What Does God Want for Christmas? || Darius Rucker || Track 11

Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqlH19dhI9Q

Introduction/Preview

Merry Christmas, everyone! Yes, I know this is the day after Christmas, but I had to keep my schedule. I hope you’ve really had a wonderful Christmas. I don’t know if I have yet…mainly because it’s the day before Halloween when I’m writing this, but I wanted to wrap up this series. This series is a full finale.

It’s the series finale of “Let’s Listen To: Christmas Edition.” It’s also the last blog of 2020. That’s right! It’s a sentimental blog for me because of how much this blog has grown over 2020. In a year full of chaos, uncertainty, anxiety, and more, this blog has been a rock for me as a way to get my thoughts out. It’s been a way to express some creative energy. It’s been a way to do something productive as I’m locked down / quarantined at home. This year’s blogs have been so much fun! 2021 is bringing in brand-new content for our community, and I can’t wait to announce it to you. But you have to wait until January 1st to hear about it. I’m talking about things from new blog series, song blogs, video/podcast series…even a brand new title. Find out on the first day of 2021 what’s going to happen. Until then…on to the finale of “Let’s Listen To: Christmas Edition.”

This week we’re listening to a song that piqued my interest from the moment I first heard it. It offers an interesting question: What does God Want for Christmas? Darius Rucker offers some suggestions within the song, so let’s break them down.

Behind the Song

According to an article on songfact.com (link at the end), this song came from a concept no one thought about. Darius had to say: “We sat down and the first thing I did was I Googled ‘What God Wants for Christmas,’ and I couldn’t believe no one had ever written that,’ Rucker continued. ‘Of all the Christmas songs and all the ideas have had no one ever written ‘I Wonder What God Wants for Christmas’ and that was crazy to me.”

I love that this comes from the pure joy that no one had made a song about this. There’s a childlike faith in this song and the curiosity that comes with it. It’s a simple question, but how many of us do? I wonder, what does God want for Christmas? Well…let’s break that down.

What Does This Say – Part 1

Let’s break apart this chorus:

“I wonder what God wants for Christmas

Something that you can’t find in a store

Maybe peace on Earth, no more empty seats in church

Might be what’s on His wishlist

I wonder what God wants for Christmas.”

There are three things that Darius offers here. Something that you can’t find in a store, maybe peace on Earth, maybe a packed church. All good things, right? Let’s talk about that some more.

“Something that you can’t find in a store.” This is an excellent idea because God doesn’t want us to focus on our earthly possessions but instead on the eternal goal. Matthew 6:24 says: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” I’ve used this scripture for a lesson I wrote, and it mentions that money is equitable to earthly possessions, which is why I want to use it here. We can’t be happy with the things we gain on earth, like money, clothes, cars, etc. All that stuff doesn’t equate to the joy found with God. That’s why more often than not, people are grateful to receive money as a gift, but what it was used for. Money can be used to help someone pay rent. Money can be used to help someone have food in their fridge. Money can be used to help someone pay bills. That stuff goes further than just the things that we have. This is also sharing that love of God with others. God shines in this way because it fulfills the ministry of Jesus of serving others rather than being served.

“Maybe peace on Earth.” 1,000% YES! I’m really sure God would love this. He wants this for us and reminds us of this. Look at what John 16:33 says: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” With God, we receive this peace, but most of the time, we don’t reciprocate this peace to others or back to God. We will face trial after trial in this world. Man, 2020 has shown that to be true, right? We’ve dealt with the pandemic, the fallen economy, racial injustices, riots, protests, politics, schooling of various methods, and much more. Talk about facing trial after trial, and yet there is peace to be found amongst all this. I know it’s hard to see, but I believe it to be true. We were locked down at home for almost 4 months. We were working from home, schooling from home, and teaching from home, which initially caused a lot of stress and anxiety. After I, at least, got settled into it, things started to get more and more peaceful. It’s hard to see where peace is active, but it’s there. Once you take some extra time to seek it out, share it with others. The more peace spreads to others, the more we hope to see on the earth.

“No more empty seats in church.” I think this year has shown us that empty seats in the church are okay. Most churches were without people filling their seats for 6-7 months, and some churches were still without filled seats. This year has never made it easier to invite people to church. With a simple phone call, text message, IM, email, share, retweet, or whatever, the word of God can be spread to many people. I got to talk about this concept at our Stewardship Sunday service. We average about 60 people who attend in-person and online combined. If each member shared our service and 5 friends from each attendee watched our service, that’s 300 people who got to hear the word of God. This pandemic has shown me, at least, that the church was not about the building itself. Pastor Mike Todd of TC always says: “The church is not the organization, but it’s the organism.” We were acting as the church the whole time. Talk about a huge plot twist. God calls us to be the church, and while a full sanctuary is always fun to see and be a part of, I’m not sure if it’s something that God wants from us. We need to focus more on the Great Commission than on getting a packed sanctuary.

This is the final sentence of 2020 that you’ll hear from me. It’s a wrap on this series and this blog from 2020. We will see you next year in a new identity on a new day at a new time to discuss our new goals for 2021. Until then, have a safe and happy new year! Stay blessed!

Link – https://www.songfacts.com/facts/darius-rucker/what-god-wants-for-christmas