Hymn-ful Sundays! "Come and Join the Celebration"

The last Hymn-ful Sunday post! It's hard to believe that it's been a year already.

This week's hymn again speaks of the birth of our Saviour Jesus. It is a celebratory hymn written by Valerie Collison and is sung as one of the Christmas/Advent traditions of my home church in Barbados. Valerie Collison is a contemporary hymnwriter and organist from the United Kingdom, and this is one of her most popular compositions.

Hymn-ful Sundays! "Joy to the World"

This week's hymn continues in the Advent trend with a popular hymn by prolific hymnwriter Isaac Watts, who lived in the 17th century in England. Watts wrote many hymns and songs based directly on passages of scripture. This one is based on Psalm 98.

Hymn-ful Sundays! "Love Came Down at Christmas"

For the third Sunday of Advent I've chosen this short poem by Christina Rossetti which was set to music as a Christmas hymn by several composers. The poem was composed and published late in the 19th century, and was one of many poems composed by this poet. Christina Rossetti began writing poems as a teenager, and religious devotion became a big part of her life after a nervous breakdown which caused her to leave school. Christina became well-known for her poetry, and her siblings were creative as well, one brother becoming a celebrated artist, and the other brother and her sister both becoming writers.

Hymn-ful Sundays! "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus"

This week's hymn is, once again by Charles Wesley! Charles and his brother John were founders of Methodism in the eighteenth century, and Charles was a prolific hymnwriter, writing many of the great hymns of the faith. This hymn of his is generally sung at Advent, which makes it a wonderful choice for today, the second Sunday of Advent!

Hymn-ful Sundays! "O Come, O Come Emmanuel"

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the season in the liturgical tradition which prepares us for the Christmas celebration. Thus for today I have chosen a well-known traditional Advent hymn, which dates from the 12th century. It is said that this hymn has several contributors, so there isn't a single author, but it was translated from Latin by John Mason Neale, an Anglican priest and hymn-writer in the 19th century. The versions of verses vary, especially for the later verses, so I have chosen the version most familiar to me. 

The Fourth Candle: Anticipating Peace

For the final week of Advent, we are anticipating peace.

It doesn't escape my notice that peace is the focus of the fourth and final week of Advent. I think it's quite appropriate to take THE most hectic week of the year and make its focus peace. Even as we run around, doing all the last minute things that seem to magically come up in the last few days before Christmas, we are to remember that Jesus came to the earth as the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

The Third Candle: Anticipating Joy

This week, we anticipate joy.

When the Son of Man came to this world, he brought with him joy. The angels knew it. When the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds, the angel told them, "Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11). After that, the whole host of angels began to sing!

The Second Candle: Anticipating Love

Love came down at Christmas,

Love all lovely, Love Divine,

Love was born at Christmas,

Star and Angels gave the sign.

-Christina Rossetti

This week, we are anticipating love.

The promise of the Christ-child, coming to the earth, was a promise filled with love. Jeremiah tells Israel that the Lord has loved them with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3). In that same chapter, Jeremiah tells them of the new covenant that God will establish with his people. God was saying, I have loved you always, and from my love and mercy, we will establish a covenant.

The First Candle: Anticipating Hope

This week, we are anticipating hope.

In the time of King Uzziah, Israel was a wicked place. The people had turned from the laws of their God, and were participating in every idolatrous religious practice of the nations around them. But in the midst of all this, a man called Isaiah received a prophecy from the Lord,

“There will come a time in the last days when the mountain where the Eternal’s house stands will become the highest, most magnificent – grander than any of the mountains around it. All the nations of the world will run there, wanting to see it, feel it, fully experience it. Many people of all languages, colors, and creeds will come.” (Isaiah 2:2-3, The Voice).

Anticipating Christ

One of my absolute favourite times of the year is Advent. Not just Christmas itself, but the four weeks leading up to it that the liturgical church celebrates as Advent. There's something in me that just loves the idea of eagerly anticipating and celebrating the birth of our Saviour.

Each week, a candle is lit, and each candle signifies a word that is the focus of that week: hope, love, joy, peace. (A fifth candle is lit on Christmas day to represent Christ, and the light that he brings to the world.) We sings songs that tell of the coming of the Christ-child, and read some of the greatest passages in the Bible: prophecies of the Messiah coming to earth, that were spoken hundreds of years before his birth.