This Christmas, my robot servant, Alexa, has been hard at work playing Christmas songs.

“Alexa?”

Silence.

“Alexa?”

Silence.

“ALEXA?!”

“Beep boop.”

“Play Josh Groban Christmas songs.”

“Shuffling Christmas songs by Josh Groban.”

What Child is This? plays in the background while I merrily cut up twelve chicken breasts for my protein-loading husband.

But wait! Something’s off.  Josh Groban is not singing all the verses.  And I notice this because I’m Presbyterian and we sing ALL the verses of EVERYTHING.

What do you lose when you cut a verse from What Child is This? You lose the true meaning of Christmas:

Why lies He in such mean estate,

Where ox and ass are feeding?

Good Christians, fear, for sinners here

The silent Word is pleading.

Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,

The cross be borne for me, for you.

Hail, hail the Word made flesh,

The Babe, the Son of Mary.

The perfect Word “became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14). The Word of the Lord…pleading for us, sinners. Bearing the cross for me, for you. “…He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

Christmas is not about family. Christmas is not about gifts. Christmas is not about kindness or the “Christmas spirit.”  Christmas is about recognizing that we are a people who walk in deep darkness, but “…the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone” (Isaiah 9:2).

Christmas is certainly the advent of Christ, but it is also the advent of Easter! The advent of the Light of the World. The advent of Christ’s triumph over death. The advent of our salvation. The advent of the new heavens and the new earth.

So this season, let’s sing all the verses.  Let’s not only wait in eager anticipation of Christmas morning, but let’s eagerly anticipate the Second Coming and give thanks for WHY Christ came to us as a babe, the Son of Mary.