The Carol of the Gospel

A couple years ago, I was in China just before Christmas and visited a large city mall which I was surprised to find as colorfully decorated for the holidays as any here in America. On top of that, Christmas carols could be heard being piped throughout every store. I was amazed that although sung in English, they were not just the frivolous songs of Santa and Rudolph but many of the great carols that share the story of our Savior’s birth.

It’s interesting that despite so many attempts these days to extract Christ from Christmas, God’s message of truth and love continues to permeate other cultures around the world through the propagation of these wonderful songs.

My wife, Anita, recently reminded me that the original purpose of carols was that they be sung outside the walls of the church as a proclamation of the Gospel for those who had not heard it before. That is why so many of these songs have powerful lyrics that proclaim the basics of our theology. Look, for example, at this verse from Hark the Herald:

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness.
Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.

Or consider the theology in this line from The First Noel:

Then let us all with one accord sing praises to our heavenly Lord,
That hath made heaven and earth of naught,
And with His blood mankind hath bought.

A couple weeks ago we were hosting two young Japanese students studying here in Spokane for a semester. One of them from a Buddhist background had all sorts of questions about the meaning of Christmas. But in the midst our explanations, we discovered that not only had she heard Silent Night before, but already knew it by heart and could sing it in her native language of Japanese!

I can’t help but wonder in how many other people of the world God has already planted His seed of truth by means of them hearing, loving and learning Christmas carols.