“Let’s sing Christmas songs!” one of the kids yelped at our church Christmas party.
Yeah!” another 6-year-old agreed, tugging at my sweater sleeve.
Thus drafted by a small army of spirited elves, I assembled a rag-tag choir of a dozen-plus youngsters. The girls seemed ecstatic at the prospect; the boys, less than exuberant. I soon found out why. Not one boy could carry a tune in the proverbial bucket, while all the little girls were natural-born songbirds.
“What do you want to sing?” I inquired.
“Jingle Bells!!!” they chorused.
So we dashed through a lively rendition of their unanimous favorite, then had a go at “Rudolph” and “Frosty” and “Winter Wonderland.”
“How about some of the carols?” I suggested. “Which one of them do you like best?” I thought they would quickly opt for “Silent Night” or “Joy to the World.” Instead they responded to my question with silence and with puzzled faces.
Being slow to interpret their hesitance, I urged, “Let’s do ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful,’” and I led off, expecting my until-now-quite-eager band of singers to join in. They tried, but none of them knew the words. Soon I was singing a not-too-polished solo.
Carol by traditional carol we repeated this dismal performance, until my slow wits finally saw what was going on. For the first time in 35 years of ministry I was trying to sing carols with a generation of kids who have not learned those songs in school. These children knew and loved all the secular Christmas melodies, but none of the time-honored carols.
I went home from that Christmas party heartsick, freshly aware of the continuing drift toward the total secularization of our public schools.
Determined not to repeat that bad experience, I resolved that our church kids would grow up knowing the great carols. If they do, of course, the church will have to teach them. No longer can we expect the world to do our job for us. If we leave it up to the schools, in another generation Christmas will belong totally to Rudolph and Frosty and Santa Claus, and Jesus will seem like an intruder on his own birthday.