Sunday, December 3, 2023  

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Today’s Hymn

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, O Come, Emmanuel”
(tune: Veni Emmanuel)
from Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal

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Reflection

If you attend almost any church this morning — the first Sunday in December — expecting to sing of the shepherds’ jubilee or the wondrous star… or if you arrive to church longing to belt the angels heralding songs or repeat the sounding joy, then I am afraid you are in for a disappointment. Today we enter the season of Advent not with cattle lowing or a baby crying, but with a haunting, stirring plea for God’s quick coming.

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is one of the oldest Christian hymns still widely used. The first verse references Isaiah 7:14 “… a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel (meaning, God with us).” Originally chanted in Latin by ninth century monks, popular versions of the contemporary translation by Kelly Clarkson, Whitney Houston, and others can be heard blaring from car radios today. And perhaps one reason it has stood the test of time is that its poetic words speak of a very real, very universal human experience: longing.

Far removed from the joy of Christmas morning, the text is a plea to God from a world longing for relief from all manner of heartaches: exile, tyranny, misery, death. And while I will admit that in some years, these words seem overly gloomy and disconnected from my own reality, this year is different.

With terror and bloodshed in the Holy Land — the land of God’s first coming — I find myself praying this ancient text with renewed fervor. I yearn for God to send away “death’s dark shadows.” I long for the day when God’s kingdom will come, when “envy, strife and discord cease,” and when the whole world is filled with “heaven’s peace.” Grief intensifies my Advent hope for a world overcome by God’s goodness.

Yes, this ancient text beckons us to look at the state of the world, at the wars and the violence, the heartache and the headaches, and long for God to redeem it all — and unveil that new creation. But it is also a call to be mindful of God’s presence — here and now. For in a world so full of grief and longing with confusion and uncertainty reigning supreme, we hold fast to the ancient promise of God and rejoice. God is with us now. In our pain, God is with us. In the long night, God is with us. Even in death, God is with us.

Rejoice, rejoice! Our God is with us.

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Prayer
Almighty God, who sent your poets and prophets to sing us into the path of salvation: help me to be ever mindful of your presence, in joy and in sorrow, and rejoice in the coming of Jesus Christ our Emmanuel. Amen.

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Written by Shawn Fiedler, Major Gift Officer

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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