year’s listening, however, has been tinged with disquiet. I don’t know why this year is different, but for some reason I’m suddenly quite aware of Jesus in Christmas music – or the lack there of. Frankie sings about falling in love, Sting sings about his beloved being all four seasons, The Waitresses wax poetic about crappy presents and Christmas-time discord, Nancy White grouse about being be pregnant at Christmas (though she does point out that it is “Biblical”)…out of 67 songs on my playlist, only 22* mention Jesus. Huh. A measly 33%. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised at all. Year after year, Christmas has been made increasingly secular; it’s sacred reverence buried beneath consumerism. Why should the music of the holiday reflect a different picture?

Maybe this year is distinctive for me because more so than any other year I’ve heard this (or a similar) phrase: “I’m not Christian, but I celebrate Christmas anyway.” I have several friends and acquaintances who are atheist or agnostic, or otherwise spiritual but vehemently NOT Christian, and they celebrate Christmas regardless. I’m having a hard time understanding it. What if I were to tell these same friends “I’m not Muslim, but I’m fasting for Ramadan” “I’m not Jewish, but I’m cleaning and removing Chametz for Passover” or “I’m not Wiccan but I’m burning oak for the Summer Solstice”? They’d think I was off my rocker. At the very least, they would question my desire to celebrate a holiday that is sacred in a religion to which I don’t belong, and who’s tenets I don’t believe. If I don’t believe what Islam preaches, why would I celebrate Ramadan? If I do believe Jesus to be the Messiah, why would I celebrate the holiday of a religion that deems him a wise teacher, perhaps a prophet, but not my savior? Many of them would be offended at my lack of sensitivity and reverence for the beliefs of others. I wouldn’t blame them in the least – but I do question the contempt for mine.

I once read an interview with Chrissie Hynde in which she discussed a Christmas party she’d attended. While there, she asked others at the party when they thought Jesus would come back. Most of the people she asked were appalled, and she found it odd that they found discussing Jesus odd. They were, after all, at a Christmas party. Why were they there if they didn’t want to think about or talk about Jesus? I’ll go a step further than Chrissie and ask why those who don’t believe in God, Jesus, CHRIST…why do they celebrate Christmas? And why are they offended when Christians remind that Christmas about the birth of Jesus, whom we believe to be our Lord and savior?

Is it our fault, us Christians? Did we allow the secular to increasingly creep in year after year by focusing on all the things that have very little to do with Jesus? Without a doubt we share the blame in the steady degradation of what SHOULD be the holiest day in our Christian calendar. To a Christian, a follower of Christ and a believer in the saving grace of Jesus, the Messiah - Christmas is about the birth of the savior of the world. That’s pretty heady stuff. Yet we deride presents we deem beneath us, keep mental tabs on who gave what to whom and what’s appropriate in turn, bicker with our families and loved ones, get angry with our pets for messing up our perfect (pagan) Christmas tree, trample clerks at Wal-Mart! I can’t confirm that any in that mob were Christian, but I’m willing to guess at least 33% were.

Perhaps it’s the very inclusive nature of Christ Himself that beckons the non-Christian to join in the festivities and traditions of the holiday. If Jesus were here, having a birthday party, would he only allow believers to come? Absolutely not. He’d let anyone who wanted come to his celebration. Those beggars we pass in the street, convinced in our modern cynicism they make more money pan-handling than we do hard at work every day? They’d feast at the table with Jesus, and they wouldn’t have to beg for the food they got either. The black sheep of the family? Jesus would give him or her a giant hug and let them know exactly how much He loves them. Jesus would accept every gift, great and small, with the same appreciation, so long as they were given in the spirit of love. And those crazed parents who mangled a poor, minimum-wage big-box clerk? He’d forgive them before their shame kept them from asking. Perhaps I shouldn’t be offended or taken aback by those who celebrate but don't believe, and instead take the opportunity to include them, love them, and share my beliefs.

And what of music? I wonder what kind of music would we find at a birthday party thrown by the Lord himself. Would Jesus love “The Christmas Song”? Few can argue the velvety warm merits of Nat King Cole’s voice after all. Surely Handel’s “The Messiah” would be in His rotation. Who knows? Maybe He’d smile at all the seasonal songs. Perhaps he’d make a distinction between those praising Him, and those that should simply be labeled “winter songs.” Maybe He’d lump them all together and figure anyone using God’s gifts to make beautiful music IS praising Him, weather they know it or not. Whatever the case, everyone in the room would know exactly what occasion the music would commemorate. And they’d all sing along knowing, as Ringo Star did, that they were doing it for Jesus – Jesus loves you.


*I included Stevie Wonder’s “Someday at Christmas” in this number. Though the song doesn’t mention Jesus by name, everything the song hopes for is only possible “when we have learned what Christmas is for” and I happen to agree with Stevie most heartily.