“O Come All Ye Faithful”
As we head toward the Christmas narrative seen through the eyes of doctor Luke we finish Luke 1. Luke 2 is the traditional narrative of Christmas plays. I realize it is now two weeks before Christmas. The post office had a long line today. Sales announcements flood my email inbox inviting me to donate to good causes. The world is calling us to attention and so I chose this hymn, sung in an upbeat acapella style by Pentatonix. This hymn has been translated from its original Latin into over 100 languages. John Wade, an English layman, wrote it into English in 1744 and published it in 1751. A hundred years later an Anglican minister, Frederick Oakeley, gave it the name “Adeste Fideles.” I have sung it in Latin and Swahili.
Week one of Advent we focused on “hope”, the hope we feel as we see prophecy fulfilled. We know our lives are not random but there is a master plan no matter how chaotic life seems at times. This week we focused on “peace. “ Zechariah and Mary are both visited by the angel Gabriel and announcing an unexpected change in their life circumstances. An old barren couple becomes miraculously pregnant and a young girl, not sexually active becomes pregnant. Both women find peace as they realize and accept that God is in the midst of their challenges, walking with them.
This hymn calls us to worship, not because we are getting lots of gifts but because we are full of faith in the God who steps into our confusing and unfair world where we often feel powerless and voiceless. He is not repulsed by our human condition but seems to love to work with the ordinary, perhaps unnoticed, and seemingly impossible people – even women- to bring about his plan. May we sit back, listen to the hymn and ponder how we will come to worship our Lord. Blessings.
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant
O come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem
O come and behold Him, born the King of Angels
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
Christ the Lord
On the Way to Wonder 