S2_EP06 - Hymns of Advent Series (HOPE)

Ever wondered what makes Advent so special? What are those deep-rooted traditions that make us anticipate this season? Let's unravel together, as we embark on a journey to explore the true essence of Advent in this special series of The Bright Forever: Hymns of Advent. Get ready to deepen your understanding of the four cornerstones of Advent: expectant waiting, repentance and reflection, scripture reading, and the beautiful symbolism it carries. We'll be lighting up each candle on the Advent wreath, taking you through the journey of hope, peace, joy, and love that each represents. Immerse yourself in the festive spirit as the melodious hymn from Red Mountain Church play adding a new musical layer to our exploration.

We'll take you through the second chapter of our journey where we unwrap the first theme of the Advent season...Hope. We'll delve into the poignant verses of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," and illuminate how deeply the yearning for Christ's arrival is woven into its lyrics. Each verse unveils a different title for Jesus, revealing the hope His presence brings, the fulfillment of prophecies, and his embodiment of the new covenant. This isn't only a historical reflection; it's a present, living hope that continues to bring joy. Together, let's discover the significance of this Advent season, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Red Mountain Church Music

Red Mountain Hymn Collective

"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"
Taken from Silent Night: Advent Hymns of Red Mountain Church

CREDITS
Ashley Spurling: Vocals
Brian T. Murphy: Piano, Keyboards, Harmonica 
Clint Wells: Electric and Acoustic Guitar 
Jeff Irwin: Bass 
Brad Odum: Drums 
Connie Skellie: Violin 
Tim Carroll: Upright Bass On "O Come, All Ye Faithful" 
Tripp Ethridge: Percussion
Clint Wells: Bass 

Produced by Brian T. Murphy and Clint Wells 
Mixed by Paul Scodova - Nashville, TN 
"O Come, All Ye Faithful" and "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus" mixed by Steve Hardy - New York, New York 
Mastered by Steve Hardy - New York, New York
Project management by Bradley N. Cordell 
Design and illustration by Dana Tanamachi
Recording and engineering by Brian T. Murphy at Red Mountain Studios - Birmingham, AL 
Additional recording and engineering of pianos by Paul Scodova.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

The Advent season is that time when we seek to, in a manner of speaking, mute our memory of what has already happened, that we might brighten our joy that it happened. We leave the already of His Advent to taste the bitter of the not yet. We, in short, go back that we might look forward to His coming. Our sea sprawl. This is the Bright Forever. Hello and welcome to a special series of the Bright Forever Hymns of Advent, where each week, we will discover the power and richness of some of the greatest Advent hymns in church history. My name is Andy Peevee House and I am your host and guide on this, our venture through the season of Advent. So you're probably wondering what is going on here. You may even be wondering what is this thing called Advent? If that's you, I totally understand. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church and although I heard about the Advent season, this idea of celebrating Advent was foreign to me. From most of my childhood I put the idea of Advent and Christmas together. I thought they were the exact same thing. But as an adult I started looking into what Advent truly was all about and I found it to be a profoundly and miraculously hope filled excitement and anticipation centered around the coming of the Messiah, our Savior and Lord Jesus. It's incredible, and I wanted to share a little of what I know and do with all of you. So this is the first year that we will be truly celebrating Advent in our house. I wanted my girls to experience the same excitement and anticipation as well. So, as we move through these many episodes and devotions, I want you to know I will be doing them along with my family, as well as doing them along with all of you out there who are listening. Oh, and something else that is really exciting for us here at the Bright Forever. I mean, this is just another thing where we were, god has blessed us tremendously. We just received permission to use the music of Red Mountain Church in our podcasts. I absolutely love their music and their hymn arrangements. My favorite album has to be their Christmas album entitled Silent Night, which you will get to hear a few of those songs as we move through these episodes, and I will definitely have links posted to where you can access their music, download it, buy it, and I really will tell you. If you love hymns and you love music, you will love Red Mountain Church. So let me begin with a little bit about what Advent is all about.

