“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

Luke 2:25-35

We are in in-between times, aren’t we?  In between Thanksgiving and Christmas, in between Election Day and Inauguration Day, in between the start of the pandemic and its longed-for end.  Some of us are in between jobs, or in between a diagnosis and a hoped-for cure, in between our desire to be with family and friends and the recommendations of public health.  We live in between—in between the way life is and the way we think, hope and want it to be.  In between Christ’s first and second comings.

These in-between times can awaken and give voice to our longings.  We are weary of these conditions and long for a change—of pace, of venue, of perspective—for a new job, a new relationship, a new provision for our needs—for renewed hope, new courage, sometimes just for a new me.

Some Christian traditions have a name for this current in-between time between Thanksgiving and Christmas on the calendar: Advent.  These days can be a time of preparation, anticipation, of giving voice to our longings—and recognizing that our deepest longings are ultimately for the One who came and who promises to come again.  

As we enter a new season, we begin a new sermon series: The Weary World Rejoices.  Is there anyone who is not experiencing some weariness, anyone who doesn’t long to be met by a joy that is not held hostage by politics, pandemics and personal problems of all kinds?

The weary world rejoices is a line from the well-loved Christmas hymn, “O Holy Night.”  In this sermon series, we’re going to pair some beloved “songs of the season” with the Scriptures that undergird them, the God-given promises, prophecies and purpose that generated such songs, such singing.

We begin this week with “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”  The lyrics of this haunting carol of longing and hope are ancient.  As we sing the verses of this carol, we long for Emmanuel, God-with-us; for God’s Wisdom to come and dwell among us, ordering our lives aright; for the Lord himself, for the Root of Jesse, the promised King of Kings; for the Key of David, who can open every prison, every heart; for the Dayspring Light that shines in darkness; for the King of the nations.  O come, please come, Emmanuel!

And with this poignant carol is paired a prayer, the prayer of man living in and with the in-between.  An old man, Simeon, who has been waiting long to see the Messiah.  Luke introduces him as a man who was “righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.”  He is waiting, has been waiting, but is also carrying the word of the Lord: “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah” (2:26).  Simeon’s in-between-ness, his faithful waiting and hope-filled longing, have not been passive.  He has been listening to God and responding in faith.  He finds himself being moved by the Holy Spirit—and his eyes see something that no one else was seeing: “My eyes have seen your salvation” (2:29).

Good things happen in the in-between for those who wait upon the Lord.

Google the lyrics to “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”—find a version that has all seven verses, each naming a different title of the One Who Came, the One Who Comes, the One Who is With Us Now!  Take a verse each day (or perhaps for a week): sing it, listen to it, pray it, make room for its longing to become yours as well.