In recent days much has been made about the separation of church and state. Prayer is often discouraged in schools and the workplace, curriculums are scrubbed clean of faith-based answers to fact-based questions, and people often prefer religion to be practiced privately, not shared publicly. This point of view wins the day much of the time in many people’s lives . . . with one notable exception. At Christmas time, people still allow the Sacred to invade the secular — even INVITE IT onto the public stage in many ways. What do I mean?
Our culture still celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ every December through music. Places where God is not welcome 11 months of the year are often platforms of praise from Black Friday to Christmas Day. All up and down the FM dial all Advent season, we hear deep theology being sung by today’s top artists. Every trip to the store during the holidays plays out underneath the soundtrack of the Savior. Rather than focusing on the irony of this reality, let’s enjoy it . . . and use it as a prompt for worship and evangelism during this busy season.
As we listen to this Christmas music, however, I wonder if we really know what we are singing. After all, most of these songs are very familiar to us . . . we sing them every year . . . but do we really understand what they are talking about? To say it another way, when we look at “The Christmas Carols” do we know the hope of Christmas past, present, and future?
This 31 day devotional will take one Christmas song each day during the month of December and provide a reflection on how that song helps us understand more about Jesus and what it looks like for us to follow Him. These devotionals are accessible in a variety of ways:
- All 31 devotionals are accessible in pdf format by clicking here.
- All 31 devotionals are accessible in e-book format, by clicking here.
- Each December morning at 6:00 AM CST (beginning December 1), that day’s devotional will post here on my blog. You can subscribe to my blog (see form on the right hand column of my blog when viewed from a computer) to have the new posts forwarded to your email inbox as they post.
- Daily posts will also be linked on my social media.
In addition to this, suggested versions of all 31 songs are available via Apple Music or Spotify via these links:
Also, note that all December long, the Sunday sermons at Wildwood Community Church will tie to the song that is featured on that day:
- December 2: Joy to the World
- December 9: O Come All Ye Faithful
- December 16: What Child is This?
- December 23: Hark the Herald Angels Sing!
- December 24: O Holy Night
Sunday worship at Wildwood is at 9:45 and 11:00 on December 2, 9, and 16. On December 23, we will have 3 worship services (8:30, 9:45, 11:00). On the evening of December 24, we will have 3 candlelight Christmas Eve Services for the entire family (4:00, 6:00, 8:00).
We hope and pray all these resources help you worship Jesus this Christmas season! Feel free to share this resource with all in your network and invite all to join us on Sundays and Christmas Eve this Christmas season!
In Christ,
Pastor Mark Robinson
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