In following the liturgical calendar for Christians, this posting marks the change from the four Sundays of Advent to the observance of Christmas. Today the Christ Candle, the fifth and final one, is lit. It is white to represent the purity found in the personhood of Jesus.
I have selected that very familiar carol, “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” to receive the focus for this posting. Personally, I always used it on the fourth Sunday of Advent or, when Christmas fell on Sunday, on that day itself.
Before a closer look at the text, I’ll present something of the history of this hymn. But even before that, here’s a brief explanation on the difference between a “carol” and a “hymn.”
Originally, hymns were poems meant to be sung to some tune in worship. They started as metrical (rhythmic feel) texts with rhyming patterns with a central theme of praising God. Then, around the time of Isaac Watts, hymns began to broaden in scope and take on New Testament themes. In other words, they started presenting aspects of the Gospel, the life and work of Jesus.
A carol is just a more specific version of a hymn with a more festive nature to them. By this I mean that they were related more to a specific season of the year, a festival time. Hence, it is possible to have Christmas carols as well as Eastern carols. Another difference is that carols were sung at times other than just in corporate worship; they were used at other occasions in which the sharing of their religious nature was commonly regarded as appropriate. For instance, the singing of “Silent Night” or other carol at a gathering of friends for a Christmas party.
So, yes, the religious songs of the Christmas season could be considered hymns or carols. By referring to a text as a carol just implies that it is a seasonally-oriented text and not intended for general use throughout the rest of the church year.
Which brings me to one hybrid — “Joy to the World.” While this is traditionally sung at Christmas, this hymn is actually a paraphrase of Psalm 98. Isaac Watts, the author, published it in his Psalms of David Imitated (1719) under the heading “The Messiah's Coming and Kingdom.” The paraphrase is Watts’ Christological interpretation.
Now, back to the history of “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” The text for this carol originated in the Latin. All we know of it’s author is the name, James Frances Wade, who was probably a Roman Catholic. The opening words in Latin are: Adeste fideles.
His hymn was translated by more than a couple of people with the most popular translations coming from the pen of Frederick Oakley, a graduate of Oxford. Though Oakley began his ministerial life in the Church of England, he later left it to become a priest in the Roman Church.
The tune associated exclusively with this text was formerly known as PORTUGUESE HYMN because it was often sung in the chapel of the Portuguese embassy in London. Later the opening words of the Latin were adopted as the tune’s name, ADESTE FIDELIS. It’s assumed that since the tune was found in a manuscript with the text, dated in the mid-eighteenth century, Wade both wrote the text and composed the tune. Hymnologist Paul Westermeyer notes that this tune, with the repetition of the last line, and the irregular 8.7.8.7.4.7 meter, was well known by 1744 and connected only to this text.
The text uses that word used throughout the Advent season; come. However, instead of longing for the coming of the Messiah, the word is used to implore us to come and worship the Savior. We are invited, as God’s faithful people, to go to Bethlehem and adore Christ the Lord (stanza one). The second stanza uses words borrowed from the Nicene Creed to express the Christian faith about the incarnation. Many hymnals publishes by non-liturgical denominations, omit this verse, however. Verse three exerts the angels to sing their praise. Finally, we greet Christ on his birthday (stanza four) and praise him as the Word made flesh, the opening theme of the Gospel of John.
The text has two unusual features for such a popular hymn: It is unrhymed and, technically, has an irregular meter. As a result “pickup” notes are used in verse one in two places. The refrain, of course, repeats this pattern.
Christmas is a wonderful time of the year. The birth of a Savior is big news. It is a time to be festive indeed!
