Christmas was always big medicine at my house growing up. When you’re a kid, the year between Christmases seems to last a decade! And the night before was a nightmare of anticipation. One year I even dreamed I heard Santa and his reindeer up on the roof during the middle of the night. And our unique family tradition focused on extending the waiting game on December 25 for as long as possible.
The main event always took place in our family room. That’s where the tree, the stockings, and the manger scene were. And that’s where the paper-tearing, box-rifling madness would happen on the 25th. During the weeks before Christmas, presents accumulated beneath the tree like heavy snow in Buffalo. However, on the Big Day, we kids were FORBIDDEN ENTRY to the family room until both sets of grandparents had arrived on Christmas morning.
During the final hours before our Christmas celebration, the family room door was kept closed—and watched—by Mom and Dad.
Good things come to those who wait
On Christmas morning it took FOR—EV—ER for the old folks to get to our house. Once everyone had arrived and greeted one another—and all of the adults were “cocooned” inside the family room—at long last we kids were let in. Our joyful entrance was captured in a thousand Kodak1 moments buried in long-ago lost family photo albums.2
I was born again in the Summer of 1995 and began to understand what the Christmas celebration was truly about for the first time. Like everyone else, I still loved the old traditions and legacy Christmas songs, but I began to pay closer attention to the lyrics. In so doing, I discovered a new favorite song: The Little Dummer Boy.3
Humble beginnings
The birth of Jesus was predicted by prophets, heralded by angels, announced to shepherds, and revealed to wise men. It was a wondrous event the magnitude of which few understood at the time. That His mother Mary was still a virgin rendered the birth of her firstborn nothing less than a miracle of God.
At that time, a Roman census required Joseph and Mary to return to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Joseph’s forefathers, to be counted. They arrived to find the city full of travelers and short on accommodations. Joseph and the heavily pregnant Mary took shelter in an animal enclosure.
The baby Jesus arrived not long afterward.
Come!
Imagine being one of the shepherds out in the field that long ago night. Away from crowded Bethlehem, warming yourself beside a small fire, staying alert for predators seeking to thin the flock in the darkness. All of a sudden an angel is standing in your midst. Then the sky bursts open with the brightness of the glory of God, and an innumerable host of angelic beings shout their praise:
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” —Luke 2:14
We’ve all experienced feelings of connection and the presence of the Holy Spirit while worshipping and singing during a Christmas Eve service. But I’m glad for the songs that challenge us to think about what it might have been like to visit The King of the Universe in Bethlehem that year.
What to bring to a King
If we had been the Wise Men—the Magi—we would have brought what the Magi brought: Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. While these gifts were extravagant from a human perspective, they were appropriate for this Child as they emphasized Jesus’s dual role of King and Priest and foreshadowed His burial preparation.
Coming into the presence of the Christ child would have been humbling for shepherds and wise men alike. And for you and me. What exactly is the appropriate birthday gift to present to the One who Created everything, and who owns the cattle on a thousand hills?
This brings me to my favorite Christmas song.
No gift to bring
For most of my life, “The Little Drummer Boy” meant nothing to me other than that it was Christmastime. However, after I was saved, the lyrics took on fabulous new meaning and poignancy. I freely admit that this song produces a lump in my throat the size of Texas and that I weep at some point during its playing, whenever I hear it.
Below are the lyrics followed by my thoughts. I’ve removed most of the pa-rum-pum-pum-pums and emphasized the dialog:
Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum,
a new born King to see, …Our finest gifts we bring, …
to lay before the King, …
so to honor Him, …
when we come.Baby Jesus, …
I am a poor boy too, …I have no gift to bring, …
that’s fit to give the King, …
shall I play for you, …
On my drum?Mary nodded, …
the ox and lamb kept time, …I played my drum for Him, …
I played my best for Him, …
then He smiled at me, …
me and my drum.
Come!
So what did The Little Drummer Boy get right and why do I admire him so much?
He responded to the invitation. “Come”, they beckon, “to see a new born King!”
The Little Drummer Boy realizes he has nothing to bring to the King. And, so, he identifies with the “poor boy” born in a smelly stable.
Then he remembers his drum. “Shall I play for you,” he asks, “on my drum?” Only a child would ask such a question of a baby. And, yet, I believe that in childhood innocence, the Little Drummer Boy anticipated the answer.
So, he began to play.
Mary nodded. The ox and lamb kept time. They were pleased.
The last stanza reveals The Little Drummer Boy’s humility and heart: “I played my drum for Him; I played my best for Him.”
He may have been poor, but The Little Drummer Boy could snap out his best beat for the King. While scripture is silent regarding reactions to the gifts of the Magi, baby Jesus responds to The Little Drummer Boy’s gift:
“Then He smiled at me; me and my drum.”
What can we bring? What can we give?
I believe the lyrics of this familiar Christmas song contain the truth about acceptable worship. In humility, we admit that we have nothing worthy to give to our King. He brought it all. He paid for it all. He is the All in All.
Then the Holy Spirit reminds us:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. —James 1:17
In an instant, we realize that we can give Jesus something worthy. We give ourselves to the King. And we give Him the gifts He gave us—with boldness and gusto!
Just like The Little Drummer Boy.
The Eastman Kodak Company is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography.
Back in the day, picture-taking required a camera (not a phone) which contained a roll of emulsion-based celluloid. After images had been exposed to the film by light passing through the lens, the roll of film was removed from the camera, dropped off at the camera store, and sent to a third party for processing. After about a week, physical prints of the images captured on the exposed film were retrieved and enjoyed by the photographer.
“The Little Drummer Boy” is a popular Christmas song written by American composer Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941.
I feel the same way. A child’s Christmas song can really hit home.
Also consider the words to Mary had a little lamb. That one also hits home as a Christian knowing that Mary’s little lamb was not allowed in school.