Christmas favorites: Someday at Christmas

I love Christmastime. I love the lights, the music, the presents, and the times gathered with family and friends. And I love the worship services and family traditions that celebrate the coming of Jesus. Tonight I want to begin a series of posts sharing about some of my favorite Christmas songs. There may be a post or two about some other favorite traditions as well.

I could start with one of my longtime favorite Christmas hymns: Silent Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, O Come All Ye Faithful....the list goes on and on. But there are other more contemporary songs that put me in the spirit - some about Christ, some about family, some about the peace Christ came to bring, and some that are just fun. Tonight, here is one of my favorite contemporary songs.

Someday at Christmas. A song written by Stevie Wonder, but recorded by other artists such as Jack Johnson, Mary J. Blige, and even Justin Bieber (which fortunately has not ruined it for me, haha). Here is a YouTube version of the original recording, followed by the lyrics and some comments:



Lyrics:


Someday at Christmas men won't be boys
Playing with bombs like kids play with toys
One warm December our hearts will see
A world where men are free

Someday at Christmas there'll be no wars
When we have learned what Christmas is for
When we have found what life's really worth
There'll be peace on earth

Someday all our dreams will come to be
Someday in a world where men are free
Maybe not in time for you and me
But someday at Christmastime

Someday at Christmas we'll see a land
With no hungry children, no empty hand
One happy morning people will share
Our world where people care

Someday at Christmas there'll be no tears
All men are equal and no men have fears
One shining moment, one prayer away
From our world today

Someday all our dreams will come to be
Someday in a world where men are free
Maybe not in time for you and me
But someday at Christmastime

Someday at Christmas man will not fail
Hate will be gone and love will prevail
Someday a new world that we can start
With hope in every heart

Someday all our dreams will come to be
Someday in a world where men are free
Maybe not in time for you and me
But someday at Christmastime
Someday at Christmastime
___________________________

It is s song that brings out so many emotions and thoughts for me. Hope. Joy. Compassion. Thankfulness. Challenge. It looks to a day when the world will be the way God intended it to be: no hate, war, hunger, or need. Plenty of love, hope, and giving. And I can't listen to it without thinking of my friends in Ethiopia and Uganda and how much God loves them.

The thing I love is that it puts Christmas in the context of those things. Christmas is about God coming into the world, and the Baby born in Bethlehem began his ministry by quoting this Scripture and claiming it as his own:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, 
   because he has anointed me 
   to preach good news to the poor. 
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners 
   and recovery of sight for the blind, 
to release the oppressed, 
    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

Jesus came to bring about the things the song proclaims. May all of us who claim Jesus' name obey him and work to bring about the Lord's favor. Someday. At Christmas.