Speaker 1: 3:57

Advent is a season observed in many Christian denominations as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas. The word Advent is derived from the Latin word adventus, meaning coming or arrival. It connotes this idea of expectation, it marks the beginning of the church's liturgical year and typically it lasts about four weeks. It's the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day. It is typically marked by four key elements. The first one is this idea of expectant waiting Advent emphasizes the anticipation and waiting for the coming of Jesus, not only in the historical context of his birth, but also in the anticipation of his second coming. The second one is repentance and reflection. Advent observances often include a focus on repentance and reflection, encouraging believers to prepare their hearts for the celebration of Christ's birth through a time of self-reflection, self-examination of repentance and time in prayer. The third key is scripture reading. Advent is marked by the reading of biblical passages that highlight the prophecies about the Messiah's coming. And then the fourth one is the use of symbols.

Speaker 1: 5:46

The advent wreath and candles and the liturgical colors associated with the season are common symbols used in churches to visually represent the themes of hope, peace, joy and love. The advent wreath is usually circular. It's got four candles, usually three purple or blue colored candles and one pink or rose colored candle. Sometimes you'll see a white candle in the center. It's known as the Christ candle. Each candle represents one of the four weeks of Advent. So hope and peace, and joy and love. And then the Christ candle in the center is lit on Christmas Day to signify the beginning of Christmas. The lighting of the candles is a symbolic way to kind of mark your progress and your progression through the season and emphasize these themes of hope, peace, joy and love.

Speaker 1: 6:50

The first week hope, which is the week we're in right now that we're going to be talking about is a purple candle. It's week one. The first candle represents hope and the expectation of the coming Messiah. It's often called the prophecy candle as it symbolizes the hope found in the Old Testament prophecies of the coming of Jesus. Week number two is peace. It's also a purple or bluish candle. The second candle is often referred to as the Bethlehem candle, signifying the peace that comes from knowing the principal piece. The third week is joy. It's usually a pink or rose colored candle. The third candle is called the shepherd candle and it signifies the joy experienced by the shepherds who receive the good news of Christ's birth. And then the last one, the fourth candle, week. Number four is also a purple or bluish candle and it represents love. It is often called the angel candle, symbolizing the love of God proclaimed by the angels in announcing the birth of Jesus.

Speaker 1: 8:09

Each themed week in Advent corresponds to one of the candles highlighting a specific aspect of our journey toward the coming of our Savior. Hope is the anticipation. The second week peace, reflecting on the peace that comes through the Prince of Peace, the mighty God, the everlasting Father. The third is joy, celebrating the joy found in the good news, the gospel, the fact that God did not just create us and kind of stand back and go all right, y'all are on your own. No, he said, I've made these people in my image and I'm not going to just give up on them, I'm going to get my hands dirty. I'm not just going to be the transcendent God, I'm going to be the imminent God, the God who is with my people, loving them and showing them how to live in relationship with the Father and in relationship with each other. And the last one, love is embracing and sharing the transformative love that is revealed through the incarnation of God himself. He put on human flesh and dwelt among us.

Speaker 1: 9:46

I love the season of Advent. These themes will be what help guide us through this reflective season, fostering, hopefully, a deeper understanding of the significance of Christ's birth and the enduring hope we have for his return. Wow, okay, so every week is not going to be like this. These are going to be more like mini episodes, so they're going to be a little bit shorter than I would normally do, but this one is going to probably end up being pretty long just because I'm explaining everything about Advent. I won't be explaining every single thing every single week. I may like do a little recap, but I won't be doing the entire thing. So that was my quick reference guide to Advent, some kind of foundational knowledge, but also the symbols and how they're associated with this season of the year.

Speaker 1: 10:42

But I go back to the quote at the beginning.

Speaker 1: 10:46

The quote at the beginning is truly how I feel about the wonder and the excitement of the Advent season.

Speaker 1: 10:56

Our C Sproul said the Advent season is that time when we seek to, in a manner of speaking, mute our memory of what has already happened.

