When Christmas Isn't Merry

Have yourself a merry little Christmas; let your heart be light.

From now on our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas; make the yuletide gay.

From now on our troubles will be miles away.

Here we are as in olden days—happy golden days of yore.

Faithful friends who are dear to us gather near to us once more.

Through the years we all will be together if the fates allow.

Hang a shining star upon the highest bough,

and have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

These lyrics may be familiar to you by the title of the first line, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” This 1940’s song first performed in the movie Meet Me in St. Louis captures the essence of Christmas nostalgia, or, for most of us, anemoia (a desire to return to a past time period you’ve never experienced). As Christmas approaches, American culture adopts a lingering desire to make the holiday time joyful and festive simply by adopting an attitude of “Christmas spirit.” The lyrics of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” capture this attitude.

Juxtaposed with the Christmas spirit is the reality that many people experience grief, or the memory of grief, more keenly at Christmas than at other times. Additionally, each Advent season there are people who get bad news, or experience a tragedy, or suffer an unexpected hardship, or are forced to endure an existing one. For many people, an idealistic Christmas spirit is unrealistic. Ironically, the original lyrics of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” which the writers of Meet Me in St. Louis replaced in favor of the “upbeat” version, portray the reality quite well.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas; it may be your last.

Next year we may all be living in the past.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas; pop that champagne cork.

Next year we may all be living in New York.

No good times like the olden days—happy golden days of yore.

Faithful friends who were dear to us will be near to us no more.

But at least we all will be together if the Lord allows.

From now on, we'll have to muddle through somehow,

so, have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

Something that Christians will probably notice about the song is that the original reference to the providence of “the Lord” was replaced by “the fates” in the editorial process. This change reflects the blindly idealistic tone of the published version. The original version seemed to do a better job of grappling with the place of Christmas in a world that has often gone wrong.

Singing Christmas carols is not wrong. It is even proper for Christians to sing Christmas songs that are not directly incarnation hymns. However, Christians are not allowed to replace the true story of the world with another, false one. Our celebrations spring from our fundamental understanding of the purpose for which Jesus came.

The first New Testament prophet of the coming Savior was Zacharias, father of John the Baptist. In proclaiming John’s role as forerunner to the Messiah, Zacharias spoke for all Israel by rejoicing “that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us” in order “to serve him without fear” (Luke 1:71, 74). The old priest spoke of how God would “give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins” (1:77). The Dayspring from on high—Jesus Himself—was come “To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (1:78). The promise of the saving Christ was wonderful because there really was sin and persecution and darkness in the world for the Savior to abolish.

It was because of Roman occupation that Joseph returned to Bethlehem so the prophecy of Jesus’ birth location could be fulfilled. One of the major events in the Incarnation, the arrival of the wise men, was stained by the blood of innocent children that wicked king Herod killed searching for the young Jesus. The God-man would grow up to see his forerunner cousin killed by yet another Herod, and his brothers refuse to believe in his Deity. Remember the words of Jesus to the prospective disciple in Luke 9:58? “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” The true story of Christmas, and the sinless Life that followed, did not take place in the idyllic world of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Instead, Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8) because Satan had made inroads into the human heart. Jesus came to abolish death with life (2 Timothy 1:10) because death was the universal human experience.

The true story of Christmas includes all the elements that make celebration difficult today. However, we continue to celebrate Christmas joyfully because the Incarnation was the beginning of the end for the curse, for sin, and for the works of the devil. Christmas is worth celebrating not because its spirit makes trouble melt away, but because we have a Savior who came to defeat His enemies. Because we are in Him, we will one day see the end of those same enemies. Glory to the newborn King!

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The above article was written by Jonathan Kyser. He is a pastoral assistant at NorthStone Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL. To offer him your feedback, comment below or email us at strengthforlife461@gmail.com.

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