Like us all, I love the classic Christmas playlist, but there are some alternative songs that strike a chord for me at this time of year. Here’s five of them:

1. ‘The Light Came Down’ – Josh Garrels
The Light Came Down (2016)

Josh Garrels is a wonderful poet, crafting melodies to to illuminate his words, and his songs are a lovely mix of folk and gospel. Aside from being a beautiful, gentle melody to listen to, it’s the lyrics that get me:

The light came down
Cast the darkness away
He appeared, a helpless child
The light of God came to save us
To the world that He made us
O Lord and Saviour

This contrast of light and darkness at Christmas is so resonant, and the light is described as ‘coming down’ – not appearing with pomp or fanfare, but as a ‘helpless child’ – into our darkness, and cast it away.

My heart sings with these lyrics because it’s the heart of the gospel – the light of God came to save us. The verses describe this light as the answer to all of our hopes and prayers, as spoken by prophets, that ‘the light of God would dwell with men.’ At Christmas, I’m reassured that the light of God has come down, dwelling here, and the darkness has not overcome it.

2. ‘Come Adore the Humble King’ – Matt Boswell & Matt Papa
His Mercy is More (2019)

This song isn’t billed specifically as a Christmas song, though there are heavy Advent themes. It’s included in an album of hymns that sing the whole breadth of the gospel, including the significance of the birth of the humble King. I love verse 2 the most:

Come adore in humble state
He the song of angels
Join the wise who call His name
And with all creation
Who, oh who, would condescend?
God, unknown, now calls us ‘friend’
Love that none could comprehend
O praise the humble King

I think I’m most confronted by this verse because I am asked a question – ‘Who would condescend?’ The writer is searching. Who else would stoop? Who else would willingly come down from the highest, holiest, most perfect place, into the true depths of darkness and decay? The answer is none but He, who was unknown to us. We were strangers to Him, and He came to dwell anyway, in humble state. And through what this little baby accomplished at Calvary, God now calls us ‘friends’. It is an unimaginable display of grace, and ‘love that none could comprehend’.

3. ‘O Come O Come Emmanuel’ – for KING & COUNTRY & NEEDTOBREATHE
A Drummer Boy Christmas (2020)

I’m a big fan of this traditional carol (it might be my favourite) because it doesn’t sugar-coat. We are not dancing around with bells and sparkles on here – we are in mourning. We sing together, acknowleging the deep darkness in and around us, and recognising our need for saving grace. It’s bleak, but it’s real, and it speaks about the darkness of human experience that many continue to live at Christmas, even in the midst of the cheer and sparkle. For this reason we tend to sing this carol on the first Sunday of Advent, as we enter our period of longing and looking ahead to the coming of Emmanuel.

Rearranging traditional, much-loved carols is not easy to do well, but I think these artists have aced it (I actually think the whole album is a masterpiece in this regard, so do listen to more). It’s bassy and dark, moody and theatrical, quite reminiscent of a Bond theme at points and with small glimmers of hope at the ‘Rejoice!’ refrain when we break to major chords. Dynamically, it gets interesting in verse 3:

O come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heavenly home
Make safe the way that leads on high
And close the path to misery

Moving from a big interlude, it’s really the words ‘close the path to misery’ that are highlighted here – that’s why we’re praying for a Saviour – and that’s why He came. He opened wide our heavenly home, and forged our escape from the path of misery. How shall we respond?

“Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to Thee, O Israel.”

Richly harmonised, beautifully haunting – we end softly, and the words ring out. Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. The dark, gloomy clouds will be dispersed, and death put to flight. What huge hope to cling to in the dark shadows we live beneath.

4. ‘It’s Christmas’ – Jamie Cullum
The Pianoman at Christmas (2020)

Secular but sassy, this album is the brassy big band sound we all love at Christmas, with the added delight of Jamie Cullum’s voice and piano tinkling. ‘It’s Christmas’, the first track on the album, is an amusing mix of that nostalgic, wholesome sound and lyrics such as:

Everybody’s crowded round the Christmas tree
Digging out the best to themselves
So shove your petty differences right up the chimney, please
At least until the drums of the twelfth

‘Why can’t we all just get along?’ rings out a few times, and later lyrics like ‘though the ship is sinking, let’s make some new memories’ really cement this message of putting aside differences for the sake of the season and fully rallying behind the idea of Christmas as a time to just get along.

Reflecting on this, I suppose it’s a reminder of the reality that we do have differences and a lot of people don’t just get along – even (and especially) within families. The answer to Jamie’s question – we’re broken and sinful. For me, that’s a reason not to muster up everything I have to ‘shove differences up the chimney’ just because it’s Christmas, but – because it’s Christmas – to look to the One who came to mend the broken pieces and to purchase the sin in my heart that grates on others. He is the great Restorer, and points to a place where strained bonds are made new. It’s the Christ in Christmas that unites us.

Anyway, I like the general sentiment. Feel-good Christmas vibes!

5. ‘Winter Snow’ – Chris Tomlin & Audrey Assad
Glory in the Highest (2009)

This one is getting retro now, but it’s no less moving. A simple piano trio and two voices, the instrumentation reflects the message:

You could’ve come like a mighty storm
With all the strength of a hurricane
You could’ve come like a forest fire
With the power of heaven in Your flame

But You came like a winter snow
Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
to the earth below

Christ came, but not as he could have – he did not come with force, but with tenderness and grace:

Your voice wasn’t in a bush burning
No, Your voice wasn’t in a rushing wind
It was still, it was small
It was hidden

I love the reference to Christ’s voice here – the fact that his coming as a child speaks to us. What is he saying? He is revealing the character of God with his feeble, newborn cry. That our God, who reigns over hurricanes, would humble Himself and appear in human likeness as a helpless child, all to live the perfect life I could not live, and be punished by death in my place, is astounding.

As we may (hopefully) see the winter snow falling at Christmas, quiet and soft and slow, I’m reminded of this child in the manger because, though quiet and soft is no reflection of his might or majesty, it is how he chose to appear. As a man he embodied this same humility and love, and displayed it ultimately on a Roman cross as he endured death. But he did not stay dead! The resurrection broke the power of death and it was his victory to claim. He was worthy of a King’s arrival, and yet he chose the manger.

This is Christmas. It’s sparkly and it’s fun, but it’s about the baby boy and the man he became. These five songs point there, one way or another.

“Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to Thee, O Israel.”