Tis the season for Christmas programs. Our schedules are filled with The Messiah, Readings of the Night Before Christmas and many children’s choirs. We passed a church this morning that had so many cars in the parking lot they were parked four deep. It would be a while before some people got out.
Some time ago I saw a choir where the children knew all the words and were spot on coming in and out when they were up. But there was something wrong. Something was missing. And then it hit me. The children were not smiling and there was little joy being expressed. They might as well have been singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm. The joy of Christmas isn’t so much the technical prowess of the choir but the emotion expressed. The children were prepared in their heads but not their hearts.
Oh Holy Night is only moving when the singers are moved. The Hallelujah Chorus is only wonderful when you cannot keep yourself in your seat but have to stand, not because it is convention, but because God is so great and so mighty. I have to say that this weekend I did hear and watch a mother and daughter sing a duet about Jesus Our King that caused me to well up; it was so full of love.
Jesus really is Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, The Prince of Peace. I heard someone sing wonderful counselor. He is a wonderful counselor but that is not what Isaiah was saying. Jesus is Wonderful period. Wonderful is not an adjective modifying counselor. Wonderful is His name. He fills our hearts with His splendor and love and majesty and it is beyond comprehension.
Written by Roger Bothwell on December 14, 2015
rogerbothwell.org