Year-Round Christmas Music

I love Christmas music. It seems like every year I start listening to it earlier and earlier. Next thing I know, I will be listening in July—which is not a bad idea if you ask me.

I have often wondered why we don’t listen to Christmas music year round. It makes sense that we only sing about rocking around a Christmas tree when we put the tree up. But does it really make sense to only sing about the birth of our Savior one season of the year?

The lyrics to some of the most beloved Christmas hymns are packed full of truths about God that are true every Sunday. We don’t sing “In Christ Alone” only on Easter Sunday. Why not sing “Joy to the World” in May?

Perhaps part of the reason that we only sing Christmas music in December is that we only think about the incarnation when the Christmas tree goes up. I know I am prone to this. I get excited about all things Christmas, and Jesus coming to earth to save sinners like me is just a portion of the excitement—not the reason for the excitement. But really, it should floor me. It should humble me. It should make me thankful. It should make me joyful.

God came to earth.

And not in fanfare and bright lights, like our Christmas ideas so often make us think. He came as a baby. He came in humility. He came to a dirty manger. And this is our great hope. It should make us sing. Christmas shows us that the Cross is coming; that our salvation is coming. Without Christmas, there is no Cross.

Now I like some good, old-fashioned “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” but nothing make my heart sing like the words “born that men no more may die!” I am all for the traditional, light-hearted seasonal music. But that is all that is, really. It’s about a season, not an event.

So what does it really matter if I listen to “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” in June? It should be my heart’s cry as I wait for the second-coming of my Risen King.