WEEK THREE: OH COME ALL YE FAITHFUL

The stories surrounding the carol “O Come All Ye Faithful” all seem to have a specific theme: unity. The original song was written in Latin (“Adeste Fidelis”) in the 1700s by a Catholic scribe who specialized in handwriting musical scores. It was, even in its first iteration, all about different people coming together. The composer, John Francis Wade, was an English refugee in France who wanted communities of believers to be able to sing together (hence, writing the song in Latin, which was a unifier for those speaking different languages). The text of the song itself was most likely inspired by the visit of the Magi, a story in scripture that is also about people from different cultures coming together to praise the Messiah!

But over a hundred years later, another story of unity unfolded when an Anglican minister in London named Frederick Oakeley found “Adeste Fidelis” and decided to translate it into English. Eventually, “O Come All Ye Faithful,” the song we now sing in our Christmas services, came about because another man in another country, another century, another faith tradition wanted to partner with the original composer to bring the hymn to another language and generation of people.

And that’s sort of what this song is about: when we sing “O come ALL ye faithful” we can picture everyone who believes joining together in worship and adoration of Jesus. Even radical unity is possible through our common faith in Jesus—people on opposite sides of a war, people who disagree about politics, people from different cultures and traditions and languages. We are all children of God when we believe in the gospel of Christ, and we can come together to proclaim the true meaning of Christmas to all who will hear. “O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!”