Choirs, Carols and Candlelight: Putting ‘Christ’ Back Into Christmas
In partnership with Australian Christian Records, The Daily Declaration shares a monthly Christian music column featuring the official OZ 5 Top Tunes chart, artist stories, new releases, upcoming music events, and local Christian music news. If you have something to contribute, send it to news@ozchristianrecords.com.au.
Recommended New Releases:
- Dami Im — O Holy Night (QLD) #Christmas
- Echidna Candy Store — Wrapped Up (ACT) #Christmas
- LILLI — He’s Just Not Into You (SA) #Indie Pop
- River Movement & Sam Hornshaw — Lllllove (QLD) #Calypso Pop
- JSP — No More [Album] (ACT) #Rock
More local Christian releases on our Australian Christian Pop Spotify Playlists.
Upcoming Events:
- Seek Jesus Festival, Dec 30 – Jan 1 (VIC)
- Kirk Franklin Dec 15-19 (NSW, VIC, QLD, WA)
- Cancelled Lecrae Reconstruction Tour, Dec 9-13 (TAS, VIC, NSW, QLD)
- We Are Messengers w/ Nathan Tasker Jan 27-31 (WA, VIC, QLD, NSW)
OZ 5 Chart*
*Compiled by TCM based on Australian Christian radio airplay from the preceding month.
Choirs, Carols and Candlelight: Putting ‘Christ’ Back Into Christmas
In an increasingly secular Australia, are we losing our chance to share the true story of Christmas? From putting together your December soundtrack, decorating your Christmas lights, to attending local festive events with family, what can you do to spread His light this Christmas?
Joy to the World! It’s Christmas time again. While Australia does Christmas differently from much of the rest of the world, we still do very well to borrow, recreate or come up with our own Christmas traditions.
Coming up to Christmas, our family puts out the tree and stockings, we decorate gingerbread houses and dust off the record player just as the year before, to play the same carols by English choirs, European orchestras and that one vinyl by Tijuana Brass — all the time never minding those references to snow or reindeer.
Outside too, there are the neighbourhood Christmas lights, the Christmas pageants, and of course, there’s the ubiquitous carol singers that you can find in the mall, church events, and of course, Carols by Candlelight.
The Sidney Myer Bowl in Melbourne has hosted the city’s annual Carols by Candlelight since 1959.
In fact, when you consider the crowds of people sitting on the grass singing together as the day turns into night for a Carols by Candlelight, it really is a uniquely Australian experience that can’t quite be replicated in the cold winter months of the northern hemisphere.
In an article by Warwick Marsh, the roots of this tradition can be traced back to Methodist miners who came from Cornwell, England, to places like Moonta, South Australia. Known for their strong Christian faith, these miners would use the candles affixed to their mining hats, and as according to one 1882 article from the local newspaper, ‘Christmas Eve was celebrated by parties of miners singing carols through the night in the township and along the mines.’
Miners at Moonta with candles on their mining hats circa 1884 (State Library of South Australia).
Radio stations from Melbourne and Adelaide each introduced Carols by Candlelight to their respective cities in 1938 and 1944, hosting tens of thousands of members from the public and simulcasting to many more again with ticket sales being donated to various charities. The success from these two cities spread around Australia (and indeed the globe), and Warwick estimates there could be almost 2000 such events around Australia today.
It’s certainly a fantastic platform for the public expression of Jesus, but is this tradition too in danger of being secularised? How many of the singers, hosts and performers actually believe the Christmas story themselves?
One much-loved and regular carols performer open with her faith is Dami Im. Ever since winning the X Factor in 2013, Dami has sung at carols events in different cities across Australia, including Sydney, Melbourne, her hometown of Brisbane, and Adelaide, as shown in the above image.
Christmas is obviously an important time for Dami, and just last week she released her own version of ‘O Holy Night’, which follows on from her Christmas Songbook EP in 2023.
Dami shares,
It’s always fun to be part of Carols, as everyone is in a festive mood and there’s a real sense of celebration. As a Christian it’s also a wonderful opportunity to sing about Christ naturally, without it feeling preachy.
Do all Aussie kids know the story of Christmas? Adelaide St. Johns Carols by Candlelight
Australian Christian Orchestra is another great example of performers using Christmas to openly share the Christian faith. Founded in Sydney just three years ago, the Orchestra now has 50 classical musicians from over 17 denominations putting on evangelistic concerts with the purpose of bringing people to Christ.
Christmas is an important time of year for both the Orchestra and its subsequently-founded sister organisation, the Australia Christian Choir. Building off last year, where they performed a piece called ‘Messiah’ to 800 people at Salvation Army Congress Hall, this year the Orchestra and Choir performed their Christmas concert ‘Joyful, Joyful’ at the UNSW Science Theatre on 29 November.