Speaker 1: 11:08

We kind of turn off the idea that, yes, we realize Christ has already come, he's already given his life for us. We have that assurance, we have that hope because of what he's done on the cross, but we kind of mute that in our memory. We kind of just turn that off for a second and we brighten our lives, we lift up our joy, in kind of forgetting that for a moment and becoming excited about the coming of Christ. When the world for a moment stopped and we beheld his glory. We leave the already of his Advent to taste the bitter of the not. Yet we leave the already. We already celebrate the fact that he has come. He has come, we have life in him. But we leave that for a moment and taste the bitterness of a world that hasn't experienced this yet the bitter of the not yet I love how he says that we, in short, go back, that we might look forward to his coming.

Speaker 1: 13:01

I love this time of year, full of hope, full of expectation, which brings us to our first step on this Advent journey Hope. Today we are going to delve into the rich words of the hymn O come, o come, emmanuel, and explore its profound significance in the context of the theme of hope during the season of Advent. Now, this is not going to be a typical podcast. I'm not going to share the history of the author and things like that. We're going to look at the hymn and how it relates to Advent and what does it do for us as we begin in this season to anticipate the coming of God in flesh. Isaiah, chapter 7, verse 14. Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. In the opening words of O come, o come, emmanuel, we hear the cry of longing for the promised Messiah. The name Emmanuel means God with us and the prophecy in Isaiah assures us of a sign a Savior who will come. We find hope in the fact that God is fulfilling his promises. He made a covenant with his people. He is going to fulfill what he promised. As we reflect the lyrics of O come, o come, emmanuel, each verse reveals a different title for the expected Messiah. These titles echo the various aspects of the hope we have in Jesus. The hymn becomes this beautiful expression of the collective yearning of all of humanity for the arrival of the Savior.

Speaker 1: 15:57

Verse 1, o come, o come, emmanuel. The opening verse calls upon Emmanuel, god with us, the one who brings our immediate comfort as we wait for Christ's return. We find that comfort in His constant presence with us. The second verse references Jesse, the father of David, of King David. It points to the lineage from which the Messiah would come. Again, another fulfillment of prophecy. It emphasizes the hope that is tied to what? To the Davidic covenant, the covenant God made with David. It said of your line, a king will come.

Speaker 1: 16:54

The next verse speaks of the dayspring, the beginning of something new, the dawn, the spring of the day when the new day begins, signifying the arrival of the new covenant that comes with the birth of Jesus. God promised this all the way back in Jeremiah, when the Israelites were exiled, and he tells them that he has a plan. He says I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. And in Jesus we find that new hope and that new future kingdom. The next verse refers to Jesus as the key of David. Jesus is the one unlocking the door to salvation. Through Him we have hope for freedom and for redemption from our sins.

Speaker 1: 18:21

The final verse I want to talk about Many in some hymnals is a grouping of two of the other verses. It addresses our great Lord on high. Some versions it says Thou, great Lord of might. Then it shifts to a different verse as it captures the ultimate hope found in our great Lord on high and through the Messiah's arrival and with His coming, jesus brings the pathway to our heavenly home. Through the coming of Emmanuel, god will conquer death itself and misery and free us to follow Him fully.

Speaker 1: 19:27

Now I want you to take a moment, either individually or with your family, and reflect on these names of God that this hymn addresses. What does it mean to you and to your family to hear names like Emmanuel, god with us, the rod of Jesse, the prophecy being fulfilled, dayspring carrying forward the new covenant, the key of David unlocking the door to salvation and great Lord on high, making straight the pathway to our eternal home with the Father. If you need to pause and talk it through with your family, go right ahead, as I'm right, go ahead and do that now. I'll even give you a little pause here to kind of help. I hope what you see is a tapestry of hope woven into the very fabric of this hymn. The anticipation of Christ's coming is not just an historical event. It is a present reality and a future promise that instills hope in our hearts today.

Speaker 3: 21:22

Oh come, oh come Emmanuel and ransom captive.

