Realizing that I may be scorned and reviled, I am going to say it.
I am disturbed by the "Happy Birthday, Jesus" craze. Well meaning Christian parents bake cakes, put on party hats, take little kids to the the big Nativity display at Church so they can sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus (I've even heard tell of Churches singing the "Birthday" song during Christmas services, shiver).
We get so wrapped up in sentimentality that we feel the need to make everything "sweet". Treacle. Well intentioned parents present Jesus as the buddy-friend-pal, God as His doting kindly Father and the Holy Spirit as a fluffy bird. Angels? Angels are what grandparents and puppies turn into when they die. Parents wring their hands trying to decide when to tell kids about hell or the devil, and end up simply letting that slide.
Teaching RE (aka "Sunday School" for my non-Catholic friends) for years, I see the result of this marketing plan. Teenagers who think Satan is a myth, that do not know hell is real, that think the only sins are murder and smoking, that as long as we are a "good person" we go to heaven (where we get to become an Angel!)
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". Scripture states this not once but twice (Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs 9:10). Fear of the Lord is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We have lost our sense of reverence, our children, our adults, do not have a healthy fear of God.
This holy fear, this reverence, begins with realizing that God is all powerful and all knowing. That God, who spoke the universe into existence, became man and was born of the Virgin Mary. Christmas is not a birthday party with cupcakes, Christmas is when all of time knelt in adoration and reverence and fear before a manger in Bethlehem. The Eternal God, the Word made flesh, was born to a virgin. This should strike us speechless. Kings and Angels (who are created beings, not Aunt Sally come back with wings, but, I'll save that for another post), they bowed down and sang - not a ditty from the early part of the 20th century - but "Glory to God in the highest and peace to His people on earth".
Children learn so much from things we do not even consider. Songs are one of the best ways to teach kids. We cannot teach reverence and awe for our Creator while teaching them that Jesus gets the same song as your stinky cousin. Jesus is different, He is someone we adore and worship. We sing songs for Him that we do not, that we cannot, sing for any other person.
Your kids are adorable, if you want them to sing a song to baby Jesus, teach them "O Come All Ye Faithful". Save "Happy Birthday" for Aunt Sally, before she dies and becomes an angel...
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