I really love the season of Advent.  There are many reasons for that, including: I love Christmas decorations and music, it is a season of preparing for something so wonderful I still cannot comprehend it all, it brings hope.

One of my favorite songs is O Come O Come Emmanuel, particularly the Sufjan Stevens version.  I've been thinking of that song a lot lately, and last night I ended up listening to it on repeat for a solid half hour.  But really, have you looked at those lyrics?  Here's the first verse, taken from the Covenant hymnal:

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.

God's people, Israel, is still separated from their freedom to live in community with God fully.  They are waiting for the Messiah, the Savior, to come and bring them away from their captor and restore them to the unity with God that He intended for them.  And even in their captivity, they can rejoice because they know and they have the true hope that this Savior, Emmanuel- God with us- will come for them.

Verse 2:

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.

Day Spring.  The beginning, the first light, the dawn.  In light of recent tragedies especially, how desperately do we need the dawn to come?  To forever chase away the clouds that darken our eyes and dampen our spirits, to not be in fear of suffering or dying, how much do we long for that?  What hope that is!  I don't even know how to explain the beauty of true hope.  Hope that things will not stay as dark as they are.  Hope that healing will come with the light of the new day.  Hope that nothing can separate us, ever, from the love of God.  Rejoice!  It is coming.

 Verse 3:

O, come, thou Wisdom from on high,
Who ordered all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Bring Your wisdom to us, LORD.  While we, the people of God, are still walking in the night, we need guidance on where to go, and how to go there.  I don't just mean literally walking, but in our actions and words.  When the Israelites were leaving Egypt, didn't God go before them in fire and in smoke so they could see the way to go?  They didn't know exactly where they were going, but they knew that God was leading them somewhere better.  They had true hope that God would bring them to where they were meant to be.  He gave them, on the way there, guidance on how to live so that they would stay within the presence of God.  Rejoice!  He still does that, and it is coming!

Verse 4:

Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Oh, bid our sad divisions cease,
And be yourself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Unite us in Your love, in Your truth.  Remove our disagreements, our prejudices, the things that tear us apart rather than make us one to stand in Your Presence and be protected and saved from the enemy.  Be yourself our King of Peace, so that we have neither fear nor pain, just as You promised in Revelation.  Rejoice, O Israel!  He is coming! 


Seriously, this song if so full of the promises that God gave- and gives- throughout the Bible.  He holds to those promises and He's not going to let us stay in darkness forever.  He's going to save us and bring us to His Kingdom to be eternally with Him.  And it started long, long ago, and came together in the birth of Jesus Christ.  That is what Advent is about: preparing for Him who rescues us from the darkness.