Happy Christmas!

I like changing things around at Christmas to make it fresh and new. Sometimes we get so caught up in the traditions and trappings of Christmas that we forget to make it special each and every year. The holiday can become rote and routine. So, I like the way the British say Happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas. I also like songs that aren’t the traditional Christmas songs that we’ve heard over and over for our entire lives. I tend to completely drown out those traditional songs in my head (my friends have been making fun of me for saying I don’t like Christmas songs, but it’s because they are so routine). However, music is one of the main ways that God speaks to me, and I love song lyrics. So, my new favorite song for Christmas is “In Christ Alone”. Yes, I know it’s what we call a praise and worship song, but read the lyrics below and see the Gospel of Christ. Yes, I declare it a very Happy Christmas song:

“In Christ Alone”
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music

In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow’r of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.

That last stanza (see bold type) is my absolute favorite of any worship song. Not just because it has the word pow’r (not to be confused with the two-syllable power), but mainly because this is the way we should live every day as followers of Christ … no guilt in life, no fear in death – Jesus commanding our destiny – standing in the power of Christ.

Happy Christmas! May you live in the death of Christ each day, with no guilt in life nor fear in death, because Jesus commands your destiny.