Ryan Gilpin, Founder and CEO of both the Orchestra and the Choir, shares,
We do a Christmas event every year, and after the orchestra and choir perform widely loved classics ranging from Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus to Sister Act’s Joyful, Joyful, the pinnacle is the Christmas message. At the conclusion of the event, we ask people to start, recommence or reaffirm their journey with Jesus.
It’s not a call to the front, but by using QR codes and NFC tags, there’s an option for everyone to respond. We then look at each respondee’s suburb and help them find some local church options — with a priority for those where an Orchestra or Choir member also goes, so they can have a personal connection straight away.
The Australian Christian Orchestra & Australian Christian Choir were born to ‘Reclaim the arts for Christ’.
Outside of church communities, though, I unfortunately feel that a lot of Jesus has been taken out of Christmas. A number of government agencies even share a reluctance to use the word ‘Christmas’ in their communications, let alone the marketing team signing off on any reference to ‘our newborn King’.
In fact, it seems that taking Jesus out of Christmas is the latest politically correct fashion taking over Australia. Walking my neighbourhood and admiring the Christmas lights, I see lots of reindeer, wrapped presents and a few Santas stuck in chimneys. Unfortunately, though, I find it increasingly rare to find any member of the nativity scene in people’s front yards — maybe an angel, no shepherds yet, and definitely no baby Jesus.
The same is true for Christmas music, too. Next time you are in a shopping centre, pay attention to how many traditional carols referring to Jesus’ birth you can find — and are the lyrics being sung?
I think you’ll find many of the songs are about Santa, snow, bells, presents, trees or a Christmas love story, à la Mariah Carey. I truly believe we are reaching a stage where many Australian kids actually have no idea what Christmas is about.
In preparing for this article, I asked Australian Christian artists in our Facebook group their views on how Australia represents Jesus through music at Christmas time and asked them to select from the following distinct options:
- There is Jesus overload at Christmas, and we need to take a break from it
- Australia has just the right mix of Jesus and secular carols
- Australian Christmas music needs more Jesus in it.
A respondee soon added a fourth selectable answer,
- Christmas is the last performance space left for the Gospel, so take it — and don’t water it down.
At time of publication, there was just the one vote saying the balance was right, yet there were over two dozen responses for answers 3 or 4 asking Christians to take action.
These answers confirmed my own view that Christmas truly is one of the last spaces left for us Christians to proudly use our creative talents to share the Gospel. I truly feel that society is trending in a way, that even sharing the Christmas story at Christmas may no longer be socially acceptable soon.
So what will you do to pass on the good news to the next generation? Is it time to search for (or even build) a nativity scene to display for your family and neighbours? Will you join a Christmas choir, or take the kids to carols by candlelight?
By testifying all together, I think we can bring back the ‘Christ’ in Christmas.
Australian Christian Records is giving away Canberra artist Echidna Candy Store’s new song ‘Wrapped Up’ —
Download here.
Follow:
Adelaide Carols by Candlelight
Website: https://adelaidecarols.com.au
Melbourne Carols by Candlelight
Website: https://carols.visionaustralia.org
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“Is it time to search for (or even build) a nativity scene to display for your family and neighbours?”
Personally I dont like them as its making an image of Christ, God, which making images is forbidden in the Ten Commandments.
But if one feels compelled to make one at least get it correct. There were no wise men at the birth of Christ. Yet everywhere you see the scene with wise men, 3. The Bible doesnt say how many were there. Could have been 2, could have been more than 3. The wise men visited the Christ at His “home”. If you read and pay attention you see no mention of them at the birth, and its later clearly stated that they visited Him at His home. Where He was born was not his home.
Thats why Herod ordered all children up to 2 yrs old to be killed, not new borns.
And remember when at the carols many singers who will be leading the singing which many take as a form of worship are ungodly secular people who live totally ungodly lives of sin. They have no place leading any worship of the Holy God.
Read the Word and dont take everything you are told or see for granted. Even this, put this message to the Bible test like the Bereans did in the Bible.
“The Bereans were a group of people mentioned in the Bible, specifically in Acts 17:11, who were commended for their eagerness to receive the teachings of Paul and Silas and for diligently examining the Scriptures to verify the truth of those teachings. They are often seen as a model for how to approach biblical study and discernment.”
JESUS is back in Christmas on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. Carols By the Lake hosted by the Link Church Narrabeen celebrated its 20th year last Christmas at Lakeside Park. growing annually to 10,000 people. They received an Award from NB Council for Best Event of the Year. So wonderful to see Jesus glorified throughout the local community.
Christmas (and Easter) are a product of apostate changes to God’s words. Deuteronomy 12 warns us NOT to follow pagan practices.
Many Australians choose to obey God’s words and do not celebrate Christmas.