Liturgy Lessons, November 27 – First Sunday of Advent (Adonai)
Musical Introit – O Come, O Come Emmanuel (vs. 2)
CTW: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9; Psalm 98:1-4
Opening Hymn: Joy to the World (#195)
Confession of Sin: Psalm 130 and “Come, Lord Jesus”
Assurance of Pardon: Zephaniah 3:14-17; Isaiah 9:6-7
Songs of Response: Hark! A thrilling voice is sounding (Sacred Harp)
Advent Reading: Micah 5:2-5a
Congregational Prayers
Tithes and Offerings
Advent Doxology: The First Noel (last verse)
Sermon: Eric Irwin
Meditation
Supper: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (#193); O Great God
Closing Hymn: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (#203)
Benediction
Sung response: “Gloria in excelsis deo”
The word “Advent” means “to come.” The season of Advent is a month of expectant hope for the coming Messiah. Just like Lent before Easter, it is a season of waiting, in which Christians retell and remember God’s rescue story to a fallen world. We hear scriptural prophecy and promise of a savior, and we partake in worship practices together that serve as a foretaste of that Forever Feast. One way that the medieval Christians heightened their anticipation for the second coming was by praying the “Great ‘O’ Antiphons.” On each day of the week leading up to Christmas, one responsive verse would be chanted, each including a different Old Testament name for the coming Messiah. Each of the seven prayers expounds upon one of the names for the Messiah:
“O Sapientia”: Wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24)
“O Adonai”: Lord of might, give of the law, Ruler over house of Israel (Exodus 19:16)
“O Radix Jesse”: Rod of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1)
“O Oriens”: Dayspring, Morning Star (Malachi 4:2, Luke 1:78-79)
“O Clavis David”: Key of David (Isaiah 22:22)
“O Rex”: King of Gentiles (Isaiah 60:3)
“O Emmanuel”: God with us (Isaiah 7:14, Mt 1:23)
The first seven letters of these titles would form an acrostic, which in Latin would spell “Ero cras”, which means “I am coming tomorrow.” This playful and prayerful puzzle obviously points to the birth of Christ. If this sounds familiar to you, it is because the Great “O’s”, as they were called, were the inspiration for the famous hymn “O Come, o come Emmanuel.” Each Sunday in Advent a verse of this hymn will be played in the musical introit, and its accompanying antiphon will be reflected in the advent reading and the bulletin itself. All of this is not just to be clever or novel. In a decorative and busy season, these added artistic elements for our Advent liturgies are not just window dressing, but rather a window into the truth of God and his expressed love at the incarnation. It is our hope that the thoughtful and imaginative elements of our worship service would be used by the Holy Spirit to illuminate the darkened soul with the Beauty of Christ and awaken the deadened heart with the breath of His spirit. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Emmanuel. Come, and be born in our hearts.
Joy to the World
Text: Isaac Watts (1719) Tune: arr. Lowell Mason, with help from Handel
Did you know that the word “carol” comes from a French and Latin word for dancing and spinning? Well, if the purpose of a Christmas carol is to get the soul to “dance and spin” with joy at the celebration of Jesus’s birth, then there is no better example than this song. But surprisingly, this hymn was not written for Christmas. Rather, Isaac Watts wrote the hymn as a paraphrase of the last five verses in Psalm 98 for his 1719 publication, The Psalms of David Imitated. Verse nine of the psalm reads, “…let them sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.” Watts unapologetically interprets this as a reference to Christ. The theme of “Christ coming” made it an apt hymn to be sung at Christmastime, and it has since become one of the most beloved Christmas carols. There are multiple theories as to where this melody came from. Some believe that Lowell Mason was the arranger; others believe he only changed four notes of an existing tune. What is quite clear, however, is that the tune, ANTIOCH, is derived from various melodies found within Handel’s Messiah. The opening phrase sounds like the chorus “Lift up your heads,” and the last four measures, with the text “heaven and nature sing,” sound like the beginning of “Comfort ye my people.” The tune is thus often attributed to Handel, with Mason as the arranger and combiner of text and tune. Sing through the opening line of the tune, or listen to it, and you will quickly notice that it is simply a descending scale.
