Each year it seems that we begin to hear Christmas songs earlier and earlier. Although for our family, it isn’t that unusual since my youngest son likes to listen to Christmas songs year-round. After all, why not? The birth of Jesus is certainly worth celebrating every single day. Sadly, it seems that the Christmas songs we do hear grow more and more secular, and the sacred Christmas hymns are often bypassed. This year I even noticed our local Christian station playing some secular Christmas songs.

There is another casualty in our rush to Christmas, and that is our neglect of the season of Advent. The only mention of Advent in our increasingly secular society seems to come in the form of Advent calendars which have just become a marketing ploy for cheap toys and candy. Although I recently saw a “pamper yourself” Advent calendar of cosmetics that retails for $4,000. What a mockery we’ve made of a holy time.

For Advent was designed to be a time to humble our hearts to receive the coming King. Even in Christian circles, Advent seems to be more and more overlooked. This December, I encourage you to take the time to truly celebrate Advent and become better acquainted with some rich hymns that capture the Advent spirit.

One of my favorite Advent hymns is “Savior of the Nations, Come!” Its original form is attributed to Ambrose who served as the Bishop of Milan in the 4^th century. Later, Martin Luther translated the hymn into German and set it to a different tune. Our English version follows the meter and style of Luther’s arrangement rather than the original hymn written by Ambrose.

The first verse of this hymn opens with a prayer of hopeful anticipation and expectation, “Savior of the Nations, come, Virgin’s Son, make here Thy home!” This plea mirrors the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come.” Luther explains in his Large Catechism, we pray that “thy kingdom may prevail among us.” As we sing, we are asking God, expecting God, to come to us. We ask the Savior of the Nations to come, because we know that whenever and wherever God is present, there is hope.

The first verse concludes with a proclamation of wonder and amazement, “Marvel now, O heav’n and earth, That the Lord chose such a birth.” The source of our hope is the humble birth of our Savior. The title “savior” presupposes that there is some danger from which we need to be saved. Until we understand the peril we face, we will not have a desire for the Savior to come. We ask the Savior of the Nations to come so that, as Luther again states in his explanation of the second petition, “the kingdom of the devil be put down, that he may have no right or power over us.” While we pray that the Lord would grant us godly leaders, our hope is not in those leaders. Our hope is to always remain fixed on Christ. He is the only hope for us, for the Church, and for every nation.

This hymn concludes with praises of yearning and longing to see the final fulfillment of our hope. Again, echoing the sentiment of Luther’s explanation that we will keep praying for the Kingdom of the