An Anti-Christmas Carol

Heard this morning what purports to be a new Christmas song: “At This Table.”

Since it is claimed to be a Christmas song, and seems to refer to the Eucharist, it is troublesome that it has its theology gravely wrong. The line that jumped out at me is “At this table, there will be no judgement.” That obviously directly contradicts both the New Testament and the Apostles’ Creed, definitive of Christian teaching: “He will come again to judge the living and the dead.”

This is not Christianity, but modern pop psychology, which holds that there is nothing wrong with sinning, only with judgement.

The Devil’s counsel.

This modern amoral message is underlined by the repeated phrase in the song “come as you are.” No need for repentance, faith, or a change of heart. One does not come as you are to communion; confession, fasting, and repentance is required. There is a difference between right and wrong.

“At this table, everyone is welcome.” This sounds reassuring, but is not what the gospel teaches.

When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.”

The first Eucharist is held before a select group, the Twelve, in an upper room. It is not done in public before all. Jesus counselled deliberately concealing things from the masses: he coined the phrase “pearls before swine.”

This is a song of the antichrist.