December 20
Silver Bells

Luke 1:46-47
And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

For reasons I still don’t understand every singer worth their salt needs to produce and publish a Christmas album. There is no doubt that Christmas music is a big contributing factor to what is called the Christmas spirit.

Nothing probably captures music and the Christmas spirit like “Silver Bells”, a Christmas classic composed by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans in 1950. “Silver Bells” became popular and has since been featured prominently in films and on television. It is a staple on Holiday albums recorded by many different artists. A 1987 version recorded by the Judds was on the Hot Country Songs chart for a week, and a 2009 version by Terry Wogan and Aled Jones reached the Top 40, peaking at No. 27

In 1994, Donna Summer, a performer of big disco hits in the 70s and 80s, a period during which she was known as the “Queen of Disco”, produced a song titled ‘Christmas Spirit’ and an eponymous album. The album was a mixture of Christmas standards across the spectrum, it was a commercial failure. The album even included a remake of Gospel singer Amy Grant’s “Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song)”. Breath of Heaven seems, to me, to be a shallow take on what Mary was thinking about her situation.

Similarly, a very popular Christmas song today is, “Mary, Did You Know?”. “Mary, Did You Know?” is a Christmas song addressing Mary, mother of Jesus, with lyrics written by Mark Lowry in 1984, and music written by Buddy Greene in 1991. That song was originally recorded by Michaael English and reached Number 6 on CCM Magazine’s Adult Contemporary Chart. The song is now considered to be a modern Christmas classic, it has since been recorded by hundreds of artists in many different genres. Many of those recordings reached the top ten in the Billboard R&B and Holiday charts.

“Silver Bells” and “Mary, Did You Know?” are good commentaries on where we are and the confusion of Christmas. For example Here is what happens in Silver Bells – Strings of street lights / Even stop lights / Blink a bright red and green / As the shoppers rush / Home with their treasures / Hear the snow crunch / See the kids bunch / This is Santa’s big scene / And above all this bustle / You’ll hear / Silver bells, silver bells / It’s Christmas time in the city.

Well, Silver Bells is all the made up stuff with solid focus on the commercial activity that makes Christmas, Christmas. But, “Mary, Did You Know?” is supposed to bring us back to the truth and to deep reflection. So, let’s sing – Mary, did you know that your baby boy /Would one day walk on water? / Mary, did you know that your baby boy / Would save our sons and daughters? / Did you know that your baby boy / Has come to make you new? / This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you

The lyrics here aren’t really suggesting that we are seriously pondering these questions. Instead, they suggest that Mary didn’t know or couldn’t know. But what do we think Mary knew? Almost every time that we meet Mary, either as a young girl to whom Gabriel appears, or to a mature woman who is problem solving at a family wedding, Mary demonstrated both knowledge and faith.

It seems clear that neither Mary, or anyone, knew exactly what Jesus was going to do, but the knew that He was going to do. Let’s start at a non-Christmas place to establish this. We’re at the family wedding in Cana and the wine runs out. Mary goes to Jesus. Jesus demurs and Mary pressed in faith and confidence. “Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” John 2:4-5

So back to Christmas, music, and Mary. Mary’s Song, known as “The Magnificat.” The Magnificat (Latin for My Soul magnifies) is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns. Its name comes from the first word of the Latin version of the canticle’s text. (A canticle is a hymn or chant, typically with a biblical text, except Psalms, forming a regular part of a church service.)

So the first bit of Christian singing was a repeat of Mary’s song, and it told us what she knew,

⁴⁶ And Mary said:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
⁴⁷ And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
⁴⁸ For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
⁴⁹ For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
⁵⁰ And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
⁵² He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
⁵⁵ As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.” Luke 1:46-55

We give up Mary’s actual song about what she declared in hope and faith, in other words, what she knew, for a song that wonders what she knew. Or we go off to Silver Bells which abandons any pretense to be rooted in the birth narrative of Jesus.

If music helps us reflect and meditate on the birth of Jesus and what that meant in the roll out of God’s plan for the world’s salvation we’d do well to go back to the actual music of the scent. When we set up nativity scenes, or stage Christmas plays, we should include the singing that took place then too. First old man Zacharius sang, then the Angels sang, then Mary sang, music and singing were always a part of the biblical story of the birth of Jesus. We have a lot of sound hymns and carols and even songs that focus on the truth. We could do things with the genre, and the arrangement, but the core content is the place to start.

Think on these things: 

1. What are your favourite songs this time of the year?
2. Do those songs help you to reflect on the birth of Jesus and His mission?
3. How would you react to songs at this time that have nothing to do with the biblical narratives?

Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would be able to share the truth of Jesus through music that we could listen to and share with others.

In His Grace
Pastor Alex