Silent night.

Joy to the world.

Hark the herald angels sing.

Love it or hate it, Christmas is always surrounded by music. Whether it’s the songs we hear at the mall while we do our shopping or the pop renditions of Christmas favourites on the radio or our children’s school play telling the story of some holiday miracle through music, everywhere we turn there are songs that are a big part of this whole season.

We may have memories of our family sitting around the piano or maybe you remember being in a Christmas presentation when you were young or maybe your parents took you to church on Christmas Eve and so that’s what you do with your kids, too. And through all of these events there is this common element of music yuletide carols being sung by a choir.

What is it about this time of year that makes us want to sing? Is there something inside of us that just thinks this whole Christmas thing is just too big, too magical, too mysterious that we aren’t even able to describe it through words alone?

We need something more than just regular conversation to comprehend it and we are naturally drawn to just celebrate the story by breaking into song.

It’s almost as though way down deep in your being there’s this really spiritual part of you that just gets switched on when you hear the whole Christmas story.

So let it out – don’t hold back. Don’t just hum along to those Christmas songs that you hear year after year, let yourself join in and maybe get a new understanding of what it means that joy has come to the world.

Sing about chestnuts and snowmen and winter wonderlands and enjoy the moment.

And then sing about Bethlehem and the drummer boy and remember that glorious night 2,000 years ago that changed this world forever.

(Chris Batcher, Director of Worship Ministry,

Orangeville Baptist

Church)