CHRISTMAS CAROLING, OUT OF STYLE?

CHRISTMAS CAROLING, OUT OF STYLE OR
POLITICALLY INCORRECT?

I remember growing up in a 1-room church/school house combination where we started singing Christmas carols right after Thanksgiving. Now we are fortunate to have a few songs on the Sunday just before Christmas and we are suppose to be pleased to have that! Not me! I love the Christmas season. It is one of the more important holidays for we Christians. In years past I have tried to include carols wherever I can but it doesn’t work. Usually one person, usually a man who doesn’t like carols, complains about it and it is cut short. Or some people find it a pain to sing them and they are a pain to listen to! Sorry to be so blunt!

It is a travesty to think that when you go into most stores and they are playing Christmas songs and carols, that the churches cannot even devote the last Sunday before Christmas to carols! It seems that the secular world has taken over our holiday and made it their holiday! If a person was to go to church during the Christmas season, I think he would think it weird that we aren’t singing the songs that tell about Jesus’ birth and wonder why he can only hear it in the secular stores. This is the only time of the year we can sing these songs that are so much a part of our joyous Christmas season. Seems like only 4 weeks out of 52 weeks is not asking too much to spend on carols.

A leader of a children’s program on Wednesday nights at my church said that the children do not like to go out caroling any more either. Even a while back on Fox and Friends morning show, they discussed the fact that caroling was going out of style, it’s not done much any more.

When I have asked the song leader why they don’t sing more carols, he usually says that it is too much to work up. What’s to work up about carols! Everyone knows them. Usually he or she introduces a new song from time to time and it always takes a while for the congregation to learn them.

A week before Christmas I and my husband were involved in a bad car accident and had to rest a lot. It was so nice to be able to listen to Christmas songs when I was laying on the couch. We have a radio station on our Sky Angel Television that played Christmas songs all day long (no rock and roll). It really did sooth my jangled nerves and spirits. Of course I must admit that at the end of the season I was tired of it but next year I shall be happy to hear them again!

It is time for us Christians, who love the carols, to get down on our knees and pray that carols will be brought back into the church where they truly belong and not just at the commercial stores.

A Merry Day to you From the Merry Heart