SWEET CHRISTMAS JAMS
‘O Come, O Come,’ my favorite Christmas hymn

OK, true confession: I feel like most church hymns could use a swift kick in the tempo-pants. Seriously, nothing rankles my wrinkles more than sitting (or standing, as is often the case) in a sanctuary and plodding through a song about joy and celebration at a pace more appropriate for a funeral dirge.


I think that if we as the big-C Church really meant what we were singing, a lot of our hymns would start to resemble musical numbers from Glee.


But there is one hymn where I think the usual slow and solemn pace is completely justified — nay, required. That would be my all-time favorite Christmas hymn, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," which is UMH 211 for those of you who have a hymnal handy.


I'm not quite sure how it became my favorite. Maybe it's because the song really encapsulates the waiting and the preparation and the anticipation inherent in the Advent season. Maybe it's because the song is about the coming Christ and not about silent nights, bleak midwinters and other such things that fit our modern-day December observance of Christmas but probably don't have much to do with what I'm sure was a characteristically noisy birth that most likely took place in the springtime. Maybe it's the minor key (I think) and the appropriateness of the usual churchy pacing. (I mean, come on... Israel is mourning in lonely exile here, y'all.)


As you can imagine, I'm always glad when a church busts out "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" during Advent and was pleasantly surprised when the United Methodist Church of Palm Springs did so back on the first Sunday of Advent. I also often belt out my own rendition on a daily basis during advent, taking advantage of the fact that there are seven verses listed in the United Methodist Hymnal, which makes for a nice weekly cycle.


But when it comes to modern-day covers of "Emmanuel," I'm really picky. There are very few versions that I like to listen to, and one of those stands out as my favorite — Christian band Third Day's cover, which I heard on the radio one year and then found on the Happy Christmas (Volume 1) CD that I picked up at Zia Records long, long ago.


I've always thought that Third Day did an excellent job of keeping the minor, mournful-yet-expectant feel of the hymn while, at the same time, ditching the organ in favor of electric guitars.


Take a listen:



(Sadly, it looks like neither the song nor the original Happy Christmas album are available on Amazon MP3.)

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12/22/2009 23:58