I brought Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong into the office this morning. One song strikes me every time I hear it: Christmas in New Orleans.

Think Louis Armstrong:

Playful.
Lovable.
Not A Care In the World Cool.

Louis Armstrong was the African-American who single-handedly overthrew the White-man’s dominance over American popular culture. And aren’t you glad he did?

Louis Armstrong entered the White World at a time when his type was barely tolerated. He walked in with a trumpet under his arm and a smile on his face. He penetrated white dominance with overpowering grace that made his irreverence for the institutions of white oppression welcome, even as he undermined white power.

In 1932 he was invited to play before King George V of the UK. He introduced one number saying, “This one’s for you Rex.”

The song: I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You.

He said it with his trademark smile and blew with his playful style. Was he playful? Or prophetic? Was he speaking to one king? Or was he speaking to a world full of white kings who held power over dark-skinned people everywhere? 1932 was the height of European colonialism the world over.

He inspired the likes of lily-white boy Bing Crosby to adopt the African-American sound as his own. Bing Crosby was white on the outside and black on the inside. The power of segregation fell hard in the friendship and artistic collaboration of these two giants of American music. But there never would have been a Bing Crosby, if there had not first been a Louis Armstrong.

America today is still predominately white on the outside. But we have African hearts. Louis Armstrong cracked our icy European-shell and gave America African warmth.

The world has never been the same.

Today our culture is African through and through. Just pull the I-Pod out of the ears of your daughter and listen to the music. Unless she is listening to Eine Kliene Nachtmusik, she has Africa echoing in her heart.

Louis Armstrong broke the ice.

This is really what Christmas is all about. Jesus does not cover the human struggle with a layer of peppermint and garland. The message is not: Get happy in denial of your struggle. The message is: Transform your struggle into joy in the power of Christ Jesus.

Jesus broke the ice that held the human experience in cycles of resentment, retribution and violence. In Christ, God entered human history with overwhelming grace. Jesus didn’t stop with Caesar, the Emperor of Rome. His message was to the real King of this World, Death.

From the manger to the cross, he put a trumpet to his lips and said with a smile as wide as the night sky filled with a multitude of angels: This one’s for you Rex. And then he played: “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead, You Rascal You.”

The spirit of Christmas is really just the Holy Spirit, the spirit of Jesus, dressed up in red and green. He shows up in surprising places. And you can always recognize the Holy Spirit in the transformation he leaves in his wake.

The life of Louis Armstrong, for example.

Merry Christmas Satchmo. My favorite Christmas song of the year:

Christmas in New Orleans

Magnolia trees at night
Sparkling bright
Fields of cotton look
Wintery white
When it's Christmas time in New Orleans

A barefoot choir in prayer fills the air
Mississippi folks gathering there
Cause it's Christmas time in New Orleans

You'll see a dixieland
Santa Claus
Leading the band to a good old
Creole beat
Golly what a spirit, you can only hear it
Down on Basin Street
Your cares will disappear,
When you hear, Hallelujah, St. Nicholas is here
When it's Christmas time in New Orleans