As I was sitting in Sacrament meeting today anticipating the start of our Christmas program the thought struck me of how appropriate it is that we should celebrate the birth of our Savior through so much music. It seems to me that we use music more at this season of the year than for any other celebration.
I think it is appropriate to use so much music for such an important celebration because music communicates with people emotionally and intellectually in a very powerful way. In fact, it may be the generous use of music that helps to keeps our cultural celebration of Christmas so strong. While so many other holidays turn into nothing more than a day off of work or an excuse to hold retail sales Christmas has never yet been relegated to such a bleak fate. Despite any complaints by some about “Happy holidays” or “x-mas” the fact is that I have never found any holiday that carried more spiritual meaning that Christmas. Whatever of secularism might be carried by the figure of Santa Claus we still can hardly go anywhere without some display of the religious side of the season whether we are seeing Menorah’s or nativities or hearing references to Bethlehem and wise men.
An objective analysis would undoubtedly show that Christmas carries more religious significance in our secular society than any other holiday (with the possibility that Easter might rival it for religious/spiritual content). I really would not be surprised if music played a large part in keeping so much of that meaning intact.