Chris Tomlin releases "It's Christmas Time Again"
His fourth Christmas album, "Good News of Great Joy," arrives November 6; the single is already on streaming platforms.
Chris Tomlin announced that his new album can now be pre-saved and that the single "It's Christmas Time Again" is available to listen to. He said it in a message posted on his own channel.
The announcement also sets the release date for the album: November 6.
For those who live between two cultures, December plays everywhere. The same Christmas song shows up in the store, in an uncle's car and on the corner speaker. It almost always serves as background. And the atmosphere also teaches something about the date being celebrated.
«And the atmosphere also teaches something about the date being celebrated»
When the store picks the soundtrack
A carol in the background doesn't hurt. Several classics tell the birth of Jesus more clearly than some December sermons.
The problem appears when that's the only place you hear about Christmas: a hallway with lights and sales. There the music stops reminding and starts decorating. It sounds good, it doesn't affirm anything, and in January nobody hums it.
That an artist adds a seasonal track to their catalog opens a simple question. What separates a Christmas song from a worship song? Not the month or the rhythm. It has to do with whom it's addressed to and what it says about God.
What the holiday commemorates
Christmas doesn't start with a tree or a gift list. It starts with a fact that happened in history: God became man and dwelt among us.
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14, ESV)
That verse isn't a card decoration. If God took on flesh, then the body, work, food and the December table matter. Gifts are good; Scripture doesn't forbid them. None of them saves anyone, and none of them bears the weight that only Christ sustains.
There worship becomes concrete. It doesn't depend on mood or volume. It depends on whether what you sing is true.
Before you hit play
This December you can do something small and useful. Open your Christmas playlist, listen to one full song without checking your phone and ask yourself what it says about Jesus. If it says nothing, change it. If it says something, use it to pray, alone or with your people.
Writing something down before it arrives is a habit we already know: reserve, save, wait. The calendar moves the same, but the wait has meaning when you know what you're waiting for.
No playlist replaces the local church, the shared table or a visit to someone spending these dates alone. Music accompanies; it doesn't shepherd.
And if December tempts you to spend without measure, set an amount before entering the store. Generosity isn't measured by the price of the package.
The hope of this season isn't in a new album or the well-chosen gift. It's in the fact that God kept his promise and came to seek us. That can be celebrated at high volume.
Is your Christmas playlist true worship or just background?
