Advent 1: O Come, O Come Emmanuel
I have eschewed social media for the season of Advent. That may seem ill-timed as Lent (the 40 days leading up to Easter) is the popular season for giving up particulars for the sake of something more, but the heart knows what the heart needs. And sometimes, the need for respite doesn’t always correspond with the church calendar.
There are moments when the world feels like too much. Too much injustice. Too much oppression. Too much selfishness. Too much darkness. For me, this is one of those moments. I approach the Advent season feeling as if my heart understands a little more the crying and yearning of the Israelites who were desperate for a savior to arrive.
Advent is a time of waiting, but the waiting is never passive. Advent is about preparing in the midst of waiting; about looking ahead and anticipating a coming reality even while the longing remains.
This Advent, in consideration of the state of my heart and mind, I thought I would share some of my favorite hymns associated with this season. These December songs are ones that have accompanied me and still soothe my soul during this time of great waiting.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appears
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee O Israel
O come, O Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee O Israel
Oh come Desire of nations bind
In one the hearts of all mankind
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease
And be Thyself our King of Peace
Rejoice rejoice
Emmanuel shall come to thee oh Israel
For as long as I can remember, this hymn was the official invitation to get ready for Christmas. Every December would dawn and the church organist would usher in the season with the strains of this song.
Even as a child, something connected deep down with me. Long before I could name the ache I carried for this not-yet-as-it-should-be world, this carol - in minor key - gave me the words. “O Come O Come Emmanuel” was the accompaniment for my internal melancholy that knew things were not as they were meant to be. My 11-year old self had no idea what a Dayspring was. I certainly did not comprehend the depth of division among humankind. Even still, this melody spoke truth to me before I could articulate it’s presence.
For every year I can recall, I've had the privilege of allowing my soul to stretch out it’s arms and link up with the ransom plea on behalf of captive Israel. This December is no different. I still lean in close and allow myself to feel the lament woven into the music. Why? Because this world, with all it’s advancements and cultural expanse, is still in need of the deliverance Israel cried out for in the Old Testament.
The chains that once bound humanity, still bind us. Ancient peoples were captives, and today we are still captivated by the temptations that lock us up. As the headlines of the day scroll, I can’t help but feel we are still a world mourning in lonely exile waiting for God to appear. We still fight the dark shadows. We still are divided.
Advent is a time of waiting, and yet this waiting is not passive. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, we can also prepare to receive anew the call to the Jesus life. The life that says hope is a reality in the Kingdom of God. The life that proclaims a better way to live, but it comes at the expense of our own agendas, power, privilege, and excess.
Advent is a season when we can ready ourselves and commit fully to life on the Kingdom road - a road that is paved with nonviolence, justice, equality, human dignity, generosity, and a stubborn belief that it really will be ok.
This Jesus life is one that invites us to embrace the indiscriminate love of God that sings to shepherds, exalts peasant girls, and saves people of color, transgender teens, gun owners, the homeless, Baptists, Catholics, sanitation workers, dictators, and white people. In spite of ourselves.
Until that life is realized, we join in the Advent waiting. We actively prepare to usher in the incarnation of this life in God. A life divinely designed and humanly peculiar. It’s a life that proclaims that God shows up in a manger AND in every act of justice, in every kind word, in every act of forgiveness, in every voice given to the downtrodden and marginalized.
In the midst of the waiting, we cry out for God to come and set us free. All the while, we press into the life Jesus modeled for us, believing that the God who put on skin 2000 years ago still shows up in and through us today. God became flesh in Judea, and God still takes on flesh in Flint, MI, Cape Town, South Africa and Tijuana, Mexico.
Even still, we live with the ache and mystery that we are both waiting for salvation and the embodiment of that salvation. God for us. God with us. God in us.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel. We still wait on you.
Below is an instrumental rendition of this hymn that moves me. Beyond the simple yet exquisite arrangement, the background landscape is beautiful. Streets of an ancient, Palestinian city while the sun sets. So poetic in sound and sight.
Find a quiet place. Listen. Absorb. Lean into the longing and be moved to active waiting.
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