A Guide to 2020s Christmas Resources
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And if I’m being really honest, it could be the only wonderful time of the year after lockdown in March and the steady stream of worries and anxieties that have followed us around for the past 8 months. Either way, all is not lost, especially if you are looking to delve into some Christmas fun, new and old, traditional or modern. Here is a quick guide to all of the Christmas things you can listen to, sign up to, watch or read in the next month to get you into that festive spirit. Whether that festive jiggle has been in your house for months or you’re just getting started, I’m certain there will be something in here for you to enjoy this Christmas season.
Starting with my all-time fave. Music. Christmas Music. Is there ever a better sound to your ears? Well, since Michael Buble basically made Christmas his own in 2011, I haven’t quite enjoyed a Christmas album like it - until now. Rend Collectives newest album ‘A Jolly Irish Christmas: Volume II’ is certainly jolly. Full of trad music and re-imaginations of old Christmas hymns and classics, it is probably the jolliest thing I’ve heard in the last decade, let alone the last year. Surprisingly, there has been a spike of new Christmas albums in the Christian Modern genre which has been a real excitement for me. Other new albums that have released in the past month that I can certainly recommend are Chris Tomlin’s recollection of his fabulous album ‘Adore’ in studio recordings with the addition of some original songs ‘Miracle of Love’, Phillipa Hanna’s first delve into the Christmas album scene with ‘Christmas - The Greatest Story’ sees the likes of Christian Music Godfather Graham Kendrick and Paul Baloche join the nativity scene and Bethel Church’s The McClures ‘Christmas Morning’ album. For KING & COUNTRY released a fairly unique album ‘A Drummer Boy Christmas’ which includes excerpts of spoken text amidst their music and if you’re looking for a more acoustic vibe, Phil Wickham has rehashed last years widely popular unoriginally named album ‘Christmas’, with the addition of the words ‘Acoustic Sessions’ (which are by far some of the best albums he releases) and an adorable front cover of his kid playing a miniature piano. I’m kind of breaking the rules for this next one but I feel like this album can be made an exception because it most definitely slipped under the radar last year. Salt of the Sound released an EP in 2019 that explores samples and sounds of the city of Hong Kong to create instrumental music and ambience. Their album ‘And on Earth, Peace’ is a wonderful wee album that helps you reflect perhaps on some of the darker notes of the Christmas story as well as the odd tune that could be beautiful to play in the background for you presents opening sesh! For those looking to break into the music scene and are using the Christmas Season to show their fabulous writing skills, St. Marks Worship have written an original song named ‘The King Became Homeless’ and if you’re a lover of Dolly Parton, she’s joined in the festivities by releasing ‘A Holly Dolly Christmas’ - I’ll be leaving that one in the stocking to re-gift the following year but perhaps you’d be interested.
The rise of online concerts are moving into the Christmas season as well. If you’re feeling Scottish proud, Tearfund Scotland are hosting gigs throughout advent raising awareness of both breakthrough and well-known Scottish Christian music artists. You can watch these gigs through their facebook page every Thursday evening of December at 8pm - no doubt some of you will see some familiar faces. Alternatively, if you’re reading this before Sunday 6th December, Compassion UK are hosting a concert named ‘Carol with Compassion’ featuring many well-known Christian artists. You can check that out on all of their social media channels.
Looking to engage with this season in a new way? I’ve found that quite a few organisations are sending out daily emails to help you interact with Christmas in a new way and whilst these all start in the coming days and I therefore can’t advocate for them, I certainly can tell you about them and you can make your mind up about them yourself! The most unique by far is ‘The Advent Project’ by Biola University / Biola Centre for Christian Culture - a daily piece of reflection with a piece of art, some poetry and a piece of music. It’s a wonderful way to expand your awareness of the art that is out there, and to interact with new pieces of culture whilst using the material to reflect poignantly on the beauty of the Christmas story. I’ve also signed up to Tearfund’s 2020 advent calendar named ‘Our present: hope’ which I’m yet to discover more of but if it’s anything to go by, I’m sure it’ll be powerful and hard hitting in moments as Tearfund rarely miss an opportunity to tell a story of the people that they’ve managed to help with their work! I’m predicting it to be a more worldwide view, reflecting on the theme of hope in our present day, hence the cleverness of the name. Another really creative way of engaging the entire family at Christmas time could be the Scottish Bible Societies ‘Christmas Windows’ pack. They’ve put together a pack of ten cards that will each contain a short bible reading, telling the birth of Jesus, a small activity and a “specially produced 3 minute daily podcast”. It might be good for those that want to do something in the midst of lockdown 2.0 or a cold winters Saturday afternoon. In fact, it seems like the Scottish Bible Society are pulling out all the stops this year and are also producing a radio drama called ‘The Advent’ using the incredibly talented skills of Fiona Stewart. Whether you know Fiona or not, she seems to be the epicentre of all things creative in the Scotland Christian scene and she produces some wonderful pieces of audio - including a podcast on her ‘Foolproof creative arts’ channel named ‘Foolproof Bites’. You can find the Audio Drama on the SBS social media page websites in the run up to Christmas. And if you’re looking for something slightly more familiar, the Lectio365 app team, including the infamous Pete Greig have also started their daily 10 minute devotional on the Christmas Season, it is a wonderful alternative to all of the options listed above and is highly recommended if you’d like an anchor to your day.
Now, I’ll be honest, I haven’t read many Christian books based on the Christmas season at all so I’ll mainly be going off word-of-mouth for this but any suggestion is better than none! A book that I’ve continued to hear good things about is called ‘Searching for Christmas: What if there’s more to the story than you thought?’ by J. D. Greear. The writer of ‘Not God Enough’ and ‘Gospel Above All’ has written a book that looks to expand our eyes and thoughts beyond the Christmas Story that we all know so well. One that I’m certainly interested in picking up myself is ‘Shadow and Light: A Journey Into Advent’ by Tsh Oxenreider. You may have come across her podcast: ‘simple’ and this book explores just that! I truly believe that Christmas can be a time that family dread, not just because of the in-laws or the Christmas Music in supermarket stores in October but actually because for most people, it is the busiest time of the year. Tsh explores how we can turn this season into a more sacred time that hopefully doesn’t end in utter exhaustion and confusion about what the true spirit of the Christmas season is meant to be.
That’s it all wrapped up in one lovely Christmas present for you! Hopefully there’s enough in here for you to pick one thing out and explore it to your hearts content. There’s plenty out there and I’m certain I will have missed something so if there is something new that you can advocate for this Christmas then let me know, or the community know so that we can pass it on! Most of all, I pray that Christmas is a time where you can rest in the arms of our Prince of Peace, Emmanuel.
Duncan Shelton, Team (Intern)
