Liturgy Lesson: November 29, 2020 (Advent 1)
Call to Worship: John 1:1-5, 14
Prayer of Invocation
Hymn of Praise: Joy to the World (#195)
Confession
Assurance: Ps. 85:1-2, 8-9
Hymn: O Come, O Come Emmanuel (#194)
Advent Reading: Micah 5:2-5
Congregational Prayers
Doxology
Reading of the Word: Isaiah 7:10-25
Sermon: “Trusting God in Testing Times”, Rev. Shiv Muthukumar
Meditation
Celebration of the Lord’s Supper: O Savior of Our Fallen Race; Hark, the Herald (#203)
Benediction
First things first. We are singing on Sunday. If you are able, please come to worship.
The Westminster Confession of Faith article 20-2 says this:
“God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are, in anything, contrary to his Word; or beside it, in matters of faith, or worship.”
Singing together is now an act of civil disobedience. If your conscience is teetering between conviction and submission, please know that God’s grace grants liberty in that situation, and He alone opens the lips so that the mouth can declare His praise (Ps. 51:15). It will require great discernment to know if we desire to sing in protest or in praise. Let’s pray for more of the latter.
In music, dissonance is a tension or clash resulting from the lack of harmony between musical notes. The past 10 days have been extremely dissonant for our church. Indeed, for the last 8 months we have been in a prolonged period of dissonance; More than that, one could argue that ever since the Edenic duo went out of tune with their Maker, the entire cosmos has been in a suspended state of cacophony. All creation groans. But this is all the Composer’s intent.
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” (Rom. 8:18-22)
Dissonance has profound purpose in music. Each discordant note yearns for resolution. Within the context of the larger opus, there is beauty in the unexpected and even jarring non-chord tones. This is the universal appeal of music. It echoes the longing within each human heart. History will prove what we already know from music…there is a resolution to all things. There is hope.
“And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Rom. 8:23-25)
This is why all creation not only groans, but it sings! And, this is why we sing. We have hope. When we hear this hope expressed in song, our hearts our strengthened. More than that, singing God’s praise is an act of faith that is an outpouring of a spirit-filled heart. The song is animated by the Spirit, offered through Christ, to the Father. What a precious gift this is. The fruit of the lips is our sacrifice of praise offered to God (Heb. 13:15). This is more than just an enjoyable add-on to our worship. It is an act that brings our sinful hearts into the harmony of the Trinity. He tunes our hearts to sing His praise.
So, as the CPC “conductor” of our humble merry band, I wanted to write and tell you that the choir (a.k.a. “congregation”) will be singing this Sunday. These Liturgy Lessons are your rehearsal, a way to give your heart and mind some tempo and dynamic markings in advance of big show. Downbeat will be at 9 and 11 on Sunday morning. Come prepared to sing.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Text: Latin antiphons, 12th cent., translated 1851
Music: Plainsong chant, 13th cent.
This is perhaps the closest thing to pure chant that we have in our hymnal. Imagine you are in a glorious old cathedral, one of those with a three-second reverb. You hear the haunting opening phrase that starts in E-minor. It effortlessly expresses the desperation and longing of your heart for rest. Then there is a deep breath, a pause before the music shifts. You quietly inhale the Holy Spirit. This moment of inspiration is like the downward motion of the diving board as it prepares the voice to spring up and out into the shouts of “Rejoice! Rejoice!”. This is where the chant (even without any harmony grounding it) hints at G-major, reassuring us that Christ is coming! It is, if only for two measures, a musical depiction of Hebrews 11: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.”
This ancient advent hymn originated in part from the “Great ‘O’ Antiphons,” part of the medieval Catholic Advent liturgy. One way that the medieval Christians heightened their anticipation for the second coming was by praying the “Great ‘O’ Antiphons.” Antiphony basically means “one sound against another;” put simply, it is a call and response, an echo effect that was employed quite frequently in the old cathedrals, where one (or several) voices would sing a phrase, and it would then be answered by the choir or congregation. Sometimes this musical tennis match would be played from balcony to balcony or back to front of the Cathedral. In the case of this particular chant, the dialogue is obvious. Each verse that starts with “O come” is the cry for help, and the “rejoice” refrain is the answer.
During the late middle ages, 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 Emmanuel”: God with us (Isaiah 7:14, Mt 1:23)
“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 Adonai”: Lord of might, give of the law, Ruler over house of Israel (Exodus 19:16)
“O Sapientia”: Wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24)
The first seven letters of these titles form an acrostic, which in Latin would spell “Ero cras,” which means “I am coming tomorrow.” This playful and prayerful puzzle points to the birth of Christ, and it gives Him a silent but very present voice in the chant. With a form like this we are taken into dialogue with God Himself. As these verses unfold, Christ is whispering in our ears and writing on our hearts the truth that sets us free. “I am coming, and even now, I am here.” What a beautiful embodiment (an ‘incarnation’ if you will) of that profound and mystical reality of Emmanuel—God with us! Remember, worship is not a meeting about God. It is an encounter with God. During this sublime chant, if only for a few moments, we can approach Emmanuel, Rod of Jesse, Dayspring, Key of David, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; we can kneel before him and hear him breathe. Each exhale of His spirit is saying, “I am here, I have come, and I am coming again.” As you sing, lean in closely and listen. You may even hear heaven’s antiphony, an ancient echo of the prophet Isaiah. “Comfort, comfort my people” says your God, “speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, and her iniquity is pardoned” (Is. 40:1-2).
– Chant version in concert – a modern re-enactment of medieval Christmas Vespers
– Contemporary choral version blending the chant with “Ero Cras