Emmanuel Has Come to Thee - Advent Week 1

This Advent season, I'm taking a look at some of my favorite subversive Christmas songs, because how many more reminders do we need that Christmas is about Jesus coming to Earth to save humanity?

Week One of Advent is about Hope, and few songs capture the hopefulness in the midst of despair in the way that "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" does.

The hymn itself is at least 1,200 years old, and was first transcribed into English in 1851 by John Mason Neale and has been sung in churches ever since.

The most well known (and sung) of the song's seven verses offers a thrill of hope for those who feel alone and exiled.

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

(Before we continue, y'all know this Israel does not mean the nation-state Israel, right? Right??? OK.)

O Come, Emmanuel is a subversive Christmas song because:

1. It takes a different direction from the happier, joyful, and even more serene and worshipful Christmas songs that are more popular. I personally find the tune to be deliciously haunting, in that you can almost feel the loneliness of the exiles right alongside their hope for a Savior.

   
   

2. You don't know exactly who the song is addressing. Who is captive Israel? Is it the exiled Israelites of old? Is it the Israelites waiting for the Messiah? Is it the scattered Jewish diaspora? Is it all oppressed people everywhere? Is it all of humanity? The answer is probably yes. And because the answer is yes, anyone who feels lonely or exiled, or oppressed or held captive, can hold onto the hope of a Risen and Returning Savior.

   
   

3. For a scary sounding song, it's actually very hopeful. Don't look at me like that. As stated earlier, you can feel the loneliness and mourning in the melody even as the lyrics get more and more hopeful. It's a real life struggle between the hopefulness and faith of God's promises and what can be a dark and dreadful realilty. Many of us walk that fine line every day, clinging to hope when all hell has broken loose. And a song like this is a reminder that we're neither the first nor the last to tightrope the line between faith and fear, and to hold on to that hope in God.

   
   

4. The song is definitely addressing Jesus, but it is also definitely addressing us. The next six verses could be seen as prayers asking Jesus for deliverance, safety, comfort, and peace, but that last verse brings it all together.

O come, O King of nations, bind

in one the hearts of all mankind.

Bid all our sad divisions cease

and be yourself our King of Peace

For the record, I've been listening to every recording of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel I can find and I have yet to hear anyone get to this verse, and it's like, the most important one besides the first one.

We know all the divisions we have are pathetic. We know God is against oppression and violence and dehumanization. We know one of Jesus' final prayers on Earth was for all of us to be one as He and the Father are one, so what better way to tie together a haunting hopeful song about rescue with the hope that we will all get our act together?

So as you're finalizing your Christmas playlists and tuning in to your favorite songs, slip in O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Preferrably one that's not instrumental. Unless it's the Piano Guys, that one slaps.

Until next time, be strong and take heart.