Sunday, April 19, 2009, 7:03 a.m. – I woke this morning thinking about my daughter and her husband’s move into their new (first) home this past week. They spent the week painting all the walls in their new home and getting everything ready to move out of their apartment. Yesterday was the official “move in” day into their new house.
So, at supper time, everyone who was still there, and who had participated in the activities of the week and/or the day, was sitting around eating pizzas and drinking sodas and resting his or her aching body. They, in their conversation, got on the subject of the color of paint chosen for the kitchen (not yet painted). My daughter and her husband had chosen a deep red color to paint their kitchen. It was mentioned that the countertops are green, and that it was going to make the kitchen look like Christmas. Then, my daughter, who was cold because someone had cranked up the air-conditioning, put on a pair of long bright red pants over the pants she was already wearing. As I was thinking about all of this, this song came into my mind:
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas / Meredith Wilson 1951
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ev'rywhere you go
Take a look in the five-and-ten,
Glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Toys in ev'ry store
But the prettiest sight to see
Is the holly that will be
On your own front door.
A pair of hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots
Is the wish of Barney and Ben
Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk
Is the hope of Janice and Jen
And mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ev'rywhere you go
There's a tree in the Grand Hotel,
On ein the park as well
The sturdy kind that doesn't mind the snow.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Soon the bells will start
And the thing that will make them ring
Is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart.
This song played over and over in my head a few times. I prayed and asked the Lord if this was to be my song for this morning, and then immediately this particular Christmas song switched to this song:
O Sacred Head, Now Wounded / Bernard of Clairvaux / Hassler / Bach
O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, Thine only crown;
How pale Thou art with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish, which once was bright as morn!
O Lord of life and glory, What bliss till now was Thine!
I read the wondrous story; I joy to call Thee mine.
What Thou, my Lord, has suffered was all for sinners’ gain;
Mine, mine, was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.
What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest friend,
For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.
Be near me when I am dying, Oh, show Thy cross to me;
And for my succor flying, come, Lord, to set me free:
These eyes, new faith receiving, from Thee shall not remove,
For he who dies believing dies safely through Thy love.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read II Timothy 3:
My Understanding: I just reread the lyrics to both this 1951 Christmas Carol and this hymn that was written (the words) nearly 1000 years ago. I could not help but notice the stark contrast between a song that was to be about Christmas (the celebration of Jesus’ birth) and this hymn of old about Jesus’ death on the cross. And, then I compared these two songs and their obvious contrast in message to this passage of scripture, which also has a stark contrast between the godlessness of the Last Days and the life of righteousness, as Paul laid out here to Timothy.
Then, I noted that V. 6 speaks of “weak-willed women” who are “loaded down with sins”. It made me think of how my daughter had placed a pair of long red pants over top of her other pants and how that she was literally “weighed down” with garments, the top pair of pants being the color red and red often symbolizing sin as well as salvation. My daughter often symbolizes Israel/the Church in my dreams, so I do believe the Lord gave me this “real-life” illustration to symbolize people in the church being “weighed down” with sin, and also salvation which covers over our sin.
The song, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” gives an interesting perspective of the meaning of Christmas – decorations in store windows, toys, holly, clothing, guns, dolls, vacation, Christmas trees, snow, bells and Christmas carols that ring within your heart. These are not bad things in and of themselves. Yet commercialism, greed, ungratefulness, abuse, loss of self-control, “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” are also all part of the Christmas season, especially this last phrase, because these “things” have often replaced God in our hearts.
The hymn, “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded,” speaks of Jesus’ suffering and ultimate death on the cross for our sins so that we might be free from the love of money, greed, ungratefulness, unforgiveness, etc. I don’t believe it is wrong for us to enjoy life and to have pleasure in whatever God has provided for us, but if we live for pleasure, if we live for what we can gain in this world or if satisfying our wants and desires becomes more important than serving the Lord and following his will for our lives, then that is where it becomes an issue. That is where the things of this world become our focus and even take over our hearts and God ends up with the leftovers. We become “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
The encouragement here, I believe, is to test our hearts. Do our lives reflect this Christmas Carol? Are we “beginning to look a lot like Christmas” as described in this song in our hearts? Do we live for pleasure rather than live to please God? Or, do our lives reflect the death of Jesus in our hearts and lives? Is the cry of our hearts to be made like “Thine forever”? Are we grateful for what Jesus did for us on the cross? Do we “joy to call Thee mine”? Do we pray for the Lord to come flying to our aid (succor) to set us free from the trappings of this world? And, do we pray daily to have our faith renewed? Are you ready to meet the Lord should you die today?
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
