O Come, O Come Emmanuel

I have always been inspired, comforted, challenged, informed and sometimes even convicted in spirit by the words of our Christmas Carols and Hymns. And I would like to share some of these precious gifts of music with you.

The first one is very appropriate to be first as the title suggests: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, which is taken from the book of Isaiah 7:14 - Behold, a virgin shall conceive and shall bear a son and his name shall be Emmanuel.

The tune used is called plainsong which was the music of the medieval church. There is a lack of a strict rhythm and you can feel a freedom in the meter which creates a sense of the melody rebounding back and forth from the stone cathedral walls.
O Come, O come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

The text is interesting as it originally had no chorus, the one that we sing being:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel!

Each stanza of the verse was part of a liturgical phrase used during Advent and each stanza had a different name for Christ and an emphasis on that particular name so that the hymn could be used for Christian meditation. That would be a good practice for us to continue today. The names used are:
Emmanuel - God with us;
Wisdom from high;
Desire of nations;
Lord of might;
Rod of Jesse;
Dayspring;
and Key of David.

As we approach the time to celebrate God fulfilling His Covenant Promise in the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, it would be pleasing in His sight and balm for your soul to contemplate these names. They really have nothing to do with a baby, and yet that Baby is all of the these names!

The melody and some information as well as the words for all the verses can be found here:

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/c/ocomocom.htm