Fox News Channel's chief religion correspondent Lauren Green adores the way Christmas hymns remind us of the true meaning of Christmas.
In an essay included in the new book "All American Christmas" by Rachel Campos-Duffy and Sean Duffy, Green shares her appreciation for the "wonderful theological truths in the nugget and the form of a familiar tune. They are just so powerful."
Here, in her own words, is her engaging explanation of how her understanding of Christmas has evolved over time as her own faith developed.
These wise words as well as the stories, traditions, and memories of many other Fox News personalities and staff pepper the pages of the book.
Read Lauren Green's thoughts about Christmas hymns
Lauren Green in All American Christmas: For me, my memories of Christmas spanning childhood to adulthood represent, in some measure, the evolution of my Christmas faith.
What began as a childhood fantasy of Santa Claus, reindeer, toys, and all the rest of the secular traditions we share in our culture has, over time, taken on the full theological weight of the reality of Jesus Christ being born.
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One way to illustrate this is that as a child I sang Christmas carols and hymns.
I knew the words.
As I got older I understood the meaning of the words.
I now understand and appreciate these wonderful theological truths in the nugget and the form of a familiar tune. They are just so powerful."
"As I got older," says Lauren Green, "I understood the meaning of the words" of the Christmas hymns and carols she had been singing since childhood, she shares with readers in ‘All American Christmas.’ (iStock)
Christmas hymns are important for three reasons.
First, they remind us of the power of the Gospel.
Second, God gave us the skill and the command to sing, and He can be glorified even in good secular music.
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And finally, they remind us of our complete reliance on the grace of God.
One of the hymns I just love is "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." The carol describes a scene that Luke relates in chapter 2, verse 14.
As we celebrate Christmas less than a week from now, we know that "God chose to send His son to us as a gift, creating a chance for our relationship with Him to be reconciled," says Lauren Green in her thoughtful essay. (iStock)
Two of the founding ministers of Methodism, George Whitefield and Charles Wesley, contributed to the lyrics, which are set to the music of Felix Mendelssohn, the great German composer famous for the oratories "St. Paul" and "Elijah."
The song begins with "Hark! the herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn king. Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.’"
That last statement, "God and sinners reconciled," reflects what Jesus was born to do and heralded for all mankind. Humanity can now be reconciled with God, because God chose to send His son to us as a gift, creating a chance for our relationship with Him to be reconciled.
Lauren Green is Fox News Channel's chief religion correspondent. "Every heart, really, when it sings, is ultimately singing to God," she says.
We sin but we can be redeemed through God's grace.
That is what makes Christianity what it is.
Later lyrics say, "Veiled in flesh the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate deity."
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That tells us that God has come in the flesh. He is an incarnate deity. He is, as the Gospel writer John says, "The Word made flesh."
Those few verses are the summation of, the foundational beliefs that underpin, our faith …
Besides the power of these [Christmas carols] to proclaim the Gospel, we sing because we are commanded to make music by God.
And every heart, really, when it sings, is ultimately singing to God.
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We might be singing, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire," but the warmth and comfort that we're seeking through that song is really our heart crying out to God to comfort us … Singing Christmas carols together is the glorification of the God we worship through song.
Excerpted from All American Christmas by Rachel Campos-Duffy and Sean Duffy. To purchase a copy, click here.
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