“On Christmas Day"

Among the many Christmas carols that are sung through the holiday season, there are a few that just do not make sense to me. First, there is the French tune, Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella. This carol was introduced to me, when we sang it in college, in French, and I wondered what in the world it was about. I’ve read through the Christmas story many a time and have yet to come across anyone named Jeanette or Isabella that is involved in the birth of Christ. Furthermore, I’m having a hard time understanding what good a torch is. Normally when I think of torches I think of angry villagers chasing someone out of town. But this song is one of many that are taken from local legends in different cultures that try to expand on the Christmas story, to make it more human, more relevant. The Little Drummer Boy is another one of these. Jeanette and Isabella are the legendary daughters of the innkeeper who gives Mary and Joseph the stable to stay in. The legend tells of them running back and forth between the inn and the stable and making sure that Mary and then the baby Jesus get everything they need.

We Three Kings is another carol that causes difficulty when compared to the Biblical story. This is so much so that when the Covenant Church put together their last hymnal, they consciously left it out. I like to point out that all the problems in the song are there in the title. There weren’t necessarily three of them, and they weren’t kings. Once you get past this, though, the song is quite wonderful. Perhaps we should sing it “We Magi of Orient are”.

But the one song that takes the cake for me is the simple Christmas tune, I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In. This one makes absolutely no sense to me at all. In the song we hear about three ships that come sailing into Bethlehem on Christmas Day, in the morning, with the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus on board. It all sounds great, but the problem is that Bethlehem is not exactly the kind of town that had a place where ships could come since it is on the side of a hill, quite a ways away from any bodies of water. But it’s still a great song.

The fact is that we have a number of Christmas traditions that really have nothing to do with the center of what Christmas is really all about. We have things that we have grown up with. We have things that we are used to. We have an understanding of Christmas that sometimes keeps us from experiencing Christmas to its fullest. Between our trees and our presents and our listening for Santa to land on our roofs, we sometimes let the hype keep us from the Christ.

Christmas is, quite simply, about a Savior being born. It is about God keeping a promise to his people in an unusual and unexpected way. God could have sent the Savior with all the bells and whistles, but instead he chose to use the subtle approach. With Christmas we remember that God sent his promised Son, but not as a king as was expected, but as the son to a refugee couple who didn’t even have a place to stay. The Word became flesh. God became man. The divine was wrapped up in swaddling clothes. And when this world-changing event happened, it was so great that angels appeared in the hills to sing about it and praise God. But kings were not gathered and told about it. Ships were not sent to guard Jesus. And no palace was prepared for the newborn king. Instead the angels shared this great news with a group of sheep herders out in the fields, men who were known for their tall tales and their lack of trustworthiness. And then God showed the truth to a group of astrologers and magi from the east, when they opened scripture to see where the Messiah was to be born. And after they came to worship this king which they found in such an unusual setting, God warned them in a dream to keep what they had seen a secret. Again, not the normal way a king is born. Jesus was born in secrecy and early in his life, his family had to flee to Egypt to protect his life.

The Christmas story, as so much of Jesus’ life is, is a story of contradictions. And yet, it is worth celebrating with our traditions and customs. It is worth gathering together with family and friends. It is worth exchanging gifts with our friends and loved ones and singing Christmas carols that don’t totally make sense. For the gifts remind us of the center of Jesus’ ministry and teaching. Jesus was very focused on your care for those around you. Jesus wanted us to show that we love God by loving our neighbors. Jesus told us that what we do for the least of these we do for him. This makes sense because as we see in the Christmas story, Jesus spent time being the least of these, there wasn’t even a real bed for him to spend his first night in, instead he had to sleep in a feeding trough in a barn. But this is also the center of what we are doing when we exchange gifts. We are sharing our love for each other, we are living outside ourselves and remembering how we love those who are close to us.

And the Christmas songs, though they don’t always get everything right, do teach us about the truths of Christmas in a powerful way. When we sing We Three Kings we think of the journey these magi go on, traveling long distances to worship the newborn Messiah. And we realize that we are called to journey to Christ as well. It is in the Christmas songs that we focus on Jesus as Emmanuel. This is such an important name for Jesus, for it means God with us. Christmas is the celebration of God becoming one of us. Christmas is the celebration of God being with his creation, with his people, in a way that he never was before. And when we think of that name, Emmanuel, we realize that it doesn’t only refer to something that happened when Jesus was born. It is referring to God’s interaction with us today. For God is still with us in a very real way. Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’ birth. But Jesus has been born in each of us. When we realize God’s love for us and when we confess our sins and ask him into our lives, he is born in our hearts, and we are reborn. And this is also worth celebrating at Christmas: Jesus born in our hearts; Jesus alive in our lives.

And then there’s that weird song that has Jesus and his mother arriving in Bethlehem on Christmas Day. It has Jesus arriving on three ships, and we wonder what in the world it has to teach us about Christmas, and we wonder how in the world it actually connects to the Christmas story. There are no ships in the Christmas story and it seems that Mary and Joseph (who isn’t even in the song) arrived in Bethlehem before Jesus was born, and Jesus was born while they were staying in Bethlehem. And you wonder whether we should just shove this song out of the collection totally and pretend it doesn’t exist because it has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas.

But the song written in a port town of England a few hundred years ago actually does have something to say to us. It reminds us that when we celebrate Jesus’ birth, we are not just celebrating what happened in Bethlehem. Christmas is about Christ coming to this world. Christmas is about God being with us. We didn’t need to be one of the shepherds watching their sheep to know Christ with us. We didn’t need to be the Magi traveling from far lands to present gifts to our Messiah. We didn’t need to be the animals in the stable to experience Christ in our lives. Jesus is there for us today. He is on three ships for those who live on the sea. He is in the barn for those who live on a farm. Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. He is with us if we only ask him to be.

This Christmas, as you spend time with your family and celebrate Jesus’ birth; remember that Christmas is about God being with us wherever we are and in whatever we face. Jesus was born in a stable about 2010 years ago. He was born in your heart when you asked him in. And he lives with us and cares for us no matter what. And this Christmas Day let us remember the joy that comes with knowing that God is with us, and God will continue to be with us. Amen.