O Come All Ye Faithful
Published 9:33 am Monday, December 23, 2024
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O Come All Ye Faithful
From Michael Klaus
Senior Minister at
First Christian Church
O Come All Ye Faithful is an old hymn, and when it was written way back in 1743, I imagine many people did come to “adore Him.” This hymn is a call to worship, a gathering for the sole purpose of honoring “God in flesh appearing.” Life today is so different from what it was 280 years ago. I can only imagine what it meant to come on a cold December day to a cold stone church in the English countryside to sing about the “King of Angels” and “Christ the Lord.”
Picture this: the candles lit in the church, your gloves still on, and your children sitting beside you on the hard wooden pews, trying to stay warm. As the preacher stepped out of the pulpit and said, “Let us worship the Lord,” you stood and heard these words resound:
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!
Today, we still invite people to come. We still ask people to worship. But many do not leave their warm beds to step into their warm cars and head to a warm, well-lit church. Why? The quick answer is comfort. It’s easier to watch church in our pajamas, with a warm cup of coffee in hand.
But maybe there is a deeper reason this Christmas season. Perhaps we’ve forgotten how to truly adore the Lord. To adore means to have a deep level of respect and love for someone. We say we adore Him, but we’ve lost sight of the pure and simple act of worshiping Christ – the very centerpiece of the Christmas season.
I have to admit, I find it hard to experience a true moment of adoration and praise for Jesus when we don’t come together. The faithful must come. The faithful must gather to experience the true joy of being in Christ’s presence with His people. And if we don’t come, if the faithful do not gather, then how can we adore Him?
So I implore you: come. Come, faithful men and women. Whatever church you worship in, gather your children, gather your family, and bring them. Come so that you might once again truly adore Him.
Merry Christmas,
Michael Klaus
FCC Senior Minister
