I Wonder What God Wants for Christmas

I was watching the first hour of NBC’s Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center on Wednesday night and was introduced to a new song that I think warrants becoming a Christmas classic: Darius Rucker’s “What God Wants for Christmas.”

An original song that Rucker co-wrote with Frank Rogers and Monty Powell for his new “Home for the Holidays” album, it’s grounded in the religious meaning of the holiday and delivers a perfect sacred message in what can seem an increasingly secular season.

The video (which includes some of the kids from St. Jude Children’s Hospital) is pasted below along with the lyrics:

Old man playing Santa Claus
Blue in a town with old Jack Frost.
Now he’s handing out candy canes and smiles for free,
People scoring with their lists
Rushing around to buy those gifts that will
End up wrapped up underneath the tree.
I’m sitting at this red light looking at a manger scene
Watching snowflakes kiss that baby
And it makes me think.

I wonder what God wants for Christmas,
Something that you can’t find in a store.
Maybe peace on Earth, no more empty seats in church,
Might be what’s on His wishlist
I wonder what God wants for Christmas

What do you give someone
Who gave His only Son?
What if we believe in Him
Like He believes in us?

I wonder what God wants for Christmas,
What might put a smile on His face.
Every Bible with no dust, the devil givin’ up
Might be what’s on His wishlist.

I wonder what God wants for Christmas,
What kind of gift from you and me.
More sister, more brother, more lovin’ one another,
Yeah I wonder, I wonder what God wants
By now we oughtta know what God wants for Christmas.