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| O Come, All Ye Faithful |
Last week we began an Advent series looking at some of the most well-known Christmas Carols we sing and it got me wondering when Christmas music really began to develop. If you look at the dates of the most well known and loved carols in the hymnal, they come from the mid 1800’s when both church music and the celebration of Christmas grew in popularity, but there are also carols we sing that date back to the mid 1700’s.
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing was written by Charles Wesley in 1739, making it one of the oldest songs written, but the tune we know was written 100 years later in 1840. An even earlier carol that we still sing, making it perhaps the oldest carol, is one of my favorites, O Come All Ye Faithful. I usually won’t let us sing it before Christmas Eve because it is the perfect hymn to open Christmas Eve worship.
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant.
O come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem.
That is what we do in worship on Christmas eve, we come together and journey back to Bethlehem to celebrate and remember the gift of Jesus. Today we will sing it and it is probably one of the only times as a pastor that I have chosen it before Christmas Eve, but don’t worry, we will sing it again at the start of our Christmas Eve Candlelight service in a few weeks.
The song was written in 1743 by John Wade, an Englishman who was living and teaching in France. It was written in Latin, which was the most common language for the church, with the name Adeste Fideles which means come / faithful ones. Not only did Wade write the words, but he is also credited with the music from the same year. Through the centuries, additional verses have been added and it was translated into English in 1841 by Fredrick Oakeley, but since both the words and music go back to 1743, it remains one of the oldest carols we sing today.
O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant.
O come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem.
Since we sing this on Christmas Eve, in a church full of people who are all focused on Jesus, I always feel as if we are coming to Jesus as a faithful community filled with joy and feeling a little bit triumphant, but if you think about the true meaning of the Christmas story, just the opposite is true. Jesus came because the world was not faithful. God came in Jesus because people were not joyful and triumphant, and the same is still true today.
Are we really faithful? Jesus calls us to love God with ALL our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Are we faithful in living this out every day? Are we faithful in following Jesus' example of love and humility which included washing feet and carrying a cross? Are we faithful in forgiving one another 70 x 70 times? Are we faithful in honoring God in every thought, word, and deed? I’m not. I try, and I strive to be, and it’s my desire to be faithful, but deep down I know I’m not faithful, and so if only the faithful are called to come and worship Jesus - we are all going to be left out.
Are we really joyful? It seems like the theme of joy keeps coming back to us this year and that’s because it is hard to be joyful with all the problems we see around us. The uncertainty, the shut-downs, the isolation, the fear and anxiety make it hard to feel joyful, and even though we know true joy is not tied to what is happening, it’s hard to keep our focus on Jesus who brings us joy. If it is only the faithful and joyful who are called to come to Bethlehem, or who can come to Jesus, once again we are left on the sidelines.
Are we really triumphant? We don’t use that word a lot, so how about victorious? Are we feeling victorious today? It’s hard to feel victorious when we feel more like a victim to a virus that is spreading across our communities. It’s hard to feel like we are winning when we are losing more and more things each week. If God only calls the faithful, joyful, and triumphant to come to Him, then we are all left out in the dark.
The power of the Christmas story is that it’s not just the faithful, joyful, and triumphant who are called to Bethlehem, it’s also the faithless, the downcast, and the defeated. Jesus came as a child in Bethlehem to call the sinners, the hopeless, and the outcast to come to Him for hope, and help, and life and that began the night Jesus was born.
In Mark 2:17 Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. The first people to hear about the birth of Jesus were not the righteous but the sinners. It was shepherds, and shepherds were not held in high regard. While God may have been called the good shepherd at one point in time, most shepherds in Jesus’ day were not good. They were known liars whose testimony in court was not allowed because they could not be trusted to tell the truth. In a word, they were sinners, and yet they were the first people to hear that a child had been born who was Christ the Lord.
All through his life, Jesus chose to walk among the sinners and the outcasts. He forgave prostitutes and asked tax collectors to be His disciples. He ate and drank with sinners and the good news for us is that Jesus still invites sinners to His table. Through Jesus, God calls us into His presence, and through the life and love of Jesus, God makes us His faithful children. We aren’t called because we are faithful, we are made faithful because Jesus calls us.
Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us that any faith we have comes from Jesus. Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
Jesus is the author of our faith. He is the one who writes it on our hearts and allows it to grow and develop in our lives. When we are called by Jesus, when we are loved by Jesus, faith begins.
It is also not the joyful and triumphant that Jesus calls, in fact in Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. It’s not the joyful He calls but the weary, not the triumphant but the burdened, the broken, the oppressed. So in our weary and burdened state, if we will come to Jesus we will not only find rest, but we find abundant life and part of that abundance is victory and joy.
I will forever sing this carol differently because while we might feel faithful, joyful, and triumphant at Christmas time, I also need to remember that Jesus calls me when I am wrapped up in my sin, feeling weary and completely hopeless and defeated. In those moments, if I will come to Jesus, if I will worship Jesus, if I will surrender to Jesus, if I will trust in Jesus, He will make me faithful, joyful, and triumphant. This is what we sing in the refrain with each verse.
O come let us adore Him. O come let us adore Him.
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
The simplicity of this carol is amazing because faith, joy, and victory is found when we worship Jesus. Worship is not just what we do in the hour we set aside each week, worship is the adoration of God that shapes every moment of every day. The more we learn to adore Jesus, the more we learn to listen to him, trust in him, love him, and allow his light and love to shine through us, the more we will experience faith, joy, and life abundant.
Come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.
Next Steps
O Come, All Ye Faithful
Take time this week to listen to or read the words of O Come All Ye Faithful. Which of the many verses speak to you?
In what ways are you feeling faithful, joyful and triumphant? When have you felt this way in your walk with Jesus?
Jesus didn’t come to call the faithful but sinners.
● Read Mark 2:17.
● What gospel stories tell us that Jesus came to seek the lost and save sinners?
● How do you continue to experience God’s grace in your life today?
● Read Hebrews 12:1-2. In what way is faith in Jesus a gift from God? Read Romans 5:8.
● How can your worship of Jesus this week strengthen your faith?
Jesus didn’t come to call the joyful and triumphant but the weary and burdened.
● Read Matthew 11:28
● What gospel stories show us Jesus giving joy and victory to those who needed it?
● When has Jesus filled you with joy?
● Read Romans 8:31-39, 1 Corinthians 15:50-56, Isaiah 9:6-7. How can these passages help you find victory in your life today?
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
● How is adoration (worship) a part of your daily life?
● How could you enhance your worship of Jesus in this Advent and Christmas season? Find one practice you can start this week.
● Join the entire Faith Church family online at 7:00 PM Christmas Eve, as we come and adore Christ the Lord!
