Emmanuel, in Hebrew: עִמָּנוּאֵל meaning,
"God with us".
The season of Advent
is upon us and Cindy and I along with my mom and sister Denise, hit the ground
running at Bethany Presbyterian Church in Grants Pass, Oregon. It was a
wonderful service and the Advent Hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” set the pace
early and its refrains tinged the service throughout with a sense of yearning. “Prepare
ye the way of the Lord” set the tone and underpinned the message that we need
to prepare, lest there be no real Christmas.
As I write this I
have YouTube running through the hymn with vocal and instrumental artists’ seeming
infinite variations; my personal yearning is sustained and the sense of
preparation is being heightened.
I could simply pound
out the words to the hymn, tell you to read it, ask you to pray it, hope you
live it, and let it go at that but it would be the cheap and easy way out for a
post, not that I’m above that sort of thing. However, I prefer to ruminate on the
hymn and its central theme of advent for the coming of our Lord and have
instead placed the words as a post script below.
During the season leading to Christmas Day we are busy with
preparations for family gatherings and the exchange of gifts. We need to leave
time for advent and the preparation for Emmanuel and give ourselves over to the
yearning for Christ’s presence. Imagine if we were to combine our family celebration
anticipation and preparation with our desire for Christ’s presence. Would His
presence be with us? Yes - yes it would.
Let’s focus on the first verse of the hymn. It tells us that
Israel, God’s people, are captive and in exile on earth. We don’t need to look
very far to know that this is true. We should be mourning the fact that God’s
Kingdom has not yet come on earth as it is in heaven. We mourn until the Son of
God appears in His fullness. He will so appear and we see glimpses of Him in
the actions of Heaven’s ambassadors, Christians out and about doing the King’s
work. We are Him from time to time, even I am Him now and again.
O come Emmanuel, come again in me.
At the end of each verse we are told to rejoice because Emmanuel
shall come to us. Paul exhorts us in Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord
always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (NIV) Indeed, we must rejoice at each
hint and every manifestation of Christ on earth while at the same time letting
the yearning for His fullness run deep. We never cease preparing the way.
Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Rejoice! His Kingdom is near at hand. Revel in advent, strike a match and light the candle.
In His grip, jerry
For our edification:
O come, O come, Emmanuel
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 Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people same
And give them victory o’er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Day-Spring, 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.
O come, Thou Key of David, come.
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O Come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height,
In ancient times did’st give the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
