Verse 1:
O come, O come, Immanuel,
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
shall come to you, O Israel.

Verse 4:
O come, O Branch of Jesse’s stem,
unto your own and rescue them!
From depths of hell your people save,
and give them victory o’er the grave.
Refrain

Ah, another entry into the “You’re Singing It Wrong” series. O come, Emanuel offers another instance of poor phrase breaking. Looking at the first verse, there is only a single period, meaning that the whole thing is one sentence. That is something we too often forget, especially when looking to the meaning of this text. If you look through all six verses, the hymn is a plea for deliverance, for guidance, and for hope.

Why, then, post this so far from advent? I mean, keep it in a back pocket for a few months and do a Christmas in the summer, right? Well, maybe… But the reason I want to write about it now is because I think we have lost sight of something in the season of lent, which has just begun. Often, we phrase advent as the season of light, joy, and togetherness while we treat lent as a season of death, mourning, and darkness. Both celebrate something incredible done by God: life.

Advent is a Church season which culminates in Christmas, celebrating the coming of the Christ child. It is the incarnation of God into human flesh. The birth of our savior is truly something to celebrate. Lent is also a Church season which ends at Easter*, a celebration of new life. Christ’s death is meaningless without His resurrection, thus the story cannot end on Friday. The buildup to Easter ought to be as exciting or more than Christmas because it was the moment God fulfilled His word to so many generations who cried out for deliverance.

If we live Lent for death, then it is our own doing. Ultimately, humanity is responsible for bringing death into the picture. One could even say that we dishonor the God of life, of hope, of love, by ignoring the fact that preparing for death is preparing for a battle Christ has already won.

Someday, maybe I’ll see a church sing O Come, Emanuel for Lent, because in this season as much as any it is good to remember that the Son of God not only appeared, but fully and irrevocably ransomed the captive.

SDG,

-Paul Hart Cochran

*Some church calendars end Lent on Maundy Thursday, but given the continuation of events from that Thursday to Easter, I feel comfortable asserting Easter is the true end.