Skip to main content

O Come....


O Come All Ye Faithful
Joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him,
Born the King of Angels;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

O Sing, choirs of angels,
Sing in exultation,
Sing all that hear in heaven God's holy word.
Give to our Father glory in the Highest;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

All Hail! Lord, we greet Thee,
Born this happy morning,
O Jesus! for evermore be Thy name adored.
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.
          What do you think about the original Star Wars’ Throne Room Suite? The fanfare, the swelling of the full orchestra. I feel the same way about Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and today’s Christmas carol. How can you not get swept away by a song of triumph? Granted, this song was written with 20/20 hindsight. At the time depicted, the birth of Jesus, only the angels sang. Truth told, Scripture doesn’t even say that they sang. It says they said.
           Of course, the other problem in the story is that Jesus wasn’t born “this happy morning.” Putting aside the issues of what time of year Jesus was born, the song was written centuries after the fact and I’m not sure how happy everyone was at the time He was born.. But the phrase brings to mind Jesus’ eternality. Could He hear all the celebration of “this happy morning” from the manger? I think it’s to early in the day for a good quantum physics discussion, and the answer doesn’t really matter, but it is fodder for some interesting speculation. 
          The real heart of this song is the chorus. One line is repeated nine times, a trinity of a trinity of times. O come let us adore Him (the Father), O come let us adore Him (the Son), O come let us adore Him (The Spirit)? No, because the next line is “Christ, the Lord” but yes because Christ the Lord is the reason for adoring each member of the Trinity “this happy morning.” 
          Another thought about the triple, triple call. I was at a Mason’s ceremony years ago (I’m not commenting on the Masons) and the “commander” called out a command, which a sub-commander echoed, and a third person repeated after the sub-commander. It was strange in our world of ear-buds, but once-upon-a-time, orders were passed along by shouting to the next folks, who shouted to the next. 
          The most important thing about the triple, triple call is the content. First, the call is for us to come and adore, to worship, to love, and to venerate. In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, even in the hustle and bustle  of life, it’s easy to lose track of time, to get too involved, and to forget to come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more