HYMN FOR ADVENT 1 Savior of the Nations, Come/Awaken, Oh Sleeper!
- Gracia Grindal
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
REFLECTION
The understandings of Advent have changed over the life of the church, from a longing in the darkness for the Lord to come; to a joyful expectation of his coming on his donkey into Jerusalem, which the Reformation hymns express, responding to Luther's notion of the three Advents: Christ's coming to us at Bethlehem, his coming to us in our baptism and daily lives and his second coming; to a little Lent during which no mention of Christmas or Christmas carols can be allowed or you will ruin Christmas for someone; to Advent calendars with chocolates building up to Christmas Day and the opening of presents by over excited children; now even an Advent calendar with 24 little bottles of various whiskeys! Lots of confusion or richness depending how you see it. If you were to ask most American Christians what the favorite Advent hymn is "O Come, O Come Emanuel" would be the first one, almost surely.
With the revised common lectionary, none of the hymns associated with Advent really fit except in some abstract theme of waiting. I haven’t come across a successful hymn about two women grinding. And it feels like the Advent season now at the beginning is more like the end of the church year emphasizing the second coming of Christ—ala "Wake Awake for Night is Flying," which in some hymnals is now in the section of "Last Things."
The great Lutheran hymn of Advent is Paul Gerhardt’s “O Lord, How Shall I Meet thee?" The Nordic Lutherans, especially the Swedes, with their Santa Lucia day on December 14, seem to write mostly joyful hymns of excitement on the coming of Christ. “Rejoice, Rejoice Believers,” and “Prepare the Royal Highway,” among many others. The Finns like “Hosanna, David’s Son.” (you can find all of them by searching this site)
Isaac Watts "Joy to the World" cannot be missed nor can Charles Wesley’s "Lo, he comes on Clouds Descending" or "Christ whose Glory fills the skies." Both are grand hymns celebrating Christ’s second coming. The Anglo-Catholics led by John Mason Neale found many Greek and Latin hymns that rounded out the church year and gave us a rich panoply of hymns from that treasury.
And there are contemporary hymns as well. Each cast their light on some theme that I have mentioned above. Given all the possibilities I advise you use the search tool here and you can find almost any Advent hymn what interests you. Some are below.
HYMN INFO
I will add one of the later new hymn tunes just published this summer for one of my texts “Awake, O Sleeper,” by Roy Hopp, a graduate of Calvin College who studied with Richard Hillert and others in his graduate education. He is currently Direction of Music at Eastern Avenue Church in Grand Rapids. He has published over 250 hymn tunes along with anthems and other church music. The tune is carefully crafted and fun to sing. I wrote the text to fit with the Series A Old Testament text for the first Sunday in Advent.
LINKS
O come, O come, Emmanuel
O Lord, How Shall I Meet Thee
