Every December, something remarkable happens across the world. Millions of people who’d never darken the door of a church happily sing about the incarnation of our Lord. They sing about the virgin birth, the angels’ songs, and the coming king. They may do so in a shopping mall, at a school concert, or in the comfort of their car. You can hear carols on the streets of Kinshasa and Accra, Johannesburg and Nairobi. These carols are one of the last remaining bridges between increasingly secular cultures and the heart of the Christian gospel.
A 1900-Year-Old Tradition
The story of the carol begins surprisingly early. In 129 AD, Telesphorus, Bishop of Rome, decreed that Gloria in Excelsis Deo be sung at the Christmas vigil. By the 4th century, Ambrose of Milan commissioned a hymn to combat Arianism: Of the Father’s Heart Begotten. This is still sung in Latin as Corde Natus ex Parentis. From the 9th century O Come, O Come, Emmanuel to Francis of Assisi’s joyful nativity plays, carols have always been theology set to music and carried on the lips of ordinary people.
Carols have always been theology set to music and carried on the lips of ordinary people.
Fast-forward to 1426: John Awdlay, an English chaplain, records twenty-five “caroles of Cristemas” being sung door-to-door. Six hundred years later, that tradition lives on across Africa: in Congo, where choirs walk village paths at night; in Ghana, where brass bands parade through markets; and in South Africa, where carols by candlelight services draw thousands.
Steering the Season Back to Christ
Singing Christmas carols naturally puts the focus back on Jesus. Many carols are deeply theological, and singing them is part of the Christmas tradition. And because music has the ability to lodge truth in the imagination, people remember sung theology long after sermons are forgotten. So, why don’t we capitalise? Why not use carols to connect people to Christ?
People remember sung theology long after sermons are forgotten.
If we did, we’d be following in the footsteps of Martin Luther, who set the Christmas story to music in his 15-stanza carol, From Heaven Above to Earth I Come to Bear Good News to Every Home (originally Vom Himmel Hoch, da Komm Ich Her). Luther saw music as a powerful tool to instruct and inspire people in the core tenets of our faith. The German Reformer wrote some 36 hymns in his lifetime.
Charles Wesley also applied his hymn-writing prowess to Christmastime. His now famous carol, Hark! the Herald Angels Sing, contains a mini-systematic theology. In just four verses, we move from the Trinity to Christ’s dual nature, the new birth, and God’s final conquest of sin. Placide Cappeau’s O Holy Night covers a similar range of doctrines, all the while carried along by a hauntingly beautiful melody.
Using Carols to Connect Today
Many find carols services to be an easy event to invite non-church-going friends to. People are often nostalgic at Christmastime. Singing carols is part of that nostalgia. The typical ‘Christmas and Easter churchgoers’ often look for a service that will connect them with past Christmas experiences. I’ve even had Muslims and Hindus ask me if I knew of a Christmas service to attend, because they wanted to experience Christmas that way.
Carefully chosen carols will provide a rich, multilayered encounter with the gospel.
For those who attend these services, carefully chosen carols will provide a rich, multilayered encounter with the gospel. In addition to hearing the good news preached, by the end of the evening, attendees would have sung the entire gospel narrative: from the incarnation and the atonement, to the resurrection hope and the promise of the second coming. They leave with many of the core doctrines of the faith not only dancing on their lips, but also echoing in their minds. Take, for example, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Drawing richly from Isaiah, the carol covers themes of Christology, soteriology and eschatology while linking prophetic prediction to prophetic fulfilment.
Because the lyrics of carols are often well-known, they can even be used as conversation starters. The next time you hear someone sing Mild He Lays His Glory By while in the supermarket queue, why not gently ask them if they’ve thought much about the significance of that phrase?
Wrapping Up
This December, instead of lamenting the commercialisation or secular drift of Christmas, leverage the one part of the season the world hasn’t fully secularised. Christmas songs. Carols. Many of these enduring Christian hymns still proclaim, with power and beauty, that a child was born; a Son was given. By sounding those songs out, we can show people a direct path to the heart of Christian truth.
