At last, a Christian hymn that will be the Christmas number one in the charts
Can we use the culture around us to promote the Christian message? Might we, for example, use a pop song as a Trojan Horse in order to make the message of Christ more widely known?
The pop group Erasure have just released a version of the medieval Christmas hymn, Gaudete, as their Christmas single. Could the Christian community make this hymn the Christmas number one? If it started to creep up the charts, this would certainly create media attention and a wide audience.
While some may have misgivings about who is singing the hymn, surely this is outweighed by making Christ known to a largely secular audience this Christmas?
Here are the lyrics:
Gaudete, gaudete! Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine, gaudete!
Rejoice, rejoice! Christ is born
Of the Virgin Mary — rejoice!
Deus homo factus est
Natura mirante,
Mundus renovatus est
A Christo regnante.
God has become man,
To the wonderment of Nature,
The world has been renewed
By the reigning Christ.
Tags: Christmas, Christmas hymns, Erasure, Gaudete, number on in charts, number one
No ‘At Last’ about it! If a song is good it gets to Number one. For the record – Steeleye Span did very well with Gaudete back in the 1970s I think it got to number one. So did Mary’s Boy Child. I am sure there have been others.
I prefer the Steeleye Span version…
Steeleye Span’s version of Gaudete (The Holly and the Ivy was the B-side) got to number 14 in the Christmas chart. If a song is bought in large numbers, it gets to number one – so please, buy the Erasure version of this song (99p) and play your part in winning back Christmas for Christ.
I agree with Father Stephen. I too prefer the Steeleye Span version.
I’ve just had a look and there have been a few nice Christian Christmas number ones. But about time we had another one. It would be nice to see Brother Alessandro get to number one with his new Christmas album. Or ooberfuse?
Although I loved Steeleyespan I quite like the beat of this
I am sad that this didnt chart any higher, but at least it got a play on TOTP2 today! Well done Erasure for trying