Christmas is just around the corner.  As we prepare for Christmas with lots of trips to the church and outreach events, the numerous hours to be spent standing by the stove, the long queues at Walmart and the countless hours stopping at the traffic lights, why not download some Christmas music as we wait?  Why not spend some time in worshipping Jesus and not allow the hustle of Christmas to overwhelm us?  Why don't we devote as much or even more time for Jesus as the time we spend on ourselves?  Sure, we have the old Christmas albums by Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant, but what about newer Christmas worship songs?  Christmas songs that get us to the heart of the season.

In this article, we want to provide you with a short list of some of our favorite new Christmas worship songs.  For songs to qualify, first they need to be released within the last couple of years or at least appear in a compilation or album that has been re-issued in 2012 or 2013.  Second, the lyrical content of the song needs to expound one or more of the themes of Christmas as contained in Scripture.  Thus, this excludes all the songs about Santa, being naughty or nice, silver bells and reindeers.  So, here goes:   

12. Phillips, Craig and Dean "God Bless Us" from Phillips, Craig and Dean's "Hope for All the World"

Sometimes Christmas is the season where our pains are inevitability magnified under the microscope of its celebrations.  When the single lady sees lovers walking hand in hand in the mall, she is again stung by her own lack.  When the parent sees the hordes of children lining up to sit on Santa's lap, he is painfully reminded of his son who has just left to spend his first Christmas with Jesus.  With a sensitivity that can only come from three seasoned pastors, Phillips, Craig and Dean on "God Blesses Us" reminds us that the baby born is one "wrapped in brokenness."  And he still dispenses his "grace (that is) found in places we never thought to look."  In short, "God Bless Us" is a warm water bottle for the frozen heart.

11.  Mary J. Blige and Jessie J "Do You Hear What I Hear?" from Mary J. Blige's "A Mary Christmas"

Let's face it: Mary J Blige and Jessie J are not the first people we think of when we think of Christmas worship music.  But recently, under the helm of producer David Foster (who produced Whitney Houston's iconic "I Will Always Love You"), Blige has released a classy spirited Christmas album.  Of which, her rendition (with Jessie J) of "Do You Hear What I Hear" takes us back to church.  In a season when we get the most self-absorbed, "Do You Hear What I Hear?," a song written in the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, is a stern reminder to pray for nations who do not have the peace we enjoy.

10. Sidewalk Prophets "Hey Moon" from Sidewalk Prophets' "Merry Christmas to You"

Christmas is God's imagination run wild.  Who would have thought the Creator of the universe would have sent his own son to die for the world?  Yet, many of our Christmas songs lack ingenuity, creativity and a killer storyline.  "Hey Moon," is most like our Father, it brims with originality.  Told as a narrative from the perspective of the cosmos, here the Moon realises that its raison d'etre was to shine its brightest so that the wise men could get to worship baby Jesus.  A brilliant tale told with searching implications:  if the moon knows its reason for living, what about us?

9. Josh Turner and the Robertsons "Why I Love Christmas" from the Robertsons' "Duck the Hall: A Robertson Family Christmas"

The Robertsons have done the Kingdom a big service.  They have made praying at the dinner table the norm for families to do each evening again.  Though they have had the highest ratings a reality TV series could muster, they are not ashamed of sharing about their faith.  Teaming up with country superstar Josh Turner, you couldn't get a clearer articulation of the true meaning of Christmas than this:  "Why I love Christmas, it's a special time of the year/Why I love Christmas, bringing hope and lots of cheer/The child that was born on that morning brought the gift of salvation to us."

8.   Angela Bassett and Jennifer Hudson "He Loves Me Still" from the Soundtrack "Black Nativity"

We have seen Angela Bassett on the big screen in blockbusters like "Waiting to Exhale" and "What's Love Got to Do with This," but it is a rare treat to hear her on record.  Though her softer and more fail vocals do not have the rich Gospel texture of her duet partner as well as American Idol alum Jennifer Hudson, Bassett brings a vulnerability to this piano ballad about God's grace that is fetching.  Taken from the soundtrack of this year's most moving Christmas movie "The Black Nativity," "He Loves Me Still" moves the soul via its heartfelt singing, a gorgeous melody and some simple grace-besotted words.    

