One of my favorite “Christmas” albums of all time is Behold the Lamb of God, by Andrew Peterson. I put “Christmas” in quotation marks because unlike all other Christmas albums, I listen to this one year round. That’s because it captures the heart of Christmas, which is not a glory limited to one day a year (or to one shopping season). If Christmas is only about the birth of a special baby, you ‘ll tire of celebrating it after a few weeks. But if Christmas is the arrival of the hope of the ages, the fulfillment of the dreams of the prophets, the answer to the prayers of the faithful, it is a weight that exceeds a momentary remembrance.
Christmas is richer if you’ve been “waiting” for the Savior. But you can’t really get that from the New Testament alone. If you want to enjoy Christmas more, hang out with the prophets. Agonize over your sin and the sin of your people. Anticipate a long, dark exile. Search the counsel of God for some hint of deliverance. I like this album so much because Andrew Peterson has lived with Moses and David and the prophets. He understands what they ‘re saying and he communicates that well in his music.
I ‘ll just point you to one song tonight: “So Long, Moses.” If I had known of this song when it came out, I would have played it for my History of Ancient Israel class every semester (assuming I was less ignorant then than I really was). You can buy the 6-minute song at Amazon for $.99. The entire album (13 songs x 2) is $8.99. You can listen to this song at Youtube here. And read the lyrics here. One song cannot capture everything, but this one speaks well of the longings of the people and the hope of the Messiah.
That I’m studying Isaiah 53:4-6 this weekend, that I listened to the whole chapter five times on my way to pick up the boys, and that this song just happened to be on the short playlist on the way home made it especially meaningful tonight.