This season of Advent brings
anticipation with it. For kids, however,
there’s a lot of impatience. It’s one
thing to wait for Santa (and to be good for so long). One year, when the organist began the hymn,
“O come, o come, Emmanuel,” after the third verse, one little one cried out, “When is Emmanuel coming?! This hymn is sooooooo
long!”
That question is
profound, actually. We still ask in our
hearts and minds when God will be with us when nights get long and times get
hard. We have the answer, of course, but
that answer must not only be a statement of faith. It must be a statement of our faith.
The hymn can be
found in the Episcopal Church’s Hymnal
1982 as #56. Indeed, it is
long—eight verses. Since the first and
last verses repeat, however, there actually are seven.
The hymn began
as a plainsong chant in monastic communities in the Middle Ages. All hymns are, in one form or another, a
prayer. That is especially true of hymns
like this one. As marked in the hymnal,
there is a verse for each day from December 17th through December 23rd. In some chapels, one verse was sung for each
of those days. In others, a verse was
added each day, and the hymn became longer.
Each verse focuses on a different aspect of this Promised One of
God: Dayspring from on high, Desire of
nations, key of David, to cite three of them.
Each verse on
each day is a wonderful focus for prayer.
As I seek the presence of God in Christ in so many diverse forms, I can
look for the presence of Christ in ways that I might not expect. I also can look at the ways in which I might
recognize God in my midst and confess my limited understanding.
In this season,
children can teach me new ways to expect Emmanuel. Another child put a new verse into the
hymn. He wrote, “O come, o come,
Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel; as Santa Claus is checking his list, I
really hope I will not be missed.”
Hmmm. Now there’s
an interesting mix. And in some ways, I
still believe in Santa, too. And I still
am waiting for him, too.
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