When do you begin planning for Christmas? Some very organised people I know begin their planning for the next Christmas immediately after they have finished celebrating the current one, purchasing bargain Christmas decorations in the post-Christmas sales. Some retail establishments seem to begin their Christmas plan, or perhaps we should say retail marketing strategy, on or around 25 June when their Christmas catalogues are distributed.
When I was a younger person, before I was married, planning for Christmas didn’t really occur. Not unless you count a frantic dash around the shops buying a few ‘well chosen’ presents as planning. It’s not that I didn’t want to plan for Christmas, it’s just that other things seemed to get in the way. I suspect that, for many of us, serious planning for Christmas begins the day we hear the first piece of Christmas music for the year. It may be on the radio, or hearing a child practise for the Christmas Concert; more likely it is one of the retail Christmas favourites being played over the loudspeakers in a shopping centre.
Christmas songs are an unusual form of music. Some are loved, others are loathed. Some bring back fond memories of childhood Christmases; others move us to tears as we remember those who will not be with us at Christmas.
Behind our emotional response to many Christmas songs is the subject they portray. Bing Crosby’s rendition of the Irving Berlin song White Christmas is one of the most popular pieces of Christmas music ever recorded. It is a staple of Christmas gatherings and regularly appears near the top of lists of popular and culturally significant songs. Crosby’s recording of White Christmas is the bestselling single of all time, with over 50 million copies sold. It has also been downloaded over 320 million times on Spotify!
Unless we are longing for a respite from the heat of Christmas, it is a very strange song for an Australian Christmas. Very occasionally it will snow in Australia. In 2006 snowfall was recorded on the summit of Mount Wellington in Hobart and on the higher peaks in Victoria and New South Wales. For most of Australia the only white of Christmas is the glare from the summer sun.
Bing Crosby also has another Christmas song which appears in the list of best-selling singles. His recording of Silent Night has sold over 10 million copies. Unlike the longed for but extremely unlikely for Australia, snow white Christmas, Silent Night speaks of a very real Christmas, the first Christmas, the birth of Jesus.
One of the most well loved Christmas Carols, Silent Night was written in 1818 by Joseph Mohr, a catholic priest in Austria, and based on a poem he had written a few years earlier. The original setting, similar to the one we sing today, was composed for guitar because the church organ was damaged by flood waters.
The hymn captures the image of the stable just after the birth of Jesus. The repeated last line of each verse catches the themes of Christmas. The first verse announces the coming of God’s peace into the world, the birth of Jesus is the coming of the prince of peace. The second repeated stanza reminds is that Jesus Christ is the saviour God promised, and the final refrain proclaims that Jesus was born Lord.
Between now and Christmas Day we will hear, and perhaps sing, many Christmas songs. Some like Bing Crosby’s White Christmas will remind us of Christmases past. Others like Silent Night recall the events of the first Christmas, and teach us the significance of the coming of Jesus Christ into our world.
Have a happy and blessed Christmas.
Andrew Heron
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The Church of the Good Shepherd’s annual Christmas Carols in the Churchyard will be held on Saturday 10 December, not on Sunday as in previous years. The evening will begin with a Sausage Sizzle at 5:30pm, but you are welcome to bring your own picnic. Carol singing will commence around 6:30pm. On Sunday 18 December there will be a special children’s Christmas service at 10am. Christmas services will be held at 11pm on Christmas Eve and 9am on Christmas Day. Both will be services of Holy Communion. On New Year’s Day there will be one service at 9am.
