St. John's Lutheran Church

From Pastor Biar’s Pen 

Around this time of year, the usual gripe is the people who started playing Christmas music way too early – usually right after Halloween. My complaint is the people who classify it as Christmas music to begin with. The vast majority of them are “generic winter-time activity songs,” and the ones that specifically mention Christmas tend to only speak on the secularized (and commercialized) aspects of it. 

            Now, I know that I’m usually accused of being a Grinch as my liturgical stickler-hood insists that we need to let Advent be Advent, but this runs deeper than that. Music teaches theology – our hymnal is as much a textbook as the Small Catechism. Music can be a more powerful teacher than any sermon I could preach or Bible study I could lead; which one will be engrained in your memory in a decade: my sermon from three weeks ago, or the words to Joy to the World? Songs, and the doctrines therein, stick with us and shape the way we think about things.

            So, what would a complete outsider learn about Christmas based on what’s blaring out of the radio right now? It’s a snow-based holiday where you get together with friends and families, exchange gifts, while remember that “all I really want for Christmas is you”? A day to remember to be generically nice to everyone for no particular reason other than fear of ending up on Santa Clause’s naughty list? Or will we turn to and be formed by the ancient hymnody that has been passed down by generations to join with the angels in singing the glorious declaration of the coming Messiah, the Savior who reveals the Father’s love to us and restore peace between God and man as He brings salvation and forgiveness to the world?

I’m not saying you’re not allowed to listen to Wham! or the Chipmunks, just a reminder to be aware of how you are being formed by the world around you as we approach one of our holiest days.

God’s blessings, Pastor Biar