O Come, O Come Emmanuel Part 2

Monday, December 2, 2013
O Come, O Come Emmanuel

I love the tune of this hymn.  It's plaintive and longing without being too obvious.  Nothing hits you over the head in this hymn, like "I Will Raise You Up" or even one of my other favorites "Behold the Lamb."

But you can hear it in the melody.  It forces the voice to become rougher or thinner -- weary and longing for something more.

Something better, for all.

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.

I talked about this yesterday, and I forgot about my other Lenten observance, so today's not a banner day for my Advent, but I felt it bore repeating.  I believe we long so desperately for the Second Coming, for our heavenly home, because it is our heavenly home.  All of us.  You can't long with such a pure and simple tune for the suffering of others.

Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

This is my solemn prayer for this Advent.  Come quickly, Lord Jesus.  We are creating hell here on Earth.  Save us from ourselves.  The Hells are getting smarter. They are tricking us into thinking we are defined by them, that we cannot ever truly escape them, that we must become devils ourselves in some way.

Close that path.  Shut it down.

Someday, I believe You will.  Someday, I believe You will heal us all.  Someday, we will look grim, knowing our children will someday ask us about death and sin and all the things human beings did to each other while they were among us.  We will have to tell them what it was like before Jesus returned.  We will have to tell them what we did to each other.

Someday, it'll have to be explained, because it won't be part of the world any longer.  That path will be closed.