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The Already and the Not Yet

 

Daily Reading

Isaiah 9:6-7 >

 

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

 

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

 

This is the first stanza and refrain from a hymn that many of us find ourselves singing during the Advent season. The lyric conveys both sorrow and sturdy hope, but the music behind it is decidedly morose: the melody is from a 15th century funeral hymn. So why do we (and multitudes before us) sing a dirge in anticipation of the birth of Christ? Isn't it a bit out of place? Maybe one reason this hymn has stuck around for the past several hundred years is that it provides us with a response to verses like these from the book of Isaiah.

 

Isaiah celebrates a litany of names and character traits that describe Jesus the Messiah, and he does so in lush, triumphant language, pronouncing the everlasting rule of this Prince of Peace. If this is true, shouldn't we be singing a different, peppier tune to "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"? Maybe. If we're honest with ourselves, though, we would feel phony, because deep down we know that our experience here on earth is very rarely that of an ever-increasing just and peaceful kingdom. Oftentimes, it's just the opposite; which is perhaps why Advent is a season of yearning and longing and expectation. One pastor describes it as "the already and the not yet"—meaning that our rejoicing is done in hope, that the kingdom of God breaks into and exists among our exile and mourning, that the child "born unto us" and on whose shoulders this world safely rests is born, nonetheless, into a broken humanity.

 

God, help us see more of who Jesus is, and long to see the increase of His kingdom.

 

Introduction to Advent >

 

Prayer for the Week >

 

Hymn for the Week >

 

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