A Strange Christmas Carol for Him

My favorite Christmas carol is not necessarily a popular one.

But I listen to it all the time at home. I enjoy the music related to the nativity while out in public.

Christmas carols ring through my soul and cheer up each Advent season. Don’t you love the faint whispers of angels singing while shopping in crowded stores?

It always reminds me of my first Christmas when the words had deeper meaning.

The concept of the Christ child as Savior of the world, while known in theory, became true in practice for me during my fifteenth Christmas.

I’d begun reading the Bible that fall and suddenly I saw connections all around in December.

I also heard Handel‘s Messiah for the first time that year.

(And saw It’s a Wonderful Life, for the first time. Amazing what can happen when you start attending high school!)

I’d never sung in four-part harmony until I attended a Lutheran Church.

Gloria rang through my heart and soul for the first time and I delighted to soar up to those high notes.

A Christmas carol with meaning

We’ve all got a favorite Christmas carol, but one that has meant much to me for many years comes from 4Him’s 1993 Seasons of Love Christmas album.

Composed by Mark Harris, Donald Koch and David Allen Clark, the lyrics catch my wonder and imagination every time I hear their version:

“Strange Way To Save The World”

Sure he must have been surprised

At where this road had taken him

‘Cause never in a million lives

Would he had dreamed of Bethlehem

And standing at the manger

He saw with his own eyes

The message from the angel come to life

And Joseph said…

[CHORUS]
Why me, I’m just a simple man of trade?

Why Him, with all the rulers in the world?

Why here inside a stable filled with hay?

Why her, she’s just an ordinary girl?

Now I’m not one to second guess what angels have to say

But this is such a strange way to save the world

To think of how it could have been

If Jesus had come as He deserved

There would have been no Bethlehem

No lowly shepherds at His birth

But Joseph knew the reason

The love had to reach so far

And as he held the Savior in his arms

He must have thought…

[CHORUS]

Why me, I’m just a simple man of trade?

Why Him, with all the rulers in the world?

Why here inside a stable filled with hay?

Why her, she’s just an ordinary girl?

Now I’m not one to second guess what angels have to say

But this is such a strange way to save the world

Joseph’s point of view.

Everyone knows Mary is the heroine of the Christmas story, after God himself, but this song reminds me of Joseph’s faith–and really, mine, too, that God chose such a curious way to save you and me.

Joseph and Jesus; San Marco Cathedral, Veni (Wikimedia Commons)

A Christmas carol sing-along, the music, lights and presents, all are just a small reflection of the truly amazing event.

God poured himself into the innocent, feeble body of an infant and presented him to a young woman and a perhaps nervous man to raise.

Jesus is the reason for the season–and God chose ordinary people, in an ordinary time and place, to leave his mark for all humanity.

What Christmas carol means a lot to you?

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