Good morning. As we continue this Christmas season by giving our daily thoughts to some of the hymns of Christmas, I thought that we might enjoy going back some years to find our choice. By “back some years” I mean back to the late 800s or early 900s. That is when we first find what we now recognize as the Christmas hymn, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel being used in worship.
Originally written and sung in Latin “Veni, Veni, Emmanuel” was a part of the Plainchant Antiphons. These were chants performed by ancient monks in various kinds of worship and ritual and were sung to a metric rhythm. For the week leading up to Christmas the monks would sing the chants of Christmas called “O Antiphons” and O Come, O Come, Emmanuel was a traditional part of that worship.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel was translated into German in the 1500s and during that century it evolved from a metric chant to become a hymn sung with a more modern melody. The melody, however, was developed in France apart from the text and no one seems to know when, where, or how the two parts first came together.
Due to the efforts of experts at Oxford University, there was a hymnal gathered in 1851 called Hymns Ancient and Modern. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel was a part of that hymnal and was translated from Latin to English. While it appeared in print at that time, it did not have music arranged to accompany it. Sometime over the next few decades the French melody was discovered and was joined with the English translation. With some moderate adaptive changes, this is the Christmas hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel that we enjoy singing today. So, when we sing this hymn we sing music that was written about 600 years ago with words that were written at least 1,300 years ago.
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.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Dayspring, from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
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 heav’nly 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, Adonai, Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height,
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
Please take some moments to read the lyrics of this very ancient example of Christian worship music for Christmas. It shares a powerful and descriptive song of praise and joy for the Messiah, and I think that it gives us a point of connection to the worship of Christians 1300 years before us.
With this hymn we plead for His coming, even as we rejoice in what He has done and is doing.
God bless you as you make your heart ready for Emmanuel!
Vern