By Cyndi

It’s fascinating how Christmas songs translate around the world, how Jingle Bells gets played in shopping malls even on the Equator. In more meaningful settings, global followers of Jesus sing O Come All Ye Faithful and Joy to the World in their own languages, and Silent Night and candles go together on Christmas Eve even in the tropics. Singing the familiar carols unites us in our annual grasp to comprehend the miracle of God with us.

The story of Christmas was God’s idea, His chosen way of introducing His beloved Son to the world. In addition to all the details regarding prophecies, shepherds, angels and stars, He had very specific ideas about what the Baby would be called. “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14) was followed centuries later by the angel’s instructions to Mary and Joseph to name Him Jesus (Matthew 1:21, Luke 1:31).

There is a precious entrustment in giving a name. God entrusted Adam with the privilege of naming every living creature (Genesis 2:19-20), yet when it came time to name His only Son, He claimed the naming right for Himself.

In 2001, the name Charis was prayerfully given to a new fledgling school that has since grown to become the hub of Mustard Seed ministry in Indonesia. Charis, a Greek word meaning grace, holds the weight of what we want God to do on our campuses, through our graduates, and in the life of every child affected by Mustard Seed’s impact. The schools and children’s homes in the MSI network often bear their own carefully chosen names: Seeds of Hope! Wisdom! Blessing!

But of all the names that have ever been given, only one has the power to truly transform and give lasting hope: Jesus! Immanuel! God with us! Those are the names that inspire the songs we sing this Christmas, the songs that remind us of God’s love shown to all the world in the story that He wrote for Christmas.

A COLLAGE OF CHRISTMAS CAROLS, for Indonesia

O little village in remote and jagged hills, how still your worn paths lie;
Quiet in the dark of night, under a starry sky, your mortals sleep in small thatch huts, surrounded by mountainsides.

Go, tell it on the mountain! Over those far-flung hills, and on every towering height. Go, tell it in the villages, that Jesus Christ is born!
Noel, Noel, the angels say to farmers working in their fields. Harvesting rice for their family meals,
Caring for cows, or perhaps pigs and sheep. Needing protection from storms, theft, and heat.
Go, tell it on the islands! Over those terraced fields, and on every planted plain.
Go, tell it in the flatlands, that Jesus Christ is born!

Joy to the riverside houses on stilts, as rain hammers loud like a drum.
No more let poverty corrode the future of your children, nor lack of hope limit their minds.
Go, tell it in the jungles! Over the winding waters, and on every traveling boat.
Go, tell it on the rivers, that Jesus Christ is born!

Photo: Christmas cards from Barani (left) and Haikal (right) from Slippery Rock Children’s Home in Borneo