I was saddened to learn of the death of Greg Lake, who was a member of King Crimson (whose music I was not really familiar with) and Emerson, Lake, & Palmer (whose music was formative for me). Lake wrote a song called “I Believe in Father Christmas” which is a perennial radio staple in England during the Christmas season. (see a video of the song here) He apparently wrote it in protest of the commercialization of Christmas. I just remember it as a regular on the radio during the season.
Christmas in England was the most special of all Christmas’ for us as a family. Even in a post-Christian society, there was a reverence of the holiday that was special to us. Most of all though, we discovered the joy of worshipping at church on Christmas day. Growing up in America, we do our worship on Christmas eve, but it’s not the same as making our way to church on Christmas morning. What I found in England was the entire church family coming together on Christmas morning to worship our Lord Jesus. It was a celebration and an all ages service where the gospel was made clear and all ages could relate. I wrote about that here.
My prayer for all who read this or the article on our diocesan website is that people will rediscover the beauty of worship on Christmas day and how that impacts the way we view the entirety of the day.
Leave a Reply