Have Yourself a Blessed Little Christmas!

16 CommentsSalt

We had a singer at our church whose uncle wrote the original Christmas standard, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” He got saved in 1977, then wrote a Christian adaptation of the song which is very good, except for one major theological flaw. Can you guess what it is? I’ll post the answer in the “comments” later if no one guesses correctly. 

Have yourself a blessed little Christmas
Christ the King is born
Let your voices ring upon this happy morn

Have yourself a blessed little Christmas
Serenade the earth
Tell the world we celebrate the Savior’s birth

Let us gather to sing to Him and to bring to Him our praise
Son of God and Friend of all
To the end of all our days

Let us proclaim the joyous tidings
Voices raised on high
Send this carol soaring up into the sky
This very merry blessed Christmas lullaby

Let us gather to sing to Him and to bring to Him our praise
Son of God and Friend of all
To the end of all our days

Sing hosannas, hymns, and hallelujahs
As to Him we bow
Make the music mighty as the heavens allow

And have yourself a blessed little Christmas
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Have yourself a blessed little Christmas now

Comments (16)

  1. Paul

    Reply

    Oooo…I may be going way out on a Christmas tree limb here but I would wager my money (million dollar bills only) on the part where it refers to the Son of God being: “Friend of all. ”

    From a theological point of view, I would have lots to say against the well meaning but terribly misguided (almost insulting) use of the term “friend” in reference to our Savior.

    Then, the arduous task of contextually defining the word “all” in this phrase. It leans towards universalism and….aaahhh!! I’ll spare you the sermon.

    At this point, I don’t even know if I got the right answer or not. I’m at risk at losing millions!

  2. Paul Henry

    Reply

    Yeah! That was pretty easy! God is certainly not a friend of all. James 4:4 says, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God. Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously’? But He gives more grace. Therefore, He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” That is some good truth there that will lead your heart to desire to be a friend of God! By the way, I love reading your stories; they are very inspiring! A fellow laborer in the harvest – Paul

  3. Steve Sanchez

    Reply

    Both Pauls are correct! (Why aren’t the rest of you readers answering?)

    “Friend of all” is not a theologically correct verse, no matter how “sing-songy”it is.

    Second question: How would you rewrite the verse, using the same meter?

    Paul 1–Good theology, brother!

    Paul Henry– Good theo as well. Thank you for your compliments! Welcome!

    Something about the name Paul connotes (denotes?) brilliance. My middle name is Paul…

  4. Robert Perry

    Reply

    This reader missed his chance, but the “friend to all” did catch my eye. But hey, it’s already a revision–why not revise it once more?

    Personally, I’m also not quite sure that the song is that much improved with “blessed” over “merry,” unless we assume that “merry” means “inebriated and looking for some sin to commit.”

    Which, alas, in too many circles, it does.

  5. Paul

    Reply

    Verse Rewrite:

    “Son of God, LORD of all”.

    That’s how I’d write it.

    “LORD”…rightful acknowledgement of Christ’s diety, kingship and sovereignty.

    …”all” can now be understood as being inclusive of all persons born whether they have belief and faith in Christ or not. He is still sovereign over all!

    There now. All better.

  6. Paul

    Reply

    My Name

    Paul: Latin for “small”

    Latour: French for “tower”

    ‘Small tower’. (So much for “brilliant”.)

    My full name: Paul John Joseph Latour

    Paul: named after Paul, formerly known as Saul
    John: named after Apostle John
    Joseph: named after Jesus’ stepdad

    Was I born Roman Catholic? How could you tell?

    Nonetheless, inspite of all the “religious” names I was bestowed with, blended with all the “religious” traditions I grew up practicing, I did not become a Christian until 8 years ago, well into my adult years. To this day, I am the only Christian in my family of my mother and 4 brothers.

    My father died 3 years ago. He went to church all his life but he never saw the need to repent of his sins and, therefore, never acknowledged Jesus as his needed Savior. He told me, before he died, “I’ll deal with God when I get there.”

    I hear that alot from people when witnessing today. It still sends a shiver up my spine. If they only knew what they were saying. Ugh!

    I don’t have to wonder much what Paul, formerly known as Saul, would say.

  7. cd

    Reply

    Let us gather to sing to Him and to bring to Him our praise
    Son of God and Friend to all
    Who repent, this day.

  8. Steve Sanchez

    Reply

    Paul: Great line! It works. Better than my choices: “King of all” and–get this–“Friend of Paul.” Ha!

    BUT!

    cd wrote the most poignant:

    “Son of God and Friend to all
    Who repent, this day.”

    But he has an advantage… he’s a worship leader at my church. Great job, Chris!

  9. Paul

    Reply

    OK so CD the DJ at HC wins!

    I’ll just pretend I know nothing in regard to the blatant conflict of interest at hand. Not a thing.

  10. Robert Perry

    Reply

    Paul, if I remember my Hebrew correctly (what little I know), your full name might be translated

    “Little Dove He will Enlarge The Tower”

    Sorry, couldn’t resist the fun. Christmas greetings from your warmongering, pickup-driving brother in Christ!

  11. Paul

    Reply

    Wow! Thanks for that Robert! I always thought my middle names were kind of meaningless…until now. I like it!!

    SHALOM to you this Christmas!

    (And don’t forget to take all the lead out before you cook the turkey.)

  12. Steve Sanchez

    Reply

    “Son of God and the Lord of all
    who acknowledge Him this day”

    These are the words that our main worship leader, Alan Kisaka, used based on your input. The song will now be played this holiday, er, Christmas!

    Thanks everyone!

    BTW, he has a side band called “The Strangers” whose ad is found on the side of this blog.

  13. Craig

    Reply

    I like the Lord of all rewrite. There is another word in the song that needs rewriting. What about the word little in reference to Christmas. Now that we are reworking this song let’s fix it thoroughly. How about “holy”.

  14. JR

    Reply

    How about?

    “Son of God and the Lord of all
    offers saving grace this day”

    Just a thought. Have a Blessed Christmas!

  15. Binken

    Reply

    The “friend to all” line is rightly critiqued as it stands. I like the revision “Lord of all”. However, when taken in the context of the line that follows, “To the end of all our days,” puts the whole verse into the limits of this world and its time frame. I say that Christ IS Friend to all while on the earth, but when we enter eternity He is Friend to all in heaven for Eternity! Nevertheless, Jesus is LORD of all here and to eternity.

  16. Barbara Last

    Reply

    Jesus stands as a friend to all, no one is left out; whether a person accepts his friendship is up to them and those who bring that person the gospel message!

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