I grew up just outside Nashville, TN, home and incubator for all things music business. In Nashville, there’s still a healthy contingent that buys, sells, and trades . . . Forty-five-records. A Forty-five-record is the equivalent to buying a Single, but it’s Vinyl. It contains a newly-released-on-the-way-to-being-famous track. This is known as the A-side. 

But there’s also a B-side. Flip the record over and there's a lesser-known song that the artist chooses. It’s not marketable, doesn’t make the radio, but it’s honest – and its what the artist really wants her fans to know about her music. 

Christmas is like a 45-record. There’s nothing more marketable than Christmas. From Elf on the Shelf to holiday greetings to movies and parties and trees and Amazon gift cards . . . for some, Christmas is all about the A-side. With the right gift at the right price at the right restaurant on the right night . . . you can buy Christmas . . . you can manufacture joy.  

And don’t hear me say this is necessarily bad. The A-side is fun. Light-hearted. And it sells. But it’s manufactured. It’s made to make us feel like we’re the most important parts of Christmas. 

It’s just not what the Artist of Time intended for us to hear. Christmas is really about a young girl alone and afraid getting the news of her life. It’s about a road trip and a census and a north star shining light. It’s about Bethlehem and God. Shepherds and Kings. It’s about a chorus of angels singing, “Glory to God in the highest . . .” It’s about prophecies and fulfillments, hope and love. It’s about a star and a stable and a manger for a king. 

And this star, census, stable, shepherds, angels, and kings point us to something deeper, something weightier, something more than the A-side can give. They point us to the birth of our Savior, reminding us Christmas isn’t actually about us. And it shouldn’t be manufactured. It should be felt, in our soul.  

The B-side gets us here. It moves the spotlight off us and off our Amazon wish lists, parties, and trees, and it shines Bethlehem’s star square on the manger.

This Christmas, we need to hear from the B-side. For when we start listening to it, we hear what the shepherds heard. We feel what the angels felt. We believe in (even if its just for a moment) the one thing most worth believing in . . . Emmanuel . . . God with us. 

December 1, 2019 | Jeremiah 33:14-16 | Emmanuel: Hope is With Us

To be Christian is to embrace and share hope with the world. We can do this because we know and feel that this hope is first with us.

December 8 | Philippians 1:3-11 | Emmanuel: Love is With Us

To be Christian is to embrace and share that love with the world. We can do this because we know and feel that this love is first with us.

December 15 | Philippians 4:4-7 | Emmanuel: Peace is With Us

To be Christian is to embrace and share peace with the world. We can do this because we know and feel that tis peace is first with us.

December 22 | Christmas Breakfast and Music Ministry-led Worship | Emmanuel: Joy is With Us

To be Christian is to embrace and share joy with the world. We can do this because we know and feel that this joy is first with us.