One of my favorite things about Christmas time is hearing new takes on classic songs.
But along polished, department-store background songs, I love hearing artists who restore a sense of reverence to Christmas. One singer (who many of my co-workers now know I’m a big fan of thanks to my own Christmas playlists) is Sufjan Stevens. Years before he became an indie-folk darling, Stevens would record his own collection of Christmas songs and give them out as gifts to friends and family. Since then, he’s released the songs as a collection of Christmas albums.
The albums are definitely eclectic—with mixes of banjos, unpolished vocals and sing-along style recordings—but it’s refreshing to hear music with a humble agenda … especially at Christmas time.
I didn’t grow up in a church that really sang hymns, and in the last few years I’ve only first really “discovered” them. It’s rare that songs become timeless—but like the truth contained in these little ballads, the humanity and humility in light of the songwriters’ awe of God really transcends generations and music styles. Hearing songs like "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" almost make me feel like I was missing something until finding them.
Contemporary music with the latest studio technology, catchy hooks and three-minute radio-friendliness can’t capture the raw beauty that hymn-writing Christians were able to express in these simple confessions. In a way, listening to hymns is sort of a reminder of a simpler kind of Christmas; a time of year that isn’t about shopping, stress and arguments over political correctness. It’s about a God sending a child into a broken world to restore the only thing that ever mattered in the first place—loving and knowing God.
Here are some links to YouTube videos featuring Sufjan Christmas songs. But if you like what you hear, you can
go to Amazon to buy the CDs.
Joy to the World
What Child Is This
Amazing Grace
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Angels We Have Heard on High