Advent Reflection 06 December

O come, o come, Emmanuel

 

Pause for a moment

 

How many different names / titles do you have?

 

Listen to the music

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 save
And give them victory o'er the grave,

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight,

 

O come, O come, Thou Lord of Might
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud, and majesty and awe,

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,

 

Learn about the carol

 

This carol was originally written in Latin (‘Veni, Veni, Emmanuel’) and documents featuring the title and words date back to 1710. It was translated into English in 1851 by priest and scholar John Mason Neale

Quite unusually for a Christmas carol still commonly performed, there are all sorts of arcane words and expressions littered throughout. This is perhaps because the strong roots of the Latin text come from the ‘O Antiphons’ (so-called because each one begins with an ‘O’), traditionally used during the last seven days of advent during the Roman Catholic Vespers service.

There is a distinctly biblical feel of the hymn (there are no herald angels harking nor flocks being watched by night, for example), and the actual nativity narrative doesn’t feature in any meaningful way.

The Emmanuel of the title refers to the Hebrew ‘Immanuel’ which appears in the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament more as a sign of God’s protection than an actual person, whereas in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament the name Emmanuel refers specifically to Jesus Christ.

The melody of ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’ has its roots as far back as 15th Century France, although the actual composer is not known. It was, however, the combination of the tune with Neale’s translation of the Latin text that began its life as a festive favourite.

 

Time for reflection

 

As a curate, I was in a parish which had a church school. The first time I went in to visit them, I was asked what I wanted the children to call me. Al the teachers were Mr…, Mrs ….  Or Miss….. and my training incumbent was Reverend Jackson. I said that my name was Barbara, but that was too informal so we settled on Reverend Barbara as a compromise, and that has stuck. Getting the right name says a lot – I really struggle to remember names, even of people I know really well,

This hymn uses lots of different names for Jesus, each one expressing a characteristic or hope that is in him. Re-read them and see what they mean to the writer.

 

Time for Action

 

Make an effort to greet someone by name as a mark of respect. (Make sure it’s the right name, though!)