I’m not sure what day I first noticed that one of our local FM stations was already doing all ‘Christmas’ music, but I know that it was a least three weeks before the season of Advent was set to begin. Then again, what passes as Christmas music has a lot more to do with meteorology than it does with a baby born in Bethlehem. The first three songs I heard were “Let it snow”, “Frosty the Snowman” and “White Christmas”. Now I enjoy those songs (although I’ll enjoy them a lot more when it is actually closer to December 25th), but it always reminds me that we could easily miss the real power of Christmas music if we don’t listen to the words of some the great old and new carols. Listen to verses 3 & 4 of “It Came upon the Midnight Clear”:
…
And you, beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!
…
For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophets seen of old,
When with the ever circling years
Shall come the time foretold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.
…
Here is message of hope and life for us. Take a moment this season to ‘rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing.”
Peace,
Pastor John Twiton
