For this final week of Advent Song Reflections we will be using Scripture from a traditional Lessons and Carols service. You can read about the service of Lessons and Carols here.
Words of Reflection
It seems entirely appropriate (and I assure you, it was completely unplanned) that our final Saturday instrumental reflection falls on the day where our text is from the first chapter of John. In our Scripture today we have the apostle’s remarkably poetic and sublime description of the incarnate Word, and as we consider that text we listen to a wordless carol.
Although the carol isn’t really wordless, is it? When something as familiar as “O Come All Ye Faithful” plays, we can’t help but hear the words in our head, which is a really fascinating phenomenon if you think about it. We don’t have to be listening to an actual recording of the words to “hear” them—there is a very real sensation of listening to words even though they are not being uttered at all. Scientists have studied this and described it in terms far too complicated for me, but my very basic understanding of it is that the brain activity when we “think” words is remarkably similar to the activity that takes place when we actually hear them.
Sometimes we can even hear the words being spoken in voices that have long since left us. This truth rings true for me at Christmastime in a way like no other season, because at this time of year I can hear my dad’s voice singing passionately even though he has been gone for many years. My dad loved Christmas carols deeply, and all those years of standing next to him at late-night candlelight services have left a permanent acoustic image in my head of him singing them at the top of his lungs. “O Come All Ye Faithful” was a particular favorite of his, and I am so thankful for this memory that comes alive in such a unique and almost miraculous way—for a moment each Christmas, it’s as if he’s still standing next to me praising God and basking in the joy of the Incarnation. In the way we are fearfully and wonderfully made, words can seem to come to life inside of us.
What a good image for us to sit with today—words becoming real and vibrant and living and breathing for us in a way we don’t fully understand, but can still experience. Because for all of the attempts by theologians to explain the Incarnation…I still can’t grasp it. I don’t think I ever will.
But I can experience it. And in this case, it is far more than a memory. The Word of God that became flesh so long ago is still “living and active,” to borrow a phrase from Hebrews. When we lift our voices in praise at Christmas, we are not merely celebrating something that happened two thousand years ago…we are also celebrating the living presence of Christ in our midst today.
“The Word became flesh and lived among us,” as John says. The Word still lives among us by the power of his Spirit, and by that same Spirit his voice is still speaking to us, calling us to deeper fellowship, more fervent prayer, and more passionate worship. Let’s embrace that invitation as we join our voices with the heavenly chorus over these next couple of days:
Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be all glory giv'n!
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing!
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord!
Reading for Saturday: John 1:1-14 (NRSV)
St. John unfolds the great mystery of the Incarnation.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
Song: O Come All Ye Faithful, Instrumental (lyrics below for reflection)
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!
Come, and behold Him, born the King of angels!
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord!
God of God, Light of Light,
Lo, He abhors not the virgin's womb;
Very God, begotten not created;
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord!
Sing, choirs of angels; sing in exultation;
Sing, all ye citizens of heav'n above!
Glory to God, all glory in the highest!
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord!
Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be all glory giv'n!
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing!
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord!
Questions for Contemplation:
For today’s contemplation, spend time considering these three questions and offer your responses to God in prayer:
How have you experience Jesus as the living Word of God?
John describes the Word as being full of both “grace” and “truth.” What do those mean for you? What does it mean for you that Jesus is full of both?
Are there voices from your past that you can hear in your head worshiping Jesus this Christmas season? Who has been a witness to you of pure, unbridled praise?
More Carols
Sometimes in a Lessons and Carols service you will hear more than one carol given in response to a particular reading. During this week, you will find in this section after the devotional some additional carols that connect to the passage we’ve been sitting with for that day.
Candlelight Carol (lyrics here)
Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light (lyrics here)