Sacred Music Sunday: Ding Dong Merrily on High

For the last two weeks, I’ve had the Christmas song “Ding Dong Merrily on High” stuck in my head. I have no idea why. It’s the end of May. Christmas isn’t for another seven months. It’s been 107 degrees Fahrenheit (41.2 Celsius) this past week, in a place where Christmas comes in winter, not summer.

As a musician, Christmas music isn’t confined to the month of December. I typically start rehearsing in late August or early September. And sometimes when things get stressful, Christmas music comes to mind to tamp down the stress.

I’m not an etymologist, but I was told as a child that Christmas comes from “Christ Mass”, which means a celebration of Christ. Whether that’s true or whether someone made it up to sound conveniently profound, I’m going to run with it. Christmas music can be year round because we should be celebrating Christ year round.

Merry Christmas, seven months early!