O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him
Born the King of Angels:
O come, let us adore Him, (3×)
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, (3×)
Christ the Lord.
Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of Heaven above!
Glory to God, glory in the highest:
O come, let us adore Him, (3×)
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, (3×)
Christ the Lord.
Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktfl7ichGdU&list=PLRB9xddXCxeg8TQ7RT4PxFdPQAG7A1ExM&index=8
We’re nearly there!
This carol tends to appear in ‘midnight mass’ carol services, usually kept till last because then you can sing the final verse “born this happy morning” which only really applies on Christmas Day (although an easy way round this is to change it to “born that happy morning”). It’s unusual because the descant is then in the penultimate verse rather than the final one, although it’s quite nice in a way to bring everyone back together for a unison verse to finish. That’s assuming you’re allowed to sing descants...
The carol was originally in Latin, with various possible origins but often attributed to John Francis Wade, an English Catholic living in France who published it in 1751 (but probably didn’t actually write it himself). The music is similarly of uncertain origin. Wade’s version only had the 4 verses above, but 3 or 4 other verses were added at various times, including a verse about the shepherds and a verse about the magi which are included in most hymn books. I haven’t included them because they are fairly obvious in their meaning- the shepherds and wise men came to worship and we should follow their example.
There is an intriguing theory about Wade’s publication of the carol, though, which is that it is linked to the Jacobite cause- Wade himself was in exile due to his support for the attempt to reinstate the Catholic descendants of James II onto the English/ British throne. ‘Bethlehem’ was apparently a code for England, and there was a longstanding Latin pun (going all the way back to the 6th century about the similarity between the Latin for ‘angels’ (Angelorum) and ‘English’ (Anglorum). This has led some to suggest that the carol is a coded hymn of praise to Bonnie Prince Charlie. Even if that’s true, it doesn’t stop it being a great Christmas carol.
Like many other carols, this is a call to worship, to marvel at the wonder of the incarnation, God in the form of a baby, born in Bethlehem. The second verse emphasises this with its’ reminders that this baby is truly God’s son and therefore part of God himself. I think it’s quoting the Nicene Creed’s description of what Christans (or at least most Western Christians) believe about Jesus:
“We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made...”
The final two verses return to giving praise to God. It’s something I have struggled with this year; not just because there doesn’t always seem a lot to give thanks and praise about [1] but because the main way we tend to do this as Christians is by singing. Singing in groups has of course been something we’ve been unable to do this year and sung worship has been hard to replicate in online worship. There are other ways to worship, of course, and it’s been good to explore some of them and variety in worship is a good thing. Creative prayer and writing have been helpful for me- I guess you could say writing these blogs exploring the meaning of carols have been one way of expressing worship. But especially at this time of year singing feels a real loss- even though it’s allowed again in some circumstances that doesn’t help those of us still staying at home for whatever reason. Singing on your own is not the same as singing with a group.
But Christmas is nearly here, and so I encourage you- however you feel about your voice, spend a bit of time singing carols today- whether or not you think of them as worship.
