Advent’s intent
I love a good Christmas hymn (especially if there’s a Latin verse thrown in, and even more if I can harmonize to it). It’s tough to pick a favorite, but I’ve always had an affinity for What Child is This, for a few reasons.
First of all, it’s in Dorian mode, which has this hauntingly beautiful quality that’s has a more unique sound than harmonic minor, and the melody has its roots in the English folk song Greensleeves — the history in and of itself is interesting enough. But what really brings me in is the lyrics. When I was a kid, I remember being in church on Christmas Eve and trying not to giggle at the word “ass” (referring to a donkey of course) right there in the hymnal, but as I’ve gotten older the text to this song has remained appealing for more… well, spiritually mature reasons.
There’s a certain regality to the lyrics, with some interesting internal rhyming and without the “thees” and “thous” that characterize so many other songs we find in a traditional church service, but ones that make you think when you sing them. Not to mention there’s some solid vocabulary words in there — “Haste, haste to bring him laud.” Come on, that’s a great line.
But something I’ve noticed is that most people, groups, and churches who sing the song are missing part of it by singing the same familiar chorus after all three verses:
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The babe, the son of Mary
But there’s actually a different chorus to go with each verse, and we miss what are perhaps the most poignant lyrics of the song found in the second chorus.
Nails, spear shall pierce him through
The cross be borne for me, for you
Hail, hail the word made flesh
The babe, the son of Mary
Dang. Maybe it’s because the Christmas story involves angels, animals, and a baby, we always think of it as being so innocent. I know that angels in the bible are nothing short of powerful and terrifying, but I’ll concede that, as a general rule, sheep and babies are cute.
But this is the same Jesus who will, three decades later, be “despised and rejected” (remember that the same prophet, Isaiah, foretells the Messiah’s birth as well as his death). He will be turned over to the executioners by the same people who spent centuries waiting for him, and then decided he was not who he said he was.
The liturgical color for both Advent and Lent is traditionally purple. I know that a lot of churches are changing Advent to blue to distinguish it as a separate time, but I wonder if this does it a disservice. These seasons mark the beginning and end of the life of Christ, appropriate for the one who is the Alpha and Omega, present in the biblical narrative from the first chapter of Genesis all the way to the last of Revelation. Born in relative poverty and then to be killed as an enemy of the state — can we truly appreciate the birth of Christ without the context of the rest of his life?
Originally published at http://sarahinswazi.wordpress.com on November 29, 2018.