Speaker 3: 21:33

Israel that mourns in lonely exile Until the Son of God appear. Rejoice, rejoice, emmanuel shall come to thee. O Israel, rejoice, rejoice, emmanuel shall come to thee. O Israel, oh come. Oh come the Lord of night who to thy tribes on Sinai's height, in ancient times it's given law in cloud and majesty and all. Rejoice, rejoice, emmanuel shall come to thee. O Israel. Rejoice, rejoice, emmanuel shall come to thee. O Israel. Oh, come thou, dayspring from on high and cheer us by thy drawing night, disperse the gloomy clouds of night and death's dark shadows put to flight. Rejoice, rejoice, emmanuel shall come to thee, o Israel, rejoice, rejoice, emmanuel shall come to thee, o Israel. Oh come, thou, key of David. Come and open wide our heavenly home, make safe the way that leads on high and close the path to misery. Rejoice, rejoice, emmanuel shall come to thee. O Israel, rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to thee. O Israel Shall come to thee, o Israel.

Speaker 1: 25:35

That was O Come, o Come Emmanuel. By Red Mountain Church. Music From their 2008 release, Silent Night. Advent Hymns from Red Mountain Church With Ashley Sperling on vocals. From their website. It says Old Text, new Music, ancient and Authentic. Our particular focus is arranging new music for all but forgotten hymn texts. We are excited to be a part of a hymn rewrite movement that is resurrecting hymns for the global church. I love Red Mountain Church. They have amazing music. I want to give you two websites, if I can. You can find this album, silent Night, and many others from Red Mountain Church Music on their website, wwwredmountainchurchmusiccom. And if you're looking for new music, they have Red Mountain Hymn Collective. You can find that at wwwhymncollectiveorg.

Speaker 1: 26:57

I want to leave us with this. As we ponder the hope rooted in the words of Ocomo Cammanuo, let's consider a tangible way to respond as families and even as individuals during this Advent season. I'm going to try this with my family and I want to see if it's going to work. We're going to create something called a hope chain. Each family member is going to write down a hope or a prayer on a paper link. If you've ever seen those construction paper links where you staple the construction paper like the strips of construction paper into a little circle and you staple it, and you staple them all together and create a chain. That's what I'm talking about Writing down something that you're hoping for, something that you are anticipating, that you are expecting whether it's for the end of this year or for the next year, or maybe it's something in your family, maybe it's something that's happening in your life that you're going. God, I just I'm hoping, I'm hoping you're going to step in and do something amazing and, if that is the case, write those things down, write those hopes, write those prayers on a paper, link, connect them together and form a chain. Hang that somewhere kind of centrally located in your house so that you have this visual reminder of the collective hope that you share as a family as you await the coming of Emmanuel.

Speaker 1: 28:40

Thank you for joining us this week on the Bright Forever. Remember to follow us, review us and, of course, subscribe. You can check out all things on our website at wwwthebrightforevercom. If you want to share with us something that maybe you're doing with your family through this Christmas season, I'd love to hear that. I'd love to hear the ideas around Advent, because, I mean, I'm always up for something new.

Speaker 1: 29:08

So if your family does something that maybe it's outside the box, maybe it's something, maybe it's completely inside the box, I don't know. If there's something that your family does as a traditional Advent celebration, let me know. You can send us an email at podcast at wwwthebrightforevercom, you can go to the Contact Us tab on our website and send it. That way. You can even record a two minute voicemail to us by clicking the radio microphone in the bottom right corner of our website and you can tell us what your family does. I'd love to hear from you, I'd love to hear some of the traditions that you all do around this time of year and this season. Thank you again for joining me as we go through this special series on Advent hymns. May the hope of Emmanuel resonate in your hearts as you wait with expectation during the season.

Speaker 1: 30:13

Let's pray, heavenly Father. We thank you for the hope we find in the promise of Emmanuel, god with us. May our hearts be filled with expectation and anticipation as we journey through this Advent season together. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen, until next time. May the peace and hope of Christ be with you. God bless you all. Have a great week and we will see you back here next week. We're out. Copyright © 2021 Mooji Media Ltd. All rights reserved.