7. Ernie Haase and Signature Sound "Changed By a Baby Boy" from Ernie Haase and Signature Sound's "Christmas Live!"

Jesus Christ isn't just a plastic baby lying in a wooden cradle in a mall somewhere.  Neither is he a sentimental icon for us to swoon in nostalgia over.  Rather, he is the Almighty God that will cause the rise and the fall of many.  Because of him, some will turn way in disgust and bitterness.  But yet for others, they are going to be changed by him for good.  Through a doo-wop jazzy style, Ernie Haase and Signature Sound speaks powerful of Christ's transforming power.  These are the type of songs we need to hear every day, yet they are far and between.   

6. John Schlitt "The Little Drummer Boy" from John Schlitt's "The Christmas Project"

No Christmas song expresses worship with greater perspicuity than "The Little Drummer Boy."  The gripping storyline about how a child has nothing to offer but to play his drums for the King is nothing short of stunning.  With the abundance of blessings God has gifted us with, what then do we bring to our King?  While many renditions offer a mawkish elevator style read, Schlitt is one of the few versions that does justice to this ode of abandon worship.  Just as the little boy plays his best for the king, Schlitt gives the king his voice in its fullest glory with all the range of emotions and nuances. 

5. Francesca Battistelli "You're Here" from Francesca Battistelli's "Christmas"

No one feels God's pain in sacrificing his beloved Son more than Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.  In "You're Here," Battistelli invites us to step into the shoes of Mary as she ponders anew the humbling irony of Christ's incarnation: "You made the world before I was born/But here I am holding You so near." And when Mary gets to reflect on how her baby would one day shred her heart when he would be pre-maturely be taken away, we can't help but feel our hearts being pinched. "Someday I'm gonna look back on this/The night that God became my baby boy/Someday you're gonna go home again..."   

4. North Point Worship "I Heard the Bells" from North Point Worship's "North Point Christmas"

The best songs are written not with a PC or a pen but they are written with tears.  Such is the case of "I Heard the Bells:" written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who had just lost in his wife two year prior.  Still in the tailwind of grief, Longfellow was informed that his son had just been severely wounded in the Civil War.  "I Heard the Bells" initially titled as "Christmas Bells" was born.  Even after all these years, lines such as "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep/The wrong shall fail, the right prevail/Of peace on earth, good will to men" still ring true in our hearts.  And Casey Darnell charges with a fearless trust in God to come through for us in the midst of suffering and injustice on one of the most animated renditions of "I Heard the Bells."

3. Paul Baloche "Offering" from Paul Baloche's "Christmas Worship"

Worship leaders who feel the crunch for time to introduce a new worship song for Christmas might do well to sing "Offering."  Many of us familiar with worship veteran Paul Baloche's repertoire would remember "Offering."  On this newly recorded version, Baloche has added a new verse with a new arrangement appropriate for the Yuletide season.  With a song that expresses our desire to give of our lives as an offering of praise to God, there's no response more appropriate for Christmas than "Offering."

2. Downhere "How Many Kings" from Downhere's "Love and History: The Best of Downhere"   

Christmas speaks of a directionally challenged God.  In this world, the way forward is always up.  In terms of our career goals, we project that we would be promoted from supervisor to manager within the next three years.  In terms of our investment, we hope we would be able to own rather than rent a house within the next five years.  But only God thinks the only way forward is down.  Who would give up his throne as Lord of the entire cosmos to live in a stable?   Who would surrender his royal robes in order to put on some diapers?  Only Jesus (and no other religious leader) is willing to down grade because of us.  And no song speaks of such a love better than Downhere's anthemic "How Many Kings."

1. Hillsong "Emmanuel" from Hillsong's "Behold A Savior"

"Emmanuel" brings two of Hillsong Church's worship pastors together: Darlene Zschech who sings lead and Reuben Morgan whose pen has crafted this tune.  Originally a cut taken from one of their regular worship album, Morgan has added some Christmas bells and an atmospheric backing giving "Emmanuel" a new varnish.  And when Darlene Zschech takes on the vocals, she doesn't just sing, she automatically inspires us to worship along.  By the time she hits the chorus, we can't help but sing with her, "Emmanuel, Jesus Christ/ You'll never let me go/My Shepherd King/You're watching over me/Emmanuel."