Today’s Bible reading

Then David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly:

“O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel, may you be praised forever and ever! Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things.” — 1 Chronicles 29:10-11

More thoughts for meditation

The Christmas carol “O Come All Ye Faithful” asks us to journey to Bethlehem and adore Christ the Lord.  We sing words that echo the Nicene Creed and affirm the incarnation (God becoming one of us to reach us with his love and grace), urge angels to sing praises and finally we greet Jesus, our Lord at his birth. The song begs us to enter the story personally and to respond intimately.  The Latin translates to “be present, be near, all you faithful people.”

John Francis Wade (1711-1786) is now generally recognized as both author and composer of this hymn, originally written in Latin in four stanzas. The earliest manuscript signed by Wade is dated about 1743. By the early nineteenth century, however, four additional stanzas had been added by other writers. Wade, a Roman Catholic, apparently moved to France because of discrimination against Catholics in eighteenth-century England–especially after the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. He taught music at an English college in Douay and hand copied and sold chant music for use in the chapels of wealthy families.

The translation in the Psalter Hymnal is based primarily on the work of Frederick Oakeley (1802-1880), who translated the text for use at the Margaret Street Chapel in London (1841).Oakeley was ordained in the Church of England in 1826 and was influenced by the Oxford Movement (remember the Wesley brothers, John and Charles, and George Whitfield who have been mentioned in previous Daily Prayer entries).  Oakeley and his organist friend at Margaret Chapel, instituted “high” liturgies there in their attempts to elevate worship, that got him in trouble and charged with “Romanism.” Oakeley eventually left the Church of England and became ordained as a Catholic and worked among the poor in Westminster for the rest of his life. He knew about division and struggle, which makes the very personal plea to the faithful in this carol even more poignant. When we sing this song, we join a pilgrimage that stretches over centuries.

O Come All Ye Faithful

Adeste, fideles,
laeti triumphantes;
venite, venite in Bethlehem.
Natum videte
Regem angelorum.
Venite adoremus, Dominum.

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 heaven above:
Glory to God
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 glory given;
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.

Suggestions for Action

As you listen at the link below, close your eyes and be present. Let your imagination aid you as you go on the pilgrimage to adore Christ the Lord.