What better musical depiction of the incarnation is there than a melody that starts “on high” and ends inevitably at the lower octave? And, after that blessed descent, the rest of song leaps forth in a celebratory dance. If Jesus is born the “King of Israel”, then this song that celebrates him is indeed the “King of carols.” What a great way to kick off the advent season!
Link to sheet music: http://www.hymnary.org/media/fetch/96054
Link to suggested recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLT9dSt8cwg
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Text: Charles Wesley (1739) Tune: Felix Mendelssohn (1840)
When I was a boy, there was a moment in which I thought that God’s name was “Harold.” That assumption was because of this carol, and because my Grandfather’s name was Harold; however, it was mostly just a misunderstanding of the Lord’s prayer, which I understood to begin with “Our Father, who art in heaven, Harold be thy name.” I later learned that the word “Herald” simply meant “messenger.” The pairing of this text about the messenger angels, and its popular tune was a comically arranged marriage of sorts. When Felix Mendelssohn wrote this melody, originally entitled Festgesang (“party song”) he said that the tune would “never do to sacred words,” arguing instead that “there must be a national and merry subject found out, and the words must express something gay and popular as the music tries to do” (Lutheran Hymnal Handbook). Fortunately for us, the very stubborn William Cummings, in complete denial of the composer’s intent, adapted the tune to fit Wesley’s text in 1856.
Although this hymn’s title and refrain seems to be about the angels, the bulk of the text is a theological description of Christ. Charles Wesley wrote this hymn within a year of his conversion, and originally entitled it “Hymn for Christmas Day.” The verses are aglow with the vibrancy of a soul finding “newly-made contact” with God. What I love about this hymn is that it doesn’t just recount the nativity story. It begins with the message from the angels, but then the second and third verse go on to celebrate the reason why the angels sang. In a few beautifully rich verses, like some sort of theological truffle, Wesley delivers the entire Gospel story, describing Christ’s nature, incarnation, ministry, and salvific purpose. The last stanza is one of the most sublime hymn verses ever written. I can never sing it without tears.
“Hail, the heav’n-born Prince of Peace, Hail the sun of righteousness
Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings.
Mild he lays His glory by, born that man no more may die
Born to raise them from the earth, born to give them second birth.”
In response to this, let us, as the chosen and redeemed people of God, lift up our hearts to the Lord and join that angel choir in declaring ‘Glory to the newborn King!’”
Link to sheet music: http://www.hymnary.org/media/fetch/100419
Suggested recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C2kDr0gCJo
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Text: Liturgy of St. James (5th cent.), paraphrased by Gerard Moultrie (1864)
Tune: French Carol (17th cent.)
Scripture References:
st. 1 = Hab. 2:20, Zech. 2:13
st. 2 = Rev. 19:16, Luke 22:19-20
st. 3 = Matt. 16:27
st.4 = Isa. 6:2-3
Perhaps the irony in the title (singing the words “keep silence”) is a reason why this hymn is not more well-known. Taken on musical merit alone, it is a superior hymn. Hauntingly beautiful and powerfully evocative, the melody entitled PICARDY is a French carol dating from the seventeenth century. The minor tonality of this tune expresses a mystical sense of awe and transcendence. There is also a sense of mystery around the text. Scholars cannot agree on the actual date or source material, but most agree that “Let All Mortal Flesh” may date back to at least the fifth century. Hymnary.org offers this description:
The present text is from the Liturgy of St. James, a Syrian rite in the Greek Orthodox church. It is based on a prayer chanted by the priest when the bread and wine are brought to the table of the Lord. The text expresses awe at Christ’s coming (st. 1) and the mystery of our perception of Christ in the body and blood (st. 2). With images from Isaiah 6 and Revelation 5, it portrays the glory of Christ (sung to by angels) and his victory over sin (st. 3-4). Although it has eucharistic emphasis, the text pictures the nativity of Christ in a majestic manner and in a much larger context than just his birth in Bethlehem. We are drawn into the awe and mystery with our own “alleluias”.
In the Lord’s supper we celebrate the true mystical nature of the incarnation. The word made flesh, Emmanuel, God with us. While we sing this hymn, I invite you to imagine yourself kneeling in the manger in reverent silence to worship the King, born a child to banish the darkness away.
Sheet music: http://www.hymnary.org/media/fetch/97522
Suggested recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wl4u8lnDQs