Day 25. Christmas Carols: Light Through Song.
Description For many around the world, Christmas Carols are a defining feature of the season. From humble homes to grand cathedrals, singing together creates shared joy, remembrance, and hope. Traditional carols tell stories of resilience, birth, and redemption, reminding communities that light persists even in the darkest winters.
In some cultures, caroling is also an act of generosity: bringing music to neighbors, hospitals, or the streets embodies a literal and metaphorical sharing of light. The collective voices, often accompanied by candles, lanterns, or festive lights, reinforce the human capacity to uplift one another through song, story, and presence.
UU communities embrace song as a medium of spiritual connection and social justice. Carols, like hymns, unite voices, reinforce shared values, and cultivate solidarity and hope for the world we strive to create.
The song “Do You Hear What I Hear?” was written by Unitarian Noel Regney and his wife Gloria Shayne Baker in 1962 as a powerful Christmas carol and protest song during the Cuban Missile Crisis, using biblical imagery of Jesus’ birth to call for peace, reflecting Unitarian Universalist values of social justice and creating a better world.
While deeply tied to Christian Nativity, its core message of hearing a call for peace in troubled times resonates within liberal, diverse Unitarian Universalist (UU) traditions, often used in UU services to explore themes of hope, courage, and social action.
As the song “O Holy Night” is playing this season, let us remember that this beloved hymn was born as an act of conscience as much as devotion. Written in 1847 in France by poet Placide Cappeau and set to music by Adolphe Adam, the song’s radical lyrics proclaiming (in literal translation):
The Redeemer has overcome every obstacle.
The Earth is free, and Heaven is open.
He sees a brother where there was only a slave.
Love unites those whom iron had chained.
These words were so unsettling that church authorities in France eventually banned it. “militant tone and dubious theology.”
In 1855, John Sullivan Dwight, a Unitarian minister, abolitionist, and peace activist, recognized in its words a sacred protest against slavery and injustice. His translation is thus:
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is Peace.
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother
And in His name, all oppression shall cease.
Around the world, singing together, particularly in challenging times, becomes a covenantal act: an intentional practice to illuminate the world and sustain collective strength. May your hearts be filled by music, purpose, and community.
Reflection: Where can your voice bring hope and connection this season?
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