Mighty Christmas!

 I haven't written in my blog for a long time. My goal is to start writing more frequently because it is something that I enjoy doing. I changed the name of my blog to Hearthstone Companion, because no matter the subject I write about, I'd love for you to imagine you and I sitting together and talking at a Hearthstone sipping coffee or hot chocolate. 

For the month of December, I plan to blog about different Christmas carols and their meaning, history, or truths we can cling to this Christmas season. 

The song I will begin with is "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". During the Middle Ages, most of the songs that were sung at church were dark, somber and melancholy.  They lacked the ability to evoke enthusiasm or inspiration. So the peasants took it upon themselves to make their own Christmas carols. In doing so they led a quiet rebellion against the current tone of religious music writing. 

Although the church leaders would've disapproved of the song, it truly presented the message of Jesus and that first Christmas.  

Today, we think of the word "merry" as meaning "happy". But during the fifteenth century, it had a very different meaning, the word "merry" at that time meant something along the line of "Mighty" or "great". A strong warrior was a merry warrior. Robin Hood's merry men, weren't just happy men. They were mighty men. A mighty king was a merry king. You get the idea. 

Ye, obviously means "you". But another misconception is the word "rest". The song wasn't telling the mighty men to relax. During this time period the word "rest" meant to "keep" or "make". 

There is also the case of the missing comma. There is supposed to be a comma after merry. "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentleman". The translation for us today would be, "God make you mighty, Gentleman"

That is so exciting to me! Of course, we know that this song applies to all people, men and women, even though it says "gentlemen". Praise God for his love for us in sending Jesus to us as a wee babe, born in a stable, a hay trough for his bed. 

Christmas has a literal meaning too......it dates back to around 1000-1100 AD, a thousand years after Jesus Christ was born. It came from joining the word "Christ" and "Mass". Mass is basically the same as taking the Lord's Supper, or the eating of bread, and drinking of wine to remember Jesus and what He did. 

So when you hear anyone say, "Merry Christmas", you will know that they actually mean, "Have a MIGHTY Christmas!". Even more specifically, "Have a mighty time remembering Jesus!"