Advent Hymns of Waiting (Week 3)

Advent 3: Modern Hymns of Waiting

I don't know why, but I think I was created with a melancholy streak. It's like I'm wired to remain unsatisfied with the status quo and I look ahead to something more. The way I often experience the space between those two realities is like a deep marrow kind of ache. This is so much a part of who I am that sometimes I just need space to feel the longing, the yearning, the unrequited search for contentment. 

Sometimes I connect with that melancholy by journaling; sometimes with poetry, or a movie, or a walk outside. Sometimes only music will quell the state of my soul. Perhaps that's why I find Advent songs that touch that ache to be so comforting.

The Advent waiting is where we anticipate a better world. It's the belief that this life, while it is not as it should be, is full of hope because God is doing something. If, however, we are to hope for something that will change our existence for the better, it means acknowledging the pained imperfections of the present. That realization - that today is still lacking - is cause for lament for me.

My penchant for melancholy coupled with the acceptance of today's shortcomings, creates a space that finds solace in those Advent hymns that act as lament. While many (including me) choose to sing the upbeat, joyous melodies of this season, there are times my heartsick soul is satisfied only by the balm of a ballad that expresses the longing of the not yet.

This theme of waiting, yearning, longing, aching is nothing new to the human experience. Hymn writers and classical composers from centuries past have been setting that ache to music. The two Advent hymns I have already shared fit that bill. They've been around for a bit. Even still, there are modern songwriters,that also channel that same spirit of Advent longing through moving melodies that connect with me.

This week, I am sharing three songs that fit my definition of an Advent Hymn of Waiting. Each of these songs, in various ways, touch the parts of me that hunger for something more, something better without escaping the importance of today, with all it's flaws. These three songs speak of hope, of better tomorrows, of loving and being loved, of the beautiful mess created when humanity meets the sacred. These three songs find a resting place in my heart as I am eager to greet another bethlehem morning while still thirsting for that elusive peace here on earth.

If you have some quiet moments, take a listen. Maybe your weary soul will find some respite in the melodic spaces of these songs.


Rest written and recoded by the band Joseph

oh holy night 
choirs are singing 
about the good things 
saying light and love are winning 

in a world of 
goodbyes 
crossed lines 
hard times 
bad signs 
headlines are making me cry 

how can I still believe for peace 
what is my comfort and joy 

come in from the cold 
and go slow 
it's been a long and winding road 

rest


Someday at Christmas  recorded by Stevie Wonder and Andra Day

Someday at Christmas, men won't be boys

Playin' with bombs like kids play with toys
One warm December, our hearts will see
A world where men are free

Someday at Christmas, there'll be no wars
When we have learned what Christmas is for
When we have found what life's really worth
There'll be peace on Earth

Someday all our dreams will come to be
Someday in a world where men are free
Maybe not in time for you and me
But someday at Christmas time

Someday at Christmas, we'll see a land 
With no hungry children, no empty hand 
One happy morning, people will share
A world where people care, oh!

Someday at Christmas, there'll be no tears 
Where all men are equal and no man have fears 
One shining moment, one prayer away
From our world today

Another Merry Christmas written and recorded by Amy Grant

Mary's in a nursing home She puts her favourite records on Reminds her of the years long gone Another Merry Christmas Billy's home from overseas The pride of his whole family Still fights a war that no one sees Another Merry Christmas It's happy and sad The good and the bad Someone's up and someone's barely hanging on It's everything all at once And if we're honest enough Everybody wants to be loved Every year on Christmas Eve Jill hangs four stockings, now just three Wonders if there'll ever be Another Merry Christmas Our painted old nativity Is fragile like the lives we lead Silently reminding me God is with us Another Merry Christmas