The Joys of Christmas Music

 Christmas Day is now over and the wrapping paper has been gathered up and put out in the trash – or recycling – I’m not sure if glossy wrapping paper is recyclable but I am giving it the benefit of the doubt.  It is, however, still Christmas.  The Twelve Days of Christmas have just really begun and will culminate on Epiphany with the celebration of the arrival of the tardy Wise Men.  Perhaps they were wise because they had the patience to follow the star of Bethlehem and not rush the journey.

I am reflecting on the joys of Christmas and one of the greatest joys for me is the music.  I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on my favourite Christmas Carols and Christmas songs.  So here they are with links to versions that, I believe,  do them justice:

1.       Low How a Rose https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlnGvyZwKzQ

2.       In the Bleak Mid-Winter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE0aIQp9V4s

3.       What Child is This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTyuW1Q2oxU

4.       The Huron Carol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_cmnxep67k

5.       I Wonder as I Wander https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIZjyf1jhKE

6.       O Little Town of Bethlehem  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PRQsiPSq64

7.       Infant Holy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q_nyGKcwP4

8.       The Christmas Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKhRnZZ0cJI

9.       Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44bL90HP0Ys

10.   It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bhsXykXxfg

11.   Joy to the World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r3VVMUhAxU

12.   We Three Kings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg46Ui-adGU

There you are – twelve carols and songs for the Twelve Days of Christmas.   I started with one of the older ones which was first printed in 1599 and ended with We Three Kings which is celebrated on Epiphany with sacred and secular stops on the way.

There are so many wonderful ones to choose from that I could have selected one hundred and twelve or two hundred and twelve and another time I would probably have selected some different one.   I am sure you each have a list of your own you could put together. 

May your journey be blessed this Christmas Season.

 

Advent 4 Rejoice In The Lord Always

 The Sunday in Advent that celebrates lighting the candle for Joy is usually on the third Sunday.  However, just to be a bit unpredictable, St. James Anglican Church marked the Advent Sunday for Joy this past Sunday.  This is referred to as Gaudete Sunday and the candle that is lit is the pink one which is the odd candle out and stands out amongst the other ones which are purple coloured.  The joy of Advent is that of anticipation and a celebration of what is to come.  This is in the middle of Advent which is the season of preparation.  Gaudete is the Latin word for rejoice which is a reminder that we should rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4: 4).  Advent began as a season of fasting and Gaudete Sunday marks the point at which we can look in anticipation in the breaking of the fast in the celebration and celebrating of the Twelve Days of Christmas culminating with Epiphany and the arrival of those tardy Wise Men. 

We can think of the joy of Mary in the knowledge that she is the God bearer with that dubious news that she would be a pregnant unwed mother - not great news in those days.  It is that mixture of joy in the midst of all that is going on, that signifies the true meaning of joy for me – the joy that despite all that is happening in the world and perhaps in my life, God is with me and will be born again for the world and for me.

Pope Francis expressed this aspect of joy in a very down to earth way in his first Gaudete Sunday as Pope:

In his 2014 Gaudete Sunday homily, Pope Francis said that Gaudete Sunday is known as the "Sunday of joy", and that instead of fretting about "all they still haven't" done to prepare for Christmas, people should "think of all the good things life has given you."

That joy is a sign and a reminder that Jesus did not come into this world to make life a bed of roses for us.  There are still challenges and rough roads and sorrows in our lives.  But we have joy which, as the Medical Mission Sisters sang, is like the rain amidst all the ups and downs and thunder clouds gathering:

I saw rain drops on my window, joy is like the rain
Laughter runs across my pane, slips away and comes again
Joy is like the rain

I saw clouds upon a mountain, joy is like a cloud
Sometimes silver, sometimes gray, always sun not far away
Joy is like a cloud

I saw Christ in wind and thunder, joy is tried by storm
Christ asleep within my boat, whipped by wind, yet still afloat
Joy is tried by storm

I saw rain drops on a river, joy is like the rain
Bit by bit the river grows, till all at once it overflows
Joy is like the rain

I am sure it is difficult for those on the west coast who have recently experienced rivers overflowing their banks, to experience joy in the midst of their trials.  Sometimes, joy is indeed difficult to find.  However, God is there always and so joy is there also.  Let us give thanks to the Lord in all things if not for all things.   So, let us rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. 

Let us be blessed with joy on our journey to Christmas. 

Advent 3 What the World Needs Now is Love

 Yesterday we celebrated the third Sunday of Advent in our church by lighting the candle for love.  Some churches were lighting the candle for joy but we will do joy on the 4^th Sunday.  There is much that can be said about love as Jesus made it very clear the importance of love in God’s Kingdom, “You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with your whole mind.  If that was not enough he commanded that we must love our neighbours as ourselves. 

