COME, EMMANUEL, COME!
We welcome the Advent Season. It is the time to remember our Savior’s first
advent, but more importantly, we long for His second advent, to break the skies
and take His children home, and bring judgment and then peace at last to our
troubled world.
We lit the first of the four Advent candles and hung the
greens in our sanctuary, pausing to welcome this lovely season and to turn our
hearts toward our Lord and Savior. The
first candle was the “Candle of Hope” and we were reminded to rejoice in our
hope of His soon return and to remember that the little baby in the manger was
our Lord and Savior, the Father’s own Beloved Son. He came to save us, to bring us hope in a
dark world, and then calls us to rejoice, rejoice! We now have the hope of eternal salvation,
cleansing from sin and eternity with Him.
The cry of my heart this day is “Oh, Come, Oh, Come,
Emmanuel! Maybe this will be the season
or into the coming New Year, when we will see our Lord face to face. I counted at least five members of either our
church family or family that went home this past year, and they now are
beholding His face! Yes, they will be
missed this Christmas season, but oh, the joy they must be experiencing!
O COME, O COME, EMMANUEL
This hymn is ancient, not only in its text, but also in
its music. While the tune used today was
not really finalized until the 1800s, it is based on plainsong, the type of
music used in the church during medieval times.
The lack of strict rhythmic measures gives the tune a free-flowing
style. You can almost imagine the simple
intervals echoing through a stone cathedral.
The text developed without the chorus as a series of
liturgical phrases used during Advent.
Each stanza concentrates on a different biblical name for Christ, making
this hymn a rich source for Christian meditation. Jesus is Emmanuel – “God with us,” “Wisdom
from on high,” “Desire of nations,” and Dayspring.” (Hymns, William J. Petersen)
O come, O come,
Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the
Son of God appear.
Rejoice!
Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to
Thee, O Israel!
O come, Thou
Wisdom from on high, and order all things, far and nigh’ to us the path of
knowledge show, and cause us in her ways to go.
O come, Desire of
nations, bind all peoples in one heart and mind; bid envy, strife, and quarrels
cease; fill the whole world with heaven’s peace.
O come, Thou
Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by Thine advent here; disperse the gloomy
clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight. (Latin
hymn, 12th century)
As I look over the words of this lovely ancient hymn, I
am reminded of the day in which Christ came.
Israel was in lonely exile, under the cruel rule of the Romans. They were longing for their Messiah to
come. They read the prophecies of His
coming, but when He came, they rejected Him, as they were looking for an earthly
King to come and overthrow the Romans and sit on David’s throne. He came and they crucified their Messiah,
but He arose from the grave on that third day in His Glorious Resurrection, and
now we wait and watch for His Glorious Appearing, and the prophecies of old
have been and are continuing to be fulfilled for that great day. So I took the
words of this song and made it a prayer, a prayer from all our hearts this
Advent Season.
“Heavenly Father, we long for “Wisdom” from on high to
come, give us Your Divine knowledge and show us how to walk in Your ways,
Precious Lord! We so need You! We need Your wisdom every day.
Come “Desire of Nations!” We long, Lord, to see the day
when we walk in unity one with another, and to see that day when You fill this
world with heaven’s peace. We look
around, Lord, and see violence on every hand and darkness covering the earth,
and God’s people desire to look on Your face, at last! And to see Your glory cover this earth.
Oh, Precious Dayspring, cheer our spirits as we remember
your advent when You came as that little baby, and as we look on the manger
scene once again, with the angels rejoicing and shepherds worshipping and
Wiseman coming from afar with their gifts.
We may have dark shadows of night all around us, in trials and storms
and discouragement in this season, but You came to disperse those gloomy clouds
and fear of death, but brought us light and hope and eternity with You, so
Come, Emmanuel, Come!
In Jesus’ Name,
Pastor Sharon
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