What is your favoourite Advent hymn, and why?

[Seeler]

Richard Bott has this beautiful commentary on 'O Come,o come Emmanuel' on FaceBook. I hope he doesn't mind my sharing it here. Love the hymn, love his commentary.

Richard Bott
7 hrs ·
O come, o come Emmanuel
(for, once again, we need your Word)
and ransom captive Israel
(and Palestine, and Syria, and America, and...)
that mourns in lowly exile here
(and every refugee that is fleeing,
crushed between war and an indifferent world)
until the Son of God appear
(in the crowds of Standing Rock,
in the children taken by Boko Haram,
in the man crumpled by the station doors,
dying of a fentanyl overdose,
unnoticed by passers-by.)

Rejoice!
(O God, how long...)
Rejoice!
(how long will your face be hidden?)
Emmanuel shall come to thee
(Help us to see your love, your grace, lived - now!)
O Israel
(in our words, our actions,
in our living and our dying,
in your Church catholic,
in every day to come.)

 

[crazyheart]

(aside) Richard Bott is so talented.

My favorite Advent hymn is Hope is a Star. It gives me hope in Richard's world.

 

[Carolla]

(aside) Richard Bott is so talented.

My favorite Advent hymn is Hope is a Star. It gives me hope in Richard's world.

I LOVE Hope is a Star too!

 

[GordW]

My long-time favourite (as in since I was a child) is "Tomorrow Christ is Coming" which was in THe Hymn Book (#401??) and is in Vices United (#27). SOme would find it a dark hymn for advent, but that is part of the appeal for me. It is set to a tune in a minor key, which some musicians I have known have chosen to change (either because the tune is unfamiliar r because they don't like minor keys in advent) which adds to the melancholy hopefulness of the text:
http://www.hymnary.org/text/tomorrow_christ_is_coming

A newer favourite is "People Look East" (#9 in Voices United). Though I am told it is a bear to play because of its speed.

THere are also some very nice Mary hymns in Voices United

 

[Mendalla]

I would love to see this hymn book someday, @GordW

Vices United

 

[You just never know]

I like "We Three Kings" since this was the hymn we really messed about with the words as kids. I always giggle when singing this hymn as it conjures up the exploding cigars and reminds me of the kids I went to church with in the 1960's.

 

[Mendalla]

I like "We Three Kings" since this was the hymn we really messed about with the words as kids. I always giggle when singing this hymn as it conjures up the exploding cigars and reminds me of the kids I went to church with in the 1960's.

Ah, but that is an Epiphany or something hymn, is it not?

I know the version you mean, though. It survived into at least the eighties.

We three kings of Orient are
Trying to smoke a rubber cigar
It was loaded
And exploded
Now we are on yonder star.

Or something like that.

 

[Jaebius]

Ah, but that is an Epiphany or something hymn, is it not?

I know the version you mean, though. It survived into at least the eighties.

We three kings of Orient are
Trying to smoke a rubber cigar
It was loaded
And exploded
Now we are on yonder star.

Or something like that.

We used to sing, "Boom! Now we're all on Mars" as the last line.

Anyway, yes, We Three Kings is traditionally an Epiphany hymn.

 

[Seeler]

My long-time favourite (as in since I was a child) is "Tomorrow Christ is Coming" which was in THe Hymn Book (#401??) and is in Vices United (#27). SOme would find it a dark hymn for advent, but that is part of the appeal for me. It is set to a tune in a minor key, which some musicians I have known have chosen to change (either because the tune is unfamiliar r because they don't like minor keys in advent) which adds to the melancholy hopefulness of the text:
http://www.hymnary.org/text/tomorrow_christ_is_coming

A newer favourite is "People Look East" (#9 in Voices United). Though I am told it is a bear to play because of its speed.

THere are also some very nice Mary hymns in Voices United

I too love 'Tomorrow Christ is Coming". I find the lyrics meaningful and the tune matches the mood. I request it whenever possible, but most people are not familiar with it and prefer more cheeerful familiar hymns.
I also like the upbeat "People Look East" especially with some deep male voices doing their parts in the chorus.

 

[Jaebius]

Hope is a Star that Shines in the Night

 

[revsdd]

There are a lot of very nice Advent hymns in Voices United.

Of the really well known ones, I'm a fan of "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus," although VU has it to the tune of Stuttgart, and I prefer it to Hyfrydol.

Among others I have a number I really like.
Hope Is A Star
To A Maid Whose Name Was Mary
There's A Voice In The Wilderness
On Jordan's Bank

I like to point out to people that "Joy To The World" is really more of an Advent hymn than a Christmas carol. Not a single reference to Christ's birth, and as I understand it Isaac Watts was thinking of the "Second Coming" when he wrote it.

Just for balance, my least favourite Advent hymn is probably "Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming." I get the meaning of the hymn, but to me it's almost unsingable.

 

[Mendalla]

Just for balance, my least favourite Advent hymn is probably "Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming." I get the meaning of the hymn, but to me it's almost unsingable.

I've usually heard it as an anthem or solo, rarely for congregational singing, likely for the very reason you say. It's not an easy song for an untrained singer.

 

[Waterfall]

O come O come Emanuel
City of God

 

[paradox3]

O Come, O Come Emmanuel is my very favourite. The first version I encountered was Peter, Paul and Mary's.

 

[GordW]

There are a lot of very nice Advent hymns in Voices United.

Of the really well known ones, I'm a fan of "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus," although VU has it to the tune of Stuttgart, and I prefer it to Hyfrydol.

Among others I have a number I really like.
Hope Is A Star
To A Maid Whose Name Was Mary
There's A Voice In The Wilderness
On Jordan's Bank

I like to point out to people that "Joy To The World" is really more of an Advent hymn than a Christmas carol. Not a single reference to Christ's birth, and as I understand it Isaac Watts was thinking of the "Second Coming" when he wrote it.

Just for balance, my least favourite Advent hymn is probably "Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming." I get the meaning of the hymn, but to me it's almost unsingable.

I was told that Joy to the WOrld was originally written for Easter...where it also fits better than Christmas, though the eschatological piece fits with the REturn of Christ and the coming of the Kingdom (aka eschaton)

 

[crazyheart]

Is City of God in the catholic hymn book @Waterfall or

am I thinking of another one.

 

[Jaebius]

Checking the old, "The Hymnal for Worship & Celebration," used at my former Baptist church long ago, I see there are but 4 hymns designated in it for Advent...

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
Joy to the World!
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Of the Father's Love Begotten

 

[Mendalla]

Checking the old, "The Hymnal for Worship & Celebration," used at my former Baptist church long ago, I see there are but 4 hymns designated in it for Advent...

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
Joy to the World!
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Of the Father's Love Begotten

I know 3 of the 4. Only the last one wasn't sung in my family church.

 

[Jaebius]

I know 3 of the 4. Only the last one wasn't sung in my family church.

Of the Father's love begotten,
Ere the worlds began to be.
He is Alpha and Omega,
He the Source,
The Ending He,
Of the things that are,
That have been,
And that future years shall see,
Evermore and evermore!

( I see, looking in the book again, that I missed a few hymns - O Thou Joyful, O Thou Wonderful, The Advent of our God; The Word Made Flesh.)

 

[BetteTheRed]

And we now see why the latter was sung in no United Church in the last half century or two. Father, He, He, He...