Christmas edition

I like music. A lot. So when Christmas comes around and I get to bring out another whole collection of music, I get pretty pumped. However, Christmas music serves as so much more for me than a thing to be enjoyed. It reminds me of what we are celebrating at Christmas time. You see, I like Jingle Bells and Frosty, but the Christmas songs that I really love are about the coming of our Savior. So from now until Christmas, I'll be blogging about some of my favorite Christmas songs.

One song that I listened to for the first time this year is by Shane and Shane, and it's called Born to Die. The first and last verses are my favorites:

"When the babe was born.
In a manger on the hay.
God saw a veil torn.
He saw Good Friday.
He was born to die.

We came here today
to celebrate His birth.
But let us not forget
why Jesus came to earth.
He was born to die."

This song kind of reminds me of T.S. Eliot's poem "The Journey of the Magi." The end of the poem goes like this:

"This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I have seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death."

This is way deeper than I can comment on, so take from it what you will. But my point in writing about this song and this poem is to emphasize the fact that Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Christ, but it's also a time to remember why he came to earth in the first place. He was born to die. For us. The Son of God put on flesh so that we might be reconciled to God. That's pretty amazing stuff. I mean, really. If you're not blown away by the fact that the God of the universe loves you that much, you should be. So in the midst of the Christmas parties and presents and travels, remember and be thankful that the Father sent his Son to earth to live and to die, not because we deserve it, but because He loves us.