12 songs of Christmas - song one

I Believe In Father Christmas lyrics - by U2.

Here's a video of the song followed by the lyrics.

They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on Earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the Virgin's birth
I remember one Christmas morning
A winters light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas Tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire
They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
And they told me a fairy story
'Till I believed in the Israelite
And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked at the sky with excited eyes
'Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise

I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave New Year
All anguish pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on Earth
Hallelujah Noel be it Heaven or Hell
The Christmas you get you deserve.

La la la la la la la la la la....

First of all the background to the song.

Bono has set up this (Red)wire thing. Where for a monthly subscription you buy a song or two a month and half the money goes to buy medicine for those in Africa with AIDs who need it.

This is their song, it is a remake of a song that Greg Lake (of Emerson Lake and Palmer) did in the early 70's. People moaned at him at what they took to be an anti-religious song. This confused him a bit as he had written it as an anti-commercialism-of-Christmas song. Hey who are we to argue with the author - despite what the post-modernists say.

I chose this one as the first cab off the rank for a couple of reasons.

1. It's U2 - need I say more...
2. I'm a bit peeved at commercialism of Christmas this year. I suppose I should be every year but this year it has hit home a bit as to what we all need Christmas to be. Yes I'm talking about the true religious - Jesus' birth is celebrated - God became incarnate reasons. But putting that aside for now (yikes - really how can you do that) Put aside the commercialism and religion and think about what Christmas does...

People just for a little bit of the year (one twelfth or even just one day of it) start acting towards each other they way they really should for the rest of the year. Giving, caring and celebrating life. Thinking about others and what they can do for them.

I love geting presents for people, I love the time thinking about them and what would they like and when I give it I like to see their expression of joy. (Which is why buying some cop-out gift irks me)

Christmas needs to be here so that people use it to have the well-being of others in the fore-front of thier minds and to overcome what for many is the selfishness me-me-me attitude of the rest of the year.

This song has a poke at the commercialism which has distracted from the truth of Jesus and the need to get ourselves out of ourselves and into the needs of others.

Of course for many Christmas is one of the worst times of the year because for many all the people around them are so infatuated with themselves they don't see, know or care about someone who is loney... hurting... wounded in spirit. It can amplifiy that which they don't have - peopel who care about them.

10 years ago to the day of this post my marriage ended and I moved out (at the time only for a few days but we both agreed later that we were finished). On Christmas eve it is 5 years to the day that my father died. I miss him so much. Along with highlighting the lonlyness of the other 11 months this supposedly joyful time of the year can be the remeberance of painful events, when we are supposed to be all happy and cheessy (Go the American sitcoms!) all we think about is our pain.

Get out of yourself and your own pain, go help someone else - it will ease your hurt as you feel the joy of helping another. Let others help you. And that is a big ask - allow other to actually help you.

I have a tradition that helps me get past my painful memories and also keeps me free from any feelings of being alone. On Christmas Eve a bunch of people from church go to Carols by Candlelight, then we go to a persons house for supper, then to midnight communion (starts at 11:30). It is a different bunch of people each year and at each event. But I look forward to it all year long and I remember it during the year if I'm feeling down. All these people, not just on this day, are my freinds, they are closer to me than some in my family. And this night highlights and amplifies to me that which I have all year round. People I can love and be loved by.

Forget the commercialism of Christmas, don't allow a veil of tears to hide the Virgins birth...

...Go to Church

If I could sing this is one of the ones I'd sing

I might make this a bit of an ongoing series, maybe keep it as song Wednesday like Theology Sunday.

What this post is based around is if I could sing, then what songs would I put in my regular set list.

Today it's with or without you by U2.
I'm not going to post a link to an .mp3 if you want one go buy the album, or song from itunes.

// The Joshua Tree
// With Or Without You

See the stone set in your eyes
See the thorn twist in your side.
I wait for you.
Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails she makes me wait
And I wait without you

With or without you
With or without you.

Through the storm, we reach the shore
You gave it all but I want more
And I'm waiting for you

With or without you
With or without you.
I can't live with or without you.

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give, and you give
And you give yourself away.

My hands are tied, my body bruised
She got me with nothing to win
And nothing else to lose.

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give, and you give
And you give yourself away.

With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you.

With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you
With or without you.

I'm not precisely sure what it's all about but it is (at the moment) my favourite U2 song. I love it's sound, the infinite loop that The Edge uses on guitar. The passion and pain Bono puts into the vocals.

When I listen to the song I think of a guy who loves a woman but she is not that concerned about him and so it hurts to be near her as she does not return his attentions. It also hurts the man to be away from her as he loves her and wants to be near her but is not.

There is no-one in my life like that right now but there have been a couple over the last decade. It hurt to be away from them because you remember her smile, and the joy in her eyes, the catch of her voice as she said your name and you long to be with her, but then you meet up and she is all "just friends" and then I realise... I can't live With or Without You.

Lyrics and their meaning aside I think I like this song most due to its music. the whole thing builds up to a crescendo that if I could sing this is one of the ones I'd sing.

Nutcase on the level of Charles Manson.

Today is Sunday so it's my theological day - lets cut to the chase. I say Jesus is God.

This is not some wishy washy, I want him to be, I'd like him to be or I have faith despite the obvious. It does have an element of faith but it is something reasoned and logical. I'll go into this further on down the track but for today lets hear what Bono has to say. It is a sorta paraphase of what C.S. Lewis said in the 40's in his book Mere Christianity, and I agree with them both.

In the book Bono the guy had this to say to journalist Michka Assayas.

I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to be finally be my judge....It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity...

I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says 'look, you cretins there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness and there's mortality as part of your very sinful nature and let's face it, you're not living a very good life are you?' There are consequences to actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That's the point. It should keep us humbled. It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven.

The secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy had a lot to say long the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammed, Buddha or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn't allow you to do that. He doesn't let you off that hook. Christ says: 'No, I'm not saying I' m a teacher, don't call me teacher. I'm not saying I'm a prophet. I'm saying 'I'm the Messiah. I'm saying: 'I am God incarnate' and people say 'no, no please just be a prophet. A prophet we can take. You're a bit eccentric. We've had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey. We can handle that. But don't mention the "M" word! Because you know we're gonna have to crucify you. And he goes: 'no, no. I know you're expecting me to come back with an army and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah.'

At this point everyone starts staring at their shoes and says 'Oh, my God he's gonna keep saying this.' So what you're left with is: either Christ was who He said He was-the Messiah-or a complete nutcase, I mean, we're talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson.

Bono, by the way isn't god, but he does sing very well, and I look forward to rocking the gates of heaven with him and the band and the angels when we meet in the world beyond this one.