I haven’t listened to this song posted below for ages, but recently it’s popped into my head because of a picture that’s been showing up in my newsfeed:

That’s Santa Claus kneeling at the cross. I’m going to say straight up- I just don’t get it.  I mean, I understand it’s a way to hammer home the message that Christmas is about Christ by having a fictional character Christmas character  kneel at the cross.

It’s about  branding, I get it.

That’s why I’m posting this song- I think that it’s a good reminder that Christmas  may mean one or two things  to some poeple and how it means other things to other people.

That’s the thing about stories, they grow legs and walk their own way. That with each person who tells the story,  that the story is bound to change. The problems happen  when we forget they are just stories and we forget to just enjoy them.

” Rebel Jesus “

Performed by Jackson Browne and The Chieftains 

All the streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants’ windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurrying to their homes
While the sky darkens and freezes
Will be gathering around the hearths and tables
Giving thanks for God’s graces
And the birth of the rebel Jesus

Well they call him by ‘the Prince of Peace’
And they call him by ‘the Savior’
And they pray to him upon the seas
And in every bold endeavor
And they fill his churches with their pride and gold
As their faith in him increases
But they’ve turned the nature that I worship in
From a temple to a robber’s den
In the words of the rebel Jesus

Well we guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions
And once a year when Christmas comes
We give to our relations
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why there are poor
They get the same as the rebel Jesus

Now pardon me if I have seemed
To take the tone of judgement
For I’ve no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In a life of hardship and of earthly toil
There’s a need for anything that frees us
So I bid you pleasure
And I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus

Songwriters: Jackson Browne