Make a Joyful Noise this Christmas Season

Maybelle Crabtree here. “Christmas time is here, Happiness and cheer, Fun for all that children call, Their favorite time of year.” That is the opening verse of the Christmas song (Christmas Time is Here) made famous in A Charlie Brown Christmas. Yes, it’s that time of the year to make a joyful noise unto the Lord as we celebrate His birth by singing Christmas carols. Now what exactly is joyful noise? Well, I’m going to tell you right now.

Joyful Noise = Shout of Praise

Joyful noise is a bold declaration of God’s glorious name and nature with shouts, clapping, and other outward expressions of praise, according to the website, gotquestions.org. It continues to state that joyful noise usually involves music such as singing, playing instruments, and dancing. When the focus of our hearts is God and His greatness, our noise is a sweet sound to His ears.

And the best part is we can make a joyful noise regardless of our circumstances. Even in the roughest periods of life. Trust me. This Christmas season I am singing my heart out praising Jesus. Yep. Even though there’s a part of my heart that is very, very sad, the rest of my heart is drowning out that sadness with shouts of hallelujah!

Since my favorite Christmas carol is O Holy Night, I am singing that a lot this year. To be sure, it is not a very jazzy song. It’s not one you can really dance to or clap your hands to with any kind of rhythm. But its message of adoration, love, and peace just makes me want to make a joyful noise whenever I hear it.

The Story behind O Holy Night

Picture it: December 1847 in Roquemaure, France which is near Avignon. A clergyman by the name of Eugene Nicolas asked his poet friend, Placide Cappeau, to come up with something for a Christmas pageant Nicolas was organizing to raise money for the church window fund.

Once Cappeau agreed, he pondered how to create the piece. He reasoned it had to be religious, focus on Christmas, and be based on Scripture. The Gospel of Luke was his guide and inspiration. A few days later, the poem Cantique de Noel (Chant of Christmas) was completed.

But Cappeau decided that the poem needed a score and asked his friend, renown musician Adolphe Adams, to compose the music. Three weeks later Cantique de Noel was performed for the first time at a Christmas Eve midnight mass.

More of the Story

Picture it: Boston, Massachusetts in May of 1813. John Sullivan Dwight, a former Unitarian minister and founder of Dwight’s Journal of Music, was looking for new material to review. He came upon Contique de Noel and was moved by the carol’s haunting lyrics.

Dwight was determined to introduce the Christmas song to America so he translated the lyrics into English keeping the original meaning intact. He published it in his magazine and several songbooks of the period and O Holy Night quickly found favor throughout America.

My Joyful Noise Moment

Back in the day, my elementary school every December held a Christmas pageant for all the students’ families. The lower grades sang songs like Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. But the upper grades got to do something special. Along with singing in the choir, students could audition for various roles in the story of the birth of Jesus such as Mary, Joseph, an angel, a king, a narrator, or even as a soloist in the choir.

Without a doubt, I loved singing when I was a kid. Heck, I still do. But when I was a kid I sang just about anywhere. I sang in the car and in the shower. In my bedroom with the door closed and with a hairbrush for a microphone, I rocked out in concerts performing for make-believe audiences. So when I found out that one of the songs in the pageant for a soloist was O Holy Night, I jumped at the chance to sing it. I practiced and practiced. On the day of auditions I was ready. Miss Brooks sat at the piano and nodded to me. I began to sing: “O holy night, the stars are brightly shining…”

“Thank you, Maybelle,” Miss Brooks said, quieting the piano. “That is enough. Next, please.”

No Solo for Me

In the end, I didn’t get the solo. Suzie Martin did. In fact, she got the solo the next two years over me also. I never got to sing my all-time favorite carol at school. I was devastated. That was my song. How could they ever give it to someone else? No one, and I mean no one, would ever put the heart and soul into that song like I would. Alas, it was not meant to be.

Several years later I found out the reason behind the denial. I can’t sing. It’s a simple as that. Can’t carry a tune to save my soul. A beautiful, enjoyable singing voice was not a gift God gave to me. Like many of you out there, I am what I call a joyful noiser.

I’m a Proud Joyful Noiser

Even though I can’t sing on key that doesn’t mean I stopped singing. I still love singing. It makes me feel good. It lifts my spirits.  And, best of all, my stress level is lowered. Oh, I may never sing “O Holy Night” in front of an audience of five or ten or hundreds or thousands. But I will continue to sing for an audience of One; the Almighty God Himself. My joyful noise will always be in perfect tune for Him.

So whether you can sing in tune or not, make sure you make a joyful noise this Christmas season for the One who made it happen in the first place: Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Merry Christmas, everyone and, as always, leave your comments down below. Maybelle Crabtree signing off.