Don’t miss the videos at the end– especially the first one!
It was December 2019 and Lisa Clow was not at all in the Christmas spirit. It had been a difficult year and a half, and she was struggling. Finances had been a problem, she suffered a miscarriage, and some troubled relationships left her deeply embittered. Her church was having their annual service where they begin the Christmas season with carols and special songs. She was on the music leadership team, but she told the others that she did not want to sing that year. What she did not tell them was that she was too overcome with shame and sadness to stand on stage before the congregation. She tells of attending that service:
“That Sunday morning, I sat in my seat while everyone else stood and sang ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful.’ The first line of the song just clobbered me. I was hit with a giant wave of guilt. O come all you faithful, joyful and triumphant! I remember hearing those words and thinking, ‘I have been so unfaithful. My joy has dwindled, and I am a triumphant…failure.’ And I didn’t sing for the rest of the service. I drove home, my mind still churning, ‘Is that the only ones who are invited to come to Jesus? The faithful? The joyful? The triumphant? If so, then I am hopeless.’ Thankfully, later that afternoon the Holy Spirit reminded me of Jesus’s invitation in Matthew 11:28: Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. That evening, I had a strong conviction to write a song for myself and for the weary, the broken, and the ashamed.”
She began to write what became a wonderful new hymn for Christmas, “O Come, All You Unfaithful.” Her friend Bob Kauflin helped her complete it, and it was released in 2020. She performed it for the following video, which contains not only Lisa singing, but also several people who are processing the song “O Come, All You Unfaithful” in light of their own experiences. A stillborn child. A strained marriage. Feelings of shame. Legalism. Loss. Loneliness. Or simply having a heart that weeps with those who weep. Seeing their responses as Lisa Clow sings communicates even more clearly that Jesus wasn’t born only for people who have it all together. He was born for everyone. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”” (Matthew 11.28–30, ESV) “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1.21, ESV)
Christ is born for you. So come as you are. Come to Jesus.
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Watch and listen (If you are having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit, this will help):
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Luke 2:15 (NCB) — After the angels had departed from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Come, let us go to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”
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If you want to take the time, I have included a few more videos.
Three years after Lisa Clow wrote the above song, Michael Boggs and Josh Nichols produced a similar take on the old favorite hymn:
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Here are three videos of the traditional “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” The first by Carrie Underwood:
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By ‘Home Free:’
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Finally, for a high church rendition, watch this from the 2013 Christmas Ever service at Westminster Abbey:
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