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If you're anything like me, you may find that the holidays can be a mixed bag: excitement and grief, pride and regret, reunion and loneliness, faith and dashed hope. Sometimes, however, in an instant, all the meaning of the season can come flooding in when you least expect it. I offer this week, as a poem, of my favorite contemporary Christmas songs, written by two friends of mine: composer David Friedman and lyricist David Zippel. See if its words of transformation speak to you:
Just in Time for Christmas
David Zippel (Music by David Friedman)
They had decked the malls and trimmed the town with plastic trees,
till the world was just a giant retail maze.
’Tis the season when you turn your thoughts to people you can’t please,
when you measure passing time in shopping days.
And the holidays were something to get through,
but the thing I hadn’t counted on...was you.
Just in time for Christmas, you came along.
Just in time for Christmas, when everything felt wrong,
and I was sure my faith had all run out.
Just in time for Christmas, you showed me what Christmas is about.
What I needed most could not be bought at any price.
I was far too disillusioned then to see.
I was going through the motions: made a list and checked it twice
and forgot to write down anything for me.
But my long-unspoken wishes had been heard,
and an unexpected miracle occurred.
Just in time for Christmas, one silent night;
just in time for Christmas, you filled my life with light,
and there was joy where there had once been doubt.
Just in time for Christmas, you showed me what Christmas is about.
And, all at once, the bells began to ring
and, hark, the herald, I heard angels sing.
Who am I to resist their call?
You brought me the greatest gift of all.
And, now, my spirits sing.
Just in time, my heart is caroling.
From deep within my soul, I want to shout,
“Just in time for Christmas!”
Just in time for Christmas, you showed me what Christmas is about.
Hopefully, you found places of resonance with images in this piece. Did you "get the feels," as I do, when you you read the lyric?
What are your Christmas memories, the joyful and the sorrowful? Do you have a way to bring them to mind in ways that are healthy for you?
When I have performed the song after starting at seminary, audiences have heard a faith journey in the lyrics. What did you hear?
A reminder that, this coming Sunday, Christmas Eve, we will not have a morning service, but will have our traditional two services at 4 and 8 PM (with receptions to follow). I hope that, no matter your faith tradition, you make space in your evening for joining us. You will be treated to beautiful music, haunting texts, some pageantry, and messages of hope and love and, importantly, of resistance. For the Christmas story is one that defies an oppressive regime, finding in a lowly child, "lordship," a title reserved for the emperor. Come and be swept up in the magic and mystery that is Christmas. And then stay for community.
And please join me for the final Tea Time of 2023 on Thursday, December 21st (tomorrow!) at 4 PM on Zoom.
I said that I had sung, "Just in Time for Christmas"—as it happens, I also recorded it, and I share it with you here. How does hearing the song change the way you thought about it when you read it? Let's discuss on Thursday.
Merry Christmas!
Rev. Craig
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