Worshiping Through the Christmas Season
I am going to be completely honest with you - the month of December is a challenging time for me as a worship leader.
It's not because I am a grinch and I dislike Christmas - trust me if you've been to our house you'll realize quite quickly that we LOVE Christmas. It's not that I don't love Christmas music - because I do. I have found over the years that leading worship during the Christmas season is actually kind of tough. There are several reasons for this that I'll get into, but more importantly, we can overcome them and have incredible worship times this December.
You can lead people into genuine encounters with the Lord Jesus this Christmas Season!
So Many Verses!
Have you ever noticed that Christmas songs seem to have so many verses to them and to some congregations it's just not Christmas unless you sing all of them. "Angels From the Realms of Glory" has 7 verses! That's a lot of lyrics to remember (praise the Lord for confidence monitors if you've got them!).
This is a hurdle to overcome for some worship leaders and teams who have gotten used to singing songs that sometimes have 1 verse, 1 chorus, and a 1 line bridge, but you can do this and more importantly, you probably should do this. The richness of the theology packed into some Christmas carols is so breathtaking that if you stop to read and reflect upon the lyrics you can't help but be drawn into worshiping the King of Glory.
Something that I have done over the years as I'm leading people in worship during the Christmas season is the lead the congregation in a moment of reflecting upon what we are about to sing - to stop and read the lyrics before we sing them. I've had the media team put a section of lyrics on the screens and had the congregation draw their attention to the powerful words we are about to sing. This helps overcome some of the familiarity that we all can develop in our hearts with these songs that we've heard a million times in the car, the mall, on hold, etc.
Lead people by bringing their hearts to remembrance and reverence - not of a song, but of the Savior who's so richly described in the song.
Here's verse 3 from my favorite Christmas carol "Hark the Herald Angel Sing":
Hail! the heaven-born Prince of peace!
Hail! the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die:
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King !"
Classic Christmas Songs I have used include:
Hark the Herald Angel Sing
Joy to the World
What Child Is This
O Come All Ye Faithful
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Silent Night
O Holy Night
Go Tell It On the Mountain
The First Noel
So Many Chords!
My daughter recently attended her first worship team rehearsal with us at our local church which was thrilling for both her and I. For her it was particularly "thrilling" because we were learning Christmas songs in preparation for our Christmas Eve service. Her comment to me after practice that night was "Dad - there were SO MANY CHORDS!!" I laughed and told her that my friend and ministry teammate Shaun and I have a joke that Christmas Carols have 3 chords for every 1 word.
The truth is traditional Christmas Carols can be quite complex musically. Many of them were written for piano or organ and were written by very accomplished musicians. Every church is different, but in my particular church, we tend to be a more guitar-driven band (we currently don't have a piano player or room for an organ!). Also, the worship team at my local church is comprised of good-hearted volunteers that have varying levels of "self-taught" musical ability. I think we are pretty representative of a lot of church worship teams. No one is classically trained, symphony certified, and playing for the Queen of England (yet!!).
Over the years I have tried many different arrangements of Christmas songs to overcome the "3 Chords to 1 Word" hurdle, but the very best person I've ever discovered at doing this is Paul Baloche. His Christmas albums are both incredibly worshipful and masterfully arranged for church musicians and teams. He will often take a Christmas carol and add a vertical modern chorus to it that is a great response to the verse content. I highly recommend checking them out.
There is also nothing wrong with simplifying some of the songs you're singing to fit your band's ability (although I do recommend stretching as a team and learning a tricky song together makes everyone better!). Many Christmas songs work beautifully on acoustic guitar or piano alone. Silent Night, Joy to the World, What Child Is This, and O Come All Ye Faithful are ones I use year after year in our carol services with a small band. Also - lean into vocal harmonies if you have that ability. It adds a huge dynamic to the songs even without extra instruments.
Incorporate Other "Christmas-y" Songs
Another thing I've incorporated over the years is throwing in non-Christmas Christmas-y songs in December. Songs that speak of the birth of Christ, the reason for His coming, His Majesty, and humbleness work great around Christmas.
Songs I've used in the past or using this year include:
Here I Am to Worship - Tim Hughes
He Is Exalted
Love Came Down chorus - Bethel
Glory in the Highest - Chris Tomlin
Worthy of It All chorus - IHOP
I Exalt Thee chorus
Your Name - Paul Baloche
Heart of Worship - Matt Redman
What A Beautiful Name - Hillsong
King of Kings - Hillsong
If you are looking for new Christmas Worship Songs I highly suggest checking out my friend Jon Whitehead's playlists on Spotify and Apple Music. Jon is a guru of new music and has spent hours in service to worship teams creating and curating these playlists just to be a blessing to the Church.
Spotify New Christmas Worship Songs
Apple Music New Christmas Worship Songs
Remember, Reflect, Reverence
I know I spoke a lot in this post about songs which is ironic because my entire focus is "stop leading songs and start leading people", but I hope you catch the heart - that Christmas is a time were people's hearts are open to receive the Gospel and music is one way that we can communicate Truth and connect lives to Jesus. Be intentional this year. Choose to lead people in times of remembrance, reflection, and reverence. Don't just sing songs - lead people.
Merry Christmas,
Josh Smith