Getting Ready for Christmas

The past few days, I’ve been working on a seminary paper related to C.S. Lewis’ views on Christmas. The two essays that Lewis wrote on Christmas are Xmas and Christmas and What Christmas Means to Me. Both are found in God in the Dock. These are very different essays, but his point is pretty much the same. Lewis distinguishes between two different kinds of Christmas: Christmas the religious holiday and Christmas the “commercial racket.” His concern is that the second will subsume the first, that the cultural and commercial event will overcome the real “reason for the season.” This is, in fact, one of the reasons that the Reformers opposed the celebration of Christmas and other holidays. Calvin, Knox, and later Presbyterians and Puritans opposed the celebration of Christmas on the basis that it took away from the regular worship of God. And most Protestant Christians were on the same page for a long time. As late as 1899, the PCUS (commonly called the “Southern Presbyterian Church”) declared that Christmas ought not be celebrated.

Now, over the past hundred years, Reformed Christians have come to a more moderate position, and we now do regularly celebrate Christmas. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be reflecting on the advent and incarnation of Jesus. But I do think it’s wise to take the concerns of our forebearers and of C.S. Lewis seriously. We tend to guard our hearts against distraction in other seasons. It’s easy to talk about sports seasons, hunting seasons, or vacation seasons as potential having potential to distract us from Christ. But during Advent and Christmas, because they are so tied up with the story of Jesus, it’s easy to trick ourselves into thinking that we’re doing something spiritual when we’re really not. During this season, secular artists sing songs about Jesus. Walmart puts out nativity scenes. We send each other cards with Bible verses. All these things have potential to take us away from the true worship of God.

Of course, I don’t intend that as a condemnation of any of those thing as such. When Charlie Brown reads the Bible on national TV, we ought to say, “Glory to Christ!” But Charlie Brown can’t sustain your soul. That’s the job of the Spirit working through the ordinary means of grace: Word, sacrament, and prayer.

So over the next few weeks, enjoy Advent and Christmas. Enjoy the decorations, the parties, the movies, and the music, but don’t neglect your calling as a Christian. Come join us in worship to hear the Word read and preached and to pray together with the saints. Let the Word and prayer be heard in your home as well. And prepare yourself to receive the Lord’s Supper on December 31st. It is good to remember Christ in a special way during this season, but let’s not neglect to meet him in the places he’s promised to meet us.

Hymns You’ve Never Heard

Another thing I want to do over the next couple of weeks is share some less well-known Christmas and Advent hymns. One of my favorites is “This Little Babe” by Robert Southwell. Here are the words:

1 This little Babe so few days old Is come to rifle Satan’s fold; All hell doth at His presence quake, Though He Himself for cold doth shake; For in this weak unarmed wise The gates of hell He will surprise.

2 With tears He fights and wins the field, His tiny breast stands for a shield; His battering shot are babish cries, His arrows looks of weeping eyes, His martial ensigns cold and need, And feeble flesh His warrior’s steed.

3 His camp is builded in a stall, His bulwark but a broken wall, The crib His trench, haystalks His stakes, Of shepherds He His army makes; And thus, as sure His foe to wound, The angels’ trumps the charge now sound.

4 My soul with Christ join thou in fight; Stick to His tents, the place of might. Within His crib is surest ward; This little Babe will be thy Guard. If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy, Then flit not from this heav’nly Boy!

There is a congregational setting for this hymn, but the most popular setting is by Benjamin Britten. Here it is as sung by the University of Minnesota women’s choir.

Updates

1. We’ll be having a special service on Christmas Eve at 6PM. The kids are preparing music and a pageant. Be sure to join us, and invite your neighbor!

2. On December 31st, Bob Bradley from Diamondhead will be in town to serve the Lord’s Supper. Be preparing spiritually for that Lord’s Day as it approaches.

3. If you haven’t been with us for Wednesday night, be sure to join us! Over the next few weeks, we’ll be doing a study on the Lord’s Prayer.

4. Finally, this Lord’s Day, we’re starting a new sermon series in the book of Exodus. I highly recommend that you prepare by reading the Scripture ahead of time. Due to the nature of the book, we’ll be working through fairly large sections each week, so it will help you to have read those sections prior to worship so that you will be familiar with the story as it progresses.

Your friend in Christ,
Reid