Christmas Is Coming

I love Christmas music.  Specific Christmas albums were always a crucial part of tradition in my family growing up. (Example: We can't decorate the tree without listening to Mannheim Steamroller, and we can't drive to Grandma's without Amy Grant's Home for Christmas.)  However, much as I love it, it must be listened to in the context of Christmas.  I think it's crazy that stores decorate for Christmas before Halloween has even happened.  So, I don't let myself (or anyone else if I can help it) listen to Christmas music until at least halfway through November.

However, today I broke my own rule.

Because this lovely little package arrived at my door yesterday!

As a long-time fan of Jason Gray, having first heard him as a guest performer at Andrew Peterson's annual show, Behold the Lamb of God, I had been reading about and following along with the production of this album for awhile now through his posts at The Rabbit Room.  So when I opened this long-awaited CD, I had to break my rule and listen to it.

This is not your average Christmas album.  Jason Gray is an incredibly talented songwriter, and if you haven't ever listened to his music, you are missing out.  In each of his songs he brings a unique (and often challenging) perspective to the many concepts and trappings of the Christian life that we take for granted, and his first Christmas album is no different.  This is not just one more rendition of "Away in a Manger" to add to  your collection, but rather a retelling of the story of Christmas through the eyes of each of the characters who, over time, have become so familiar that they lose their humanity for many of us.  Jason's goal for this album, he says, is...

"...to climb inside the Christmas narrative through the characters who lived it, trusting that if I told their stories as truthfully as I knew how, listeners might recognize themselves in their stories: the innkeeper so exhausted by endless day-to-day demands that he misses the Sabbath Rest that arrives on his doorstep; Joseph who must decide if he will forgive the person who broke his heart or be hardened by his hurt; the wise man who begins to wonder if the newborn king may desire a gift more precious than gold.  And drawing all of them (and us) together is the child himself - the child who has come to make us all children again."

As the title, "Christmas Stories: Repeat the Sounding Joy" suggests, there is a theme of Joy that weaves through the entire album.  Jason explains that as he was writing, he wanted this Joy to prevail, even though the characters are all facing some sort of conflict or crisis.  "Joy is not the absence of conflict," he finally realizes, "joy is the presence of God."  Something that we all, myself especially, can use a reminder of, as we decide each day to choose to be joyful and grateful in the presence of difficulty, conflict and frustration.

In case there is any possibility you want more information about this album, (and you aren't wishing I would shut up about this random CD already), here is Jason Gray's overview of it himself.




If that doesn't make you excited to celebrate the Greatest Story ever told, I don't know what would.  Head on over to The Rabbit Room store to hear the rest of the songs and to add this album to your Christmas collection.