My favorite Christmas movie is not It's a Wonderful Life or White Christmas. It's not The Christmas Story or Christmas Vacation. My favorite Christmas movie is The Family Stone. I have not watched it this season, but I plan to watch it soon. The movie is a family story about people at their best and their worst at Christmastime.
Of all the funny and touching moments for me in the film, there is one scene that gets me every time. It's like that one scene in The Empire of the Sun when Jim, a young British prisoner of war, walks up to the Zero on the Japanese airfield and lovingly caresses the airplane, I have never watched the movie without getting at least a lump in my throat during that scene. In The Family Stone there is a moment when Ben Stone, played by Luke Wilson, is resting on a bed in a cozy corner with his hands behind his head. He's thinking of "Joy to the World" when he says as if he's never thought about the words before. "Repeat the sounding joy." And then as if speaking a question he says again "Repeat the sounding joy." I was struck at the same moment he was struck with how very odd those lyrics are. What in the world could "repeat the sounding joy" actually mean? I didn't know then and I don't know now what the words mean. But like Ben I am awestruck with the beauty of the Christmas poetry.
This afternoon I turned on the radio to a marvelous arrangement of "The First Noel." For the first time this Christmas season I was flooded with the "sounding joy." I was filled with the power and wonder of Christmas. And I thought, "What could that mean? The first noel?" The song indicates it's about the first Christmas in Bethlehem. A quick search revealed that the Latin "natalis" of the French "noel" means "birthday." The Latin, it turns out, is also where we also get the word "natal." The song knew what it was saying all along.
Since The Family Stone is a Christmas movie, it should not be a spoiler to tell you that by the end, in spite of some rough patches along the way, it eventually becomes a story about a family at Christmas being at its best. That's why I like it so much.
My observation is that no matter what is going on in people's lives, their family's lives, and in the lives of their circle of friends, Christmas is a hopeful time. Christmastime does tend to bring out the best in people. Perfect strangers say to me, "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays" and I return the greeting. On a recent trip to a family Christmas gathering in Alabama, as I placed my purchase on the counter, I asked the cashier at the convenience store, "How much are you still enjoying that Christmas music?" She smiled and said, "Not very much" and then she gave me the coffee. I understand very well how difficult the Christmas season is for so many people, but for most people I think it is indeed a time of "sounding joy."
I spent forty-five years of my life directing church choirs. That means that I spent forty-five Christmases directing church choirs. That means that I was never able to separate "Christmas" from "the music of Christmas." That phenomenon was not all bad and it was not all good. But it was mostly good. Part of the reason "The First Noel" was doing it for me this afternoon is that it reminded me of an anthem by David Schwoebel of that carol. One of the biggest musical challenges down through the years was not "do I have a choir that can sing it?", but "do I have an accompanist who can play it?" I was fortunate enough at this particular church to have two accompanists who could play anything I put in front of them, This incredible arrangement of "The First Noel" was technically difficult for the accompanists and for the choir, but we performed it both flawlessly and artistically. This afternoon as I was enjoying the music on the radio, I could still feel in my soul and my spirit the antiphonal musical climax of "born is the King of Israel" as it reverberated through the sanctuary.
Maybe that's what "repeat the sounding joy" means. Whatever brings you joy during Christmas, repeat it. Watch your favorite movie, listen to you favorite carol, bake your favorite pie, but by all means do that thing that brings you the most joy. And just like they figured out in The Family Stone, forgetting about petty differences and caring about the people around you is the quickest and best way to find joy. "Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!. Born is the King of Israel."
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