This priority of the place of love was not original with Jesus.  Some six hundred years previously Ezekiel declared that hearts of stone will be converted into hearts of flesh, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)   That passage resonated with me when I listened to a webinar by Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Banks of Canada and England and now the UN Special Envoy on Climate and Action and Finance.  This was a presentation by St. Basil's Church in Ottawa.  It was a very thoughtful and inspiring talk which addressed the issues of the economy and climate change today and shared his vision of building a better world for all.

Mr. Carney covered a great deal of territory in a relatively short time but what particularly resonated with me can be summed up with his quote of Oscar Wilde, “The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”  To my mind this is what the market driven economy is based on.  It is very good at putting a price on things but very poor at knowing the true value of things.  I believe this started, or at least, came to preeminence with the Enlightenment which led to everything having to be measured, weighed and put under the microscope to be considered valuable.  The Enlightenment brought much to be thankful for but this is what might be considered its dark side.

So, you might ask, what has this to do with love?  Well, the problem is that love cannot be measured and weighed or seen under a microscope.  Therefore, the value of love, despite all the songs and poems to the contrary, does not have a place of prominence in our market driven economy.  As was noted in the Webinar, Amazon the company has a valuation of worth billions of dollars on the stock market, but The Amazon is only given a value when it is deforested and used for farm land. 

The result of this is the ecological crisis that the world is facing today.  What the world needs now, as Burt Bacharach wrote, “is love sweet love.  It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.”  If we love something we put a value on that person or thing which cannot be measured or weighted or put under the microscope.  We need to love God, love ourselves and love our neighbours – love the world that God created.  I do believe that love is what binds the universe together and will not be defeated by those forces that threaten to pull us and the world apart. 

Blessings, and let the light of the love of Christ shine through you on your journey.  

Advent 2 Good Hope for Peace on Earth

Today, we light the candle of Peace. There is considerable comfort and peace, in the assurance that all of us “share in the grace of God” together. Blessed voice in the midst of a hard place.  

That Advent Reflection from the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine, marked the lighting of the Candle for Peace on the Second Sunday in Advent.  This is indeed a hard place that we find ourselves in a world that seems to be anything but peaceful.  Reflecting on this brought to my mind the beautiful carol Christmas Bells which is based on the 1863 poem "Christmas Bells" by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and was written during the American Civil War.  As a reminder, the carol begins (please exclude the masculine language):

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet their songs repeat
Of peace on Earth, good will to men

The verse that came to my mind was actually a middle verse:

And in despair I bowed my head
"There is no peace on Earth, " I said
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on Earth, good will to men

That seems to me exactly what I was thinking when I thought about the birth of the Prince of Peace which we are preparing for this Advent.  Admittedly, there is peace on earth but it seems to be receding into the distance and becoming a goal which is less achievable these days.  Admittedly, there have been other times in the world in the not too distant past that peace seemed to be even a most distant hope.  When I look around, I see divisions growing deeper and wider and the chasms that divide us seeming to become insurmountable.  It has been two thousand years since the Prince of Peace was born in Bethlehem so why has not peace taken a stronger foothold in the world and in the hearts of men and women? 

How then do we, who follow the Prince of Peace, respond to this?  Last week I wrote about the lighting of the candle for Hope.  There is still hope for peace within us and in the world.  However, that hope needs to be based on concrete action and not just wishful thinking.  If we are to hope for peace, we must each seek the peace of God which passes all understanding by seeking peace within ourselves and with each other.  A commentator on cable news in the United States speaks of “good trouble.”  It is the kind of trouble which seeks to disrupt and change the unjust systems in the world – that is good hope.  For this to be good hope and good peace, it cannot be accomplished through violence.  That is the message of the Prince of Peace.  Jesus taught that you are not to return violence with violence – you are to turn the other cheek – you must love your neighbour even if he or she is the despised Samaritan. as difficult and seemingly unnatural that is.  There is a turn towards good hope in the carol a few verses later:

Then rang the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep
(Peace on Earth)
(Peace on Earth)
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on Earth, good will to men

That is the good hope for each of us and for the world – wrong shall fail and right will prevail - we need to work for peace through good hope and good trouble.  The carol Christmas Bells is a carol for our time and for our world today so if you have the opportunity join in and raise you voice and sing.  Here is a link to it on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOGz9WqNQoI. 

May we all be blessed with good hope for peace on earth on our journey.