The Relief of Christmas Carols in July

By Jason Comerford

Y’know what I love most about July?

It’s a flimsy pretext for me to bust out my favorite genre of music. Christmas in July, baby!

Even when I was a child, Christmas carols specifically were among my favorites. Not so much “Jingle Bells” or “Let it Snow,” but more “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and “Joy to the World.” I think part of the reason for that is how (in my musically unschooled opinion) so many carols seem to capture one particular emotion, one that deeply appeals to me:

Relief.

When Jesus was born into the world, Israel had been suffering for some time. An unbelievably powerful foreign nation was occupying Israel; poverty, injustice, and illness were as rampant as they’ve always been; and worst of all, the voice of God had been silent for about 400 years.

When the One who claims to comfort you in the presence of evil, oppressing enemies (Isaiah 51:12) doesn’t seem to be comforting in the face of evil, oppressing enemies, hope can start to feel like one more source of pain. It eats at joy and vitality, until all that’s left is a subtle awareness of this constant, biting weariness you can’t seem to shake.

Four hundred years of that.

For some of us, it hasn’t been generations of waiting for an unfulfilled promise. For some of us, it’s pain that won’t go away. Hips and knees that hurt and keep us up at night. Or maybe a marriage full of restless tension and bickering. Maybe you’re like me and can’t shake anxiety and depression. Whatever it is, I’m betting most of us are familiar with the longing for some kind of pain to just finally stop.

Oftentimes when we’ve suffered for a long time, we can forget what relief is even like. The prospect of NOT living with some terrible affliction just seems impossible.

And that’s why I love Christmas carols so much. When I can’t even remember that relief is real, the songs of Jesus finally coming into the world remind me that it’s not simply that God will remove painful circumstances, but Relief Himself has come for me. He has come to “wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

Friends, Relief has come for us.

And He is coming again.

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