Day 3: Making Christmas Mighty

When I was a child, the much beloved Christmas carol “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” confused me. In my early years, I even thought it was a plot created by parents to get children to go to bed earlier. If you think about the words, you wonder, “Why would God want happy people to go to sleep?” As a youngster, I believed that God would want happy people to stay awake and share his glory into the wee hours of the morning. In fact, I still feel that way today. If you carefully read each verse, the old carol really seems like a charge to get involved with sharing the joy.

God rest ye merry gentlemen Let nothing you dismay Remember, Christ our Saviour Was born on Christmas day To save us all from Satan’s power When we were gone astray O tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy O tidings of comfort and joy.

Like many of our most revered carols, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlement” was written during the Middle Ages by an unknown peasant. Yet, as the words prove, he understood the full power of the Christmas seson. The lyrics spell out why Christ was sent to earth, they share some of the lessons Jesus taught during his ministry, and they acknowledge the great gift given to us by Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection. It would seem that the song’s author wanted folks to get so excited by this good news that sleep would be impossible. Just why did he ask us to rest?

A host of words, such as surfing, gay, and hip, now have new meanings. The same is true of many words we find in old songs. During ancient times the English meaning for the word rest went well beyond the meaning we attribute it today. The word also meant “make” or “keep.” Thus, when “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” was written, the composer’s charge was for listeners to let God make a change in their hearts and minds about the good news found in Christ’s birth and life. Just knowing this change in meaning transforms the way we think about the song. Yet to grasp the writer’s full intentions, we must look at another word commonly associated with the holidays.

In England they say, “Happy Christmas,” but in the United States it seems Christmas can’t exist without having merry in front of it. Yet if the writer of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” could be transported from his time to ours, he might be both amused and aghast at the way we use that word.
In Old English, the word merry could mean happy, but it was also often employed in place of the word might. Robin Hood’s companions were known as his Merry Men, but that didn’t mean this famous band of warriors was happy; they were powerful. That’s why the king was afraid of them. When Great Britain was called “Merry Old England,” it was the most powerful nation in the world. “Eat, drink, and berry merry” really meant that well fed troops would always be ready for battle. Thus, when taken in context the new meaning of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” becomes “God keep you might, gentlemen.”

The difference between a Christmas that is simply happy and one that is mighty is huge! Why settle for the former when  you have a chance for the latter? With the old carol in mind, it’s time for you to have not just a happy Christmas but a powerful one as well. Right now, today, embrace the real meaning of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and put this old carol’s message of the majesty of faith into action.

So many times I have heard folks say, “Our Christmas just wasn’t any good this year.” If Christmas is weak, it’s because we have opted to make it weak. This is the moment to evict Scrooge from your heart and replace the old grumpy character with the spirit of Christ. How do you begin that transformation? The best way to start is by looking at the life of the individual profiled in “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” Open your Bible, turn to Luke, and consider one of the great lessons found in the parable of the ruler and his servants. With these words, Christ is challenging us to make the gift of Christmas—as well as all our other gifts—a powerful tool of witness and testimony.
A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. “Put this money to work,” he said, “until I come back.”

But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, “We don’t want this man to be our king.”

He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.

The first one came and said, “Sir, your mina has earned ten more.”

“Well done, myh good servant!” his master replied. “Because you have been trustworth y in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.”

The second came and said, “Sir, your  mina has earned five more.”

His master answered, “you take charge of five cities.”

Then another servant came and said, “Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.”

His master replied, “I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?”
Then he said to those standing by, “Take his mina away from him and give it to the oen has has ten minas.”

“Sir,” they said, “he already has ten!”

He replied, “I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for those who have nothing, even what they will have will be taken away.”

Luke 19: 12-26

All of us have been given many gifts. There is no better time to take inventory of those gifts than right now.

In Luke, what does Christ ask us to do with our gifts? We are to invest them. How do you invest joy? By letting others see joy in your actions.

One of the first songs you learned to sing as a child was “This Little Light of Mine.” I’m sure you remember the words. The light that is created by the joy of the season is also the message that runs through all the verses of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” The joy is found in the knowledge of not just Christ’s birth but also his life. What is the best way to share it? Through your attitude.

If you put a smile on your heart this season, it will appear on your face as well. A smile is a powerful tool. A smile can lift more weight that any crane ever constructed. It can lift the weight of the world off someone’s shoudlers. Your smile can make all those around you feel better. Your smile can ignite the Christmas spirit. So vow to start each day by embracing the gift of joy and letting it power the light revealed in the expression on your face.

Another gift to embrace this year is the gift of life. A life lived well is one of the greatest testimonies you can give to others. As one Christian hero, Francis of Assisi, is reported to have said, “Give a sermon every day and occasionally use words.” If we live this Christmas season recognizing the power of the message of Christ, it will show in every facet of our lives. People will notice. When you fully embrace the mighty message of the season, that light you set aglow with your joy will become a blazing beacon. Your life will become a blessing to others.

Greet people with a joyful “Merry Christmas” or “Mighty Christmas.” Let the words spring from your lips like an exuberant melody. Reveal by the happy look on your face and the enthusiasm in your tone that you are filled with the season’s spirit. By doing this simple act, your life will become a sermon so needed by others at Christmas.

Another gift to recognize during this time of year is the gift of peace. To fully appreciate this precious gift, let’s look through the lens used by the writer of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”

The peasants in Old England didn’t have an easy life. They worked long hours, had few physical rewards, had no upward mobility, and were part of a class system that allowed them little say in their government. Their dreams were held in check by the brutal fact of being born into a low station in life. If you were born a poor peasant, you were destined to stay a poor peasant. Yet despite knowing he probably would never have anything of great value, the composwer of the old carol had a rock solid peace in his life. You can see this in the words he gave us in his song.

Consider another great carol of the season: “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” This song was written by an American slave. Its composwer also found great peace in knowing that Christ had come for him. You can ehar the power of that message in his lyrics. In spite of the lot he had been given in life, he had found personal peace and power, thanks to the gift of the Christmas season.

So can you bring peace to the whole earth? Probably not. Leaders have been trying to do that for thousands of years, with dismal results. But if you believe in the reason for the season, you can find peace in your own life. The best way to start this quest for personal peace is by ending the conflict in your own world. If a problem is upsetting you, use the holiday season to put that problem behind you. Find the person at the heart of the problem and build a bridge to peace. Humble yourself, end a feud, seek middle ground, and in the process take charge of your Christmas.

Finally, maybe the best gift we Christians have been given is that Christmas has become so secular. Unlike Easter, which is seen only as a Christian holiday, this season has a universal nature that gives us a chance to take to a new level Christ’s challenge of investing our gifts. The secularism of the seson has given us many opportunities to tell the story found in “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” Because Christmas is so universal, it is easier to talk about Jesus at Christmastime than to do so at any other time of the year. We need to invest this treasure we have been given and see it multiply.
Now is the moment to embrace the gifts we have been given as Christians. We have the power to make this a mighty Christmas, but ot do that we must invest our gifts.

A Shortcut to the Spirit of the Season
Use an old oil lamp as part of this year’s decorations. Fill the lamp with scented oil and light it each day as a reminder of your potential to be a light in a dark world.