I was sitting in church this past Sunday morning, and as is a tradition during Advent, we were singing "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." Great. Wonderful hymn. But there's more to it than that. Read the words of the song.
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 Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.
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 over the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
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.
O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly 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, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
This song has such depth and breadth of spiritual importance, and so often we just like it because it fits well into our perception of what the church should do and sing during the "Christmas season." But Israel and the modern church have so many parallels that this song really does not need to be designated as an "Advent-only hymn." It's a song of God's people crying out to Him, that He would be their God and they His people. There's a yearning for that deep, right relationship between Creator and created, Savior and saved, God and church.
The church is, in many ways, captive. We're captive to our lifestyles - captive to comfort, happiness, money, friends and activities. We're captive to power, both what we control and what others control. We're captive to what the world says that we're supposed to have and do and be. We largely are not living in the freedom that we've been given, and this affects the church as a whole. The church is not free to act in obedience to God when its members restrict what they will do and what the church, therefore, will do. We must not forget, either, that our disobedience to God is sin, and that it affects the church.
We're living, fractured and fragmented, in a spiritual Diaspora. The church is broken and separated. What have the Presbyterians to do with the Methodists? Or what have the Lutherans and the Pentacostals in common? The same God is Lord of all. Furthermore, the true church is one body. The members of the body have many functions, but nonetheless each member belongs to all the others. Therefore they must, on some level, work together for the same mission. A healthy body does not compete with itself, but rather its members work together to accomplish what must be done. We must not compete with each other either, or the church body suffers.
The song earnestly expresses the hope we have in the coming of our Messiah (lest we forget that He is coming again, and that we ought to pray for His coming). Also, there are multiple parallels between the song and our Lord's Prayer. These words have such meaning, and they are a part of our spiritual heritage. Unfortunately that heritage is neglected all too often, and the church suffers a sort of spiritual orphanhood.
We get so mixed up in the atmosphere of worship, especially when it comes to music, that we raise up our experiences, our feelings, above truth. We trade emotions for faith (the church service was good if we felt connected to God during worship rather than by worshiping in spirit and in truth), and we abandon depth for experience. If the tune is good, so what if the words are lacking? God knows our hearts and our minds, and He understands what we mean, right? The question is more "Do we know what we mean?" Let's face it: worship is all about God, not us. So what happens when we nominalize God? Part of the lyrics from a contemporary worship song include, "all You ever do is change the old for new." That's far from all God ever does. And I see it as an insult to Him to not only claim that's all He ever does but also to be so utterly vague that to "change the old for new" barely holds its own meaning. We give up being articulate because it no longer suits our desires. Suddenly it's about our agendas. When we come back to the heart of worship, we're coming back to God. We're coming back to Truth. We're coming back to our Creator, who is infinite, and who deserves to be honored as best as we can. Should we give up striving because God knows what we're trying regardless of how it turns out? Of course not. So why should we dishonor our Lord by giving less than the best we can offer? This includes spiritual depth, because God desires an intimate relationship with every one of us. If we truly believe and know Christ as our Savior and Lord, should anything come before Him in our lives? We need Him, and in Him may we be united for His goals and purpose.
