O Come Emmanuel
We have come to that time of year, which for the secular world, is the ending of the year, but for the church, is the beginning of our liturgical year.
There is nothing more filled with quiet excitement and anticipation than the impending birth of a baby. In Advent we, as a church, share that joy and that serenity in the midst of a secular world which has been celebrating Christmas since Halloween! It is hard to remind ourselves that Christmas does not actually begin until Christmas Eve, and continues for twelve days after that, until the night of the Epiphany.
When we sing the hymns of Advent we experience that quiet expectant waiting that is the soul of this season. No hymn expresses it better than O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Before it appeared as a hymn, it was first a series of separate antiphons sung before the Magnificat over the course of a week, from December 17 to the 23. An antiphon is a line of music that introduces a canticle, in this case, the Magnificat--Mary's song at the annunciation. They were called the "O" antiphons, because each line begins with "O". The "O" antiphons were in use prior to the eighth century, and two thousand years later, each verse of O Come, O Come Emmanuel in our hymnal (eight in all) begins with the words "O come". If you look at the hymn (#56) in our hymnal, you will see that each verse has the date on which the antiphon (or verse) should be sung preceding the Magnificat. The melody itself is a combination of several ancient chant tunes, and is probably the most commonly known plainsong in this country. It is a hymn that brings peace and hope and the expectation of joy to come, and that, after all, is Advent.Lynn Gardner, Organist/Choirmaster
