Oh Come All Ye Who Cannot or Do Not Sing

I am not happy about what’s happening to Christmas carols. I’m not talking about the fact that a lot of them have gone secular—“Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer”, “I saw mama kissin’ Santa Clause” or “Chestnuts roasting”. They don’t offend me.
It’s perfectly understandable that folk who have no belief in Christ or the Christian message and find themselves caught in the undertow of a worldwide “holiday season” phenomenon write and listen to songs that have no Christian overtones. There’s logic to that.
I’ve known several Jewish friends, for example, who thoroughly enjoyed the whole holiday: songs, trees, lights, presents, all the trappings and even the traditional carols. Yesterday I went shopping and a Jordanian shopkeeper wished me a Merry Christmas—as did a Hindu from India when we bought some of her wares.
After all, the angel said to the shepherds, “…behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to ALL people.” That’s not an exclusive pronouncement; how it is received may be an eventual problem for some, but the pronouncement is intended for everyone.
My complaint is with conservative Christians—especially Pentecostals and core deep Baptists have done to Christmas singling. (I deliberately do not use the world “caroling”.) The musical lawnmower is being reinvented for no good reason I can see—and I’m not pleased.
I was raised on seasonal music that included Handel’s “Messiah” and traditional carols like “Joy to the World,” “The First Noel,” “Angels we have heard on high”, “Lo, how a rose e’er blooming,” “Oh come, oh come Immanuel” (okay, that’s an Advent carol, but the two seasons are by now hopelessly mixed up), “We Three Kings,” and “Adeste Fidelis”.
I also love older carols: “Good King Wenceslaus,” “The Boar’s head,” “Good Christian Men Rejoice,” “My Dancing Day,” “I Saw Three Ships,” and “The Holly and The Ivy”. I love Harry Belafonte’s Caribbean carol, “Jehovah, Hallelujah, the Lord will provide.” And I am delighted that Joan Baez introduced me to “The Cherry Tree Carol” long ago.
Much of the planet recognizes many of these songs as having to do with Christmas—and there are many other traditional carols unique to specific ethnic groups around the world. But my dear conservative friends, the Pentecostals, have seen fit to jettison these for “music”—I guess it’s music—that sounds like a cross between the Andrews Sisters and soft Rock.
They have not chosen to give us in replacement something that fits right in the canon like “The Little Drummer Boy” or “Can you see what I see?” No, they stock their pulpits with a performing (not accompanying—but people performing, as in a concert) band, sing unsingable songs and expect the bemused congregation to mumble along.
One problem may be that Americans, Christian or not, are no longer taught to sing. I remember my mother holding the hymn book down where I could see it and tracking the notes with her fingers until I learned how to follow them.
We’ve done the same thing to our National Anthem (which was the theme song of a London Drinking Club back in 1760—“The Anacreontic Song”). When everyone learned to sing out of hymnals or even around campfires, it was not a problem.
Today I wince as everything from Jazz singers to Heavy Metal groups change that traditional folk tune to fit their own métier, thereby butchering it. It was what it was; either learn how to sing it—or change our anthem to a different tune.
Sing about the Joy of Christmas in a way the whole world recognizes—and most Methodists and Episcopalians still do—and accept that fact that many congregations will need to be taught how to sing again, or give it up. Let the commercials, the department store music and a few street groups celebrate Christmas. Let those who don’t know how – stop.