Twenty-five years ago, we watched a man walking down a deserted street, the paving stones glowing with light with each step he took. This was no ordinary man. This was a superstar about to become a megastar. This was Michael Jackson, shortly after releasing Thriller, an album that has now sold 104 million copies worldwide: the best-selling album of all time. There’s every chance there’s a copy ‘knocking about’ somewhere in your house, even if it’s only on cassette.

At a time when the traditional nativity play is reported to be under threat of extinction in our schools, there is something deliciously subversive about the city of Liverpool choosing to inaugurate its year as the European Capital of Culture with its own, unique take on the story of Jesus’ birth.

Five quid. That’s my first confession – the amount I paid to download Radiohead’s new album, In Rainbows. I could have coughed up a small fortune for it if I’d wanted to, or I could have paid diddly squat. As no doubt has already been discussed ad nauseam round your nearest watering hole, Radiohead have asked us to name our own price.

Sometimes the best insights into faith come from the most obvious places.

Take America, for instance – a country founded by ‘pilgrims’, where 98 per cent of the people believe in God and close to 50 per cent attend church every Sunday. No wonder its balladeers, folk singers and rock icons have so often filled their songs with echoes of gospel truth or travesty. From the unequivocal Christian heritage of ‘grassroots’ groups such as the Carter Family through to contemporary hip hop and indie music, Jesus is frequently namechecked - and not just when someone’s picking up a Grammy.

I’ve had a ‘Sunset Ibiza’ CD for several years now. I like to put it on in the background when I’m entertaining, or when I’m feeling mildly spiritual. Its ‘chill out’ music sets the tone, makes me feel cool (albeit in the way a drunk, middle-aged relative at a wedding disco feels cool) and gives my record collection a shimmer of clubber chic. But it’s gone from lifting me to becoming my very own lift muzak.

Thank God we don’t just have doctrines to adhere to, as Christians. We also – if we have ears to hear and eyes to see – have the work of artists, musicians and writers to draw from; restless spirits who refuse to toe the line, who resist, revolt, and rage against the dying of the light.

What piece of music will be played at your funeral? Hopefully, you’ll have plenty of time to think about it. But songs can movingly reflect and express the kind of person we are (or were).

According to one survey recently, the most popular piece of ‘contemporary’ music (as opposed to classical or religious) to be played as we face the final curtain is Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’.