Christmas Carols That Teach the Gospel

A Charlie Brown Christmas is “must see” viewing in the Gernander home and I know we are not alone in that. Many people claim it as their favorite Christmas TV special. One of my favorite parts is the ending, when the children sing Hark! The Herald Angels Sing as the credits roll. When I was a child, I was thrilled to find out that the Christmas carol sung by Charlie Brown, Linus, Schroeder, and even Lucy is one that we sang in church on Christmas Eve.
This is one way many unsuspecting people—and children—hear the Gospel. It happens not only when A Charlie Brown Christmas is on TV, but also as people are shopping or driving. Not all carols teach the Gospel, of course. Some radio stations that play Christmas music intentionally leave out the ones that speak of Christ and give people a steady diet of Deck the Halls, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, All I Want For Christmas, and even I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas.
But some Christmas carols actually do teach the Gospel. Properly speaking, the Gospel is the Good News that God has sent a Savior for all sinners. He has sent Jesus to “save His people from their sins.” Teaching the Gospel is what the Christmas angels did: proclaiming the “good tidings of great joy” that “unto you is born a Savior.”
A Christmas carol teaches the Gospel by telling who Christ is, what He has done, and what gifts He brings (the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation). Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (ELH #125) actually is a perfect example of a carol that teaches the Gospel.
First, it teaches who Jesus is and what He has done. I use this hymn in catechism class when we learn about Christ’s two natures as God and Man in one Person and have the students answer which nature (God, begotten of the Father from eternity; or Man, born of the Virgin Mary) each line is speaking of:
Christ, by highest heav’n adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord, (God)
Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of a Virgin’s womb. (Man)
Veiled in flesh (Man)
The Godhead see (God),
Hail, th’ incarnate (Man)
Deity! (God)
Pleased as Man with man to dwell; (Man)
Jesus, (Man) our Immanuel! (God)
Second, this carol teaches what gifts Jesus brings when it says:
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild, He leaves His throne on high,
Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth;
Born to give them second birth.
For a Christmas carol to teach the Gospel, it needs not only to name Christ and tell who He is and what He has done, but also to tell why He was born, why He was born in poverty.  So a Christmas carol also must deal with the subject of sin and Satan. This is a basic Christian use of Law and Gospel, for without the Law, a person won’t think that he needs the Gospel very much.
The English carol God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen (ELH #126) tells the story of the angels and shepherds in a straightforward manner. However, Satan is mentioned in stanzas 1 and 3. The first stanza, in narrative form, says simply that Jesus Christ was born:
To save us all from Satan’s pow’r
When we were gone astray.
The third stanza puts into the angel’s mouth these words being spoken to the shepherds:
“See, death and hell and Satan
This child shall put to flight.”
The person listening to, or singing, this Christmas carol is confronted with the reality of Satan, death, and hell and also reminded of how we go astray in our sinfulness. The Savior cannot be properly known without knowing these harsh realities. They drive you to the Christ Child for protection from sin, death, and the devil.
Even if some of your friends and acquaintances do not accept your invitation to hear a Lutheran sermon from a Lutheran pulpit this Christmas or if some of your extended family or onetime fellow church members are not actively attending church, you can pray that the Holy Spirit would grant that they fruitfully hear the Gospel that comes to them so easily in carols such as these.
It is a good way for children to hear the Gospel. Sometimes parents may wonder how much their children are getting out of the sermon. Even adults cannot quote from the pastor’s sermon. But nearly everyone can say the words of these Christmas carols by heart. Your children may even quote these words to you and help you in your faith by such a simple reminder of the Gospel.
Jerome Gernander is pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church in Princeton, Minnesota.