Advent Candles

As part of my master’s thesis at Regent College, I wrote a Good Friday hymn cycle based on the Seven Last Words of Christ. In the years since, I’ve written a song or two for Easter musicals, but I’ve not written any more congregational hymns. This year, my family and I began attending a new church with a strong hymn tradition, and the idea for a new hymn formed.

As with several of my Good Friday hymns, the tune inspired the lyrics. My friend Tom Trevethan introduced me to the hymn “We Rest of Thee” several years ago, and his love for the hymn and its history became my own. I later learned that the hymn had a strong connection to InterVarsity, in addition to being the hymn sung by the missionary Jim Eliot and his companions shortly before their deaths. Even though I previously had little knowledge of the hymn, after I heard Tom speak so movingly about it, I often found myself tearing up whenever I had the opportunity to sing it.

The tune is “Finlandia,” adapted from Jean Sibelius’s symphonic poem. The melody is beautiful, though one with its own challenges for lyrics. Each line is relatively long by hymn standards (10 or 11 syllables), and the 1st, 3rd, and 5th lines end with a rising motif that doesn’t fit all words. In the words, I tried to bring together several different images and themes from traditional Advent readings and things that Jesus said about his Second Coming. Many thanks to Anthony Palm for arranging and conducting the hymn for the church, as well as making some good suggestions about word choice, to the Hebron Lutheran Church Choir for singing it this morning, and to Pastor Dave Shockey for giving me this opportunity.

I hope this hymn will be a blessing to you this Advent.

We Wait and Watch

1. 
We wait and watch for our Lord Christ’s returning;
  We stand alert, like watchmen on the wall. 
We feel him near, our hearts within us burning,
  At any hour, prepared to give our all. 
We wait and watch; our hope is in his hand. 
Soon we will see, and all will understand. 

2. 
We wait and watch, like virgins did by twilight. 
  Five filled their lamps, the others left theirs dry.
Their drowsiness laid claim to all their might;
  Their eyes fell closed, until they heard the cry.  
The wisest five also rose at once to follow;
Those unprepared were left behind in woe. 

3. 
None know the hour the Father has appointed.
  Christ will appear as sudden as a thief,
Riding on clouds, revealed as God’s anointed:
  Soon he will come, confirming our belief. 
None know the hour; no one will know the day. 
We wait and watch, and in our hope we pray. 

4. 
Come quickly, Lord; your reign endures forever.
  Our Father’s will, be done upon the earth, 
The lion and lamb lay down in peace together,
  And New Jerusalem be given birth. 
We wait and watch for the whole world restored,
When every heart proclaims you as the Lord.