The First Christmas Song

The First Christmas Song

By

District Elder M.L. Maughmer, Jr.

Luke 2:8-14

Praise the Lord and Merry Christmas. In two days we will be celebrating Christmas the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. On tomorrow night children will try to spy wondering if reindeer really know how to fly, they will lay awake with milk and cookies for that jolly little fat man known as Santa Claus. Its Christmas time.

It’s this time of year that people’s hearts are filled with joy and cheer. Love is shown everywhere and people just are generally in a good and happy spirit. Celebrating with family and friends wishing that the feeling they feel would never end, but let us remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.

There is something about the Christmas season that everyone loves and that is the Christmas songs. Everyone loves Christmas songs and we may have our favorite one, but when we begin to hear the Christmas songs they put us in a special kind of mind-set. Christmas songs take us back in our minds to great memories and better times. It is said that music clams the savage beast and that’s true even in scripture, because when Saul would be oppressed by an evil spirit he would call for David to come and play the harp for him until the evil spirit was gone. Music has a calming element to it and that is especially true when it comes to Christmas songs. Just think about it for a moment how do you feel when you hear:

The 12 Days of Christmas

O Come all Ye Faithful

We wish you a Merry Christmas

The First Noel

Joy to the World

Hark the Herald Angels sing

Silent Night

Frosty the Snowman

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

Jingle Bells

How many of you love to hear Little Drummer Boy by Lou Rawls, I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas by Bing Crosby, The Christmas Song – Chestnuts roasting on an open fire by the crooner himself Nat King Cole, Everyone loves This Christmas by Donnie Hathaway. I even have my favorite Christmas song it is At Christmas Time by Luther Vandross. In that song he says At Christmas Time I hear the people laughing, smiling and being happy again. Merry Christmas to the world I wish happiness and love for every boy and every girl Cause the holiday makes me feel this way. Ooh, I wish that every day of the year could have the love that we feel on Christmas day. I like that song because of the way it makes me feel when I hear it. Christmas songs make you feel good.

Today I want to talk about the first Christmas song. The first Christmas song was not sung by a famous crooner or sweet songbird, it wasn’t sung by some hip-hop artist or legendary rock star, the first Christ song was sung by the heavenly host. The first Christmas song had a lead and a 3 part chorus to it. The first part was instructional, the 2nd part gave consolation, and the 3rd part gave hope.

Let me set the scene. Understand that it is night time. Now for those of us that are city folks we may not quite understand the implication that is meant by this because for us at night time street lights come on, homes and business have lights, and cars and trucks that travel the road have lights on them. So to fully grasp the scene of night we must go to the country where the only light is the glow from the moon and stars and maybe a camp fire that you have there is no other light and it is dark. This is what the shepherds experienced on that holy night. They were in the field keeping watch over their flocks. Contrary to popular belief it wasn’t Dec.25th as we suppose, because by studying we understand that the Jews people, the shepherds keep their flocks in the field from April to October because between the first part of Oct and the end of March it is utterly cold and during this period of time they kept the sheep in the what is known as the sheep house.

But here they are in the field and its night time when the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone about them and they were sore afraid, I believe they were frozen in total amazement at what they were seeing. One reason they were afraid is because when a person saw an angel it was thought that they were going to die and another reason they were sore afraid is because contrary to popular belief an angel is not a little baby in a diaper holding a cute little bow and arrow, but is a mighty and fierce warrior ready for battle. In the dark of night there appeared unto these shepherds this Heavenly warrior and around them a light brighter than the noon day sun. This angel although we are not given his name is the lead for the first Christmas song. The angel began to say “Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you, ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger”. When suddenly these shepherds who were frozen in total amazement seen the veil that separates the unspiritual from the spiritual, the natural from the super natural be rent from top to bottom, they were now looking into the Kingdom of Heaven, just imagine the sight, when suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of heavenly host. That word “host” is a military term referring to a band of soldiers in the Greek language, which lets us know that they are not some little babies, but are a countless multitude of formidable, battle ready warriors of God. They are praising God with the fruit of their lips and they are saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”. This was the 1st Christmas song every note was crisp, precise, and with clarity. They sang something that man could understand, something that would make men feel better if they would only try to understand what the heavenly host was saying. The angels were singing about Jesus who was born in a manger. They sung of Christ and the salvation which he come to work out. This song was the 1st Christmas song.