Mary's Song Series

Mary’s Song

The Original Christmas Songs

Christmas Song Bumper

Good morning MGCC!!!

WELL - it’s that time of year, where we are forced to listen to Christmas music whether we want to or not.

AND - it’s not just in church or in Christian bookstores, no, it’s everywhere… Every restaurant and every store…not just on the radio stations. I MEAN – you just can’t get away from it.

IN FACT – this past Thursday I was sitting in the lobby of my Dr Office from 4:30-5:30 and I had the opportunity to hear a bunch of different…um, eclectic Christmas songs being played…

THERE WAS…

• Walking in the winter wonderland

• Rudolph the red nose reindeer

• O come all ye faithful

• Happy holidays

• Jingle bells

• Jingle bell rock

• Feliz Navidad

And I am not sure but I think I may have even heard that Christmas classic, “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.”

SO - there are all kinds of Christmas music out there…

THIS WEEK - I did a google search on the top ten Christmas songs… I found many lists here is one of them.

10 Must Be Santa (Mitch Miller)

9 Jingle Bell Rock (Bobby Healms)

8 Baby It’s Cold Outside (Dean Martin)

7 It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year (A Williams)

6 I saw momma kissing Santa Claus (The Jackson Five)

5 Feliz Navidad (Jose Feliciano)

4 Let Is Snow (Frank Sinatra)

3 White Christmas (Bing Crosby)

2 Silent Night (The Temptations)

1 The Christmas Song (Nate King Cole)

Hey let’s play a little Nate King Cole here…

NOW – you may or may not agree with the list…

That’s why I thought we would create our own…

And share the results next week…

Top 3 Christmas Songs (secular)

Top 3 Christmas Songs (church)

Connection card, Facebook, email,

twitter #mgccxmassongs

Now some of you may be a little uneasy that I used the term ‘xmas.’

Understand…

X = is the first letter in Christ’s name in Greek… and it has been was used as an abbreviation for the word Christ for centuries…

Not just Xmas, but Xtian and Xtianity…

Bottom line – it is not a modern day plot to

YOU KNOW – this week as I was working on this conversation and reflecting on this season of the year, I started to wonder… WHAT IF – some aliens in a galaxy far-far away, picked up our radio signals in the month of December and heard all of our Christmas music. I WONDER – what they would conclude that Christmas is all about…

• Snow

• Sleigh bells

• Reindeer

• elfs

• Snowmen

• Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

• Jack frost nipping at your nose

• a head on collision between a grandma and reindeer

AND – as these aliens listen to the songs, if any particular person rose to the top and seemed to be the main character in this celebration, it would probably be a jolly guy in a red suit named Santa Claus or Saint Nick…

YES…

I THINK – that for the most part… they would have no clue as to the real meaning of Christmas…

NOW – please don’t misunderstand me… I am not saying those songs are wrong or that we should not sing them or enjoy them… BUT NEVERTHELESS – they are not the real , the deeper meaning of Christmas.

IN FACT – if the real Saint Nick was around today, and saw how little attention Christ was getting during this time of year…

I THINK – he might just punch somebody out.

YOU SEE – Saint Nicholas, aka Santa Claus… is based on a real man who lived around 300 AD…

• he was the bishop of Myra (Modern day Turkey)

• he came from a wealthy family and was known for helping the poor

• one story has Nicholas upon hearing of a father who because of extreme poverty was about to sell his three daughters into prostitution, throwing a few bags of coins into his window (or down the chimney as some traditions say) thereby saving these girls from a life of misery.

• When the Roman Emperor Diocletian amped up the persecution of Christians throughout the Empire, Nicholas was arrested, tortured and imprisoned for his faith

• He spent many years in prison and was released when The Roman Emperor Constantine ordered all persecutions of Christians to end and all those in prison to be set free…

• On his release, Nicholas began where he left off helping the less fortunate…

NOW - my favorite story about Saint Nick… is about how during the Council of Nicea in 325 AD… he got into a heated debate with a dude name Arius who was teaching the Jesus did not always exist but was rather a created being…