10 Dec Connecting with Carols | “O Come, All Ye Faithful”
This Advent season, we will add to our time of worship the wonderful melodies of selected Christmas carols. While not always viewed as worship music, these carols give us the opportunity to respond to the birth of Jesus with joy-filled celebration and gratitude. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we will provide you with some explanation and meaning behind the lyrics we will be singing. Join us as we celebrate this special season!
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O Come, All Ye Faithful
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!
Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning;
Though the lyrics and tune of O Come, All Ye Faithfuldate back to the 1750s, its refrain of joyous celebration and adoring worship truly finds its roots in the early gospel accounts.
Luke 2:8-20 recounts Heaven and Earth coming together in joy-filled response to the birth of Jesus, our Savior and our King. This Jesus is “the Word [that] gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone” (John 1:4).
How mysterious, then, that the life-giver would be born—yet how fitting that he would bring light on the night of his birth in the form of celebration, worship, and praise!
Angels flock together to sing the praises of God, lifting their voices in great “exultation” — a word meant to show us their worship was filled with glee, jubilation, and cheer! The angels’ happy response to Christ’s birth sheds new light on Buddy the Elf’s claim that “the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”
The song’s resounding titular line, “O Come Let Us Adore Him!” shows us the spirit of interaction between the angels and shepherds that first Christmas night. The angels represent those who have heard the great news and are beckoning others to join them in worship and adoration. Filled with joy, the shepherds shouted joyfully to one another: “Let’s go! Let’s see what the Lord has told us about!”
“Through singing, we have the opportunity to express the true joy we have been given through Christ.”
As Christians, we recognize the importance of simple adoration of God as part of our worship. Adoration means to “come and behold him.” By beholding Christ, or “lifting our inward eyes to gaze upon him” the clamoring of the things of this world fall silent in favor of the resounding glory of God, our All-in-All. When we look first toward the Giver rather than the gifts He’s blessed us with, we see that He has given us all we need—the most precious of all possessions—in Himself.
The Christmas season is a time for us to come together with a unified voice—for we who are children of God are one church, one body, and indeed “citizens of Heaven” with much to celebrate (Phil. 3:20)
And while we’ve been given many wonderful things to celebrate, like our family and our friends, the truth is that in Jesus we’ve been given everything we might need. Through singing, we have the opportunity to express the true joy we have been given through Christ and adore Him simply for who He is!
Even now, the angels’ call to adore the blessed baby that first Christmas night stands as an invitation to us all: come and adore the God who not only declared He loved us but came to show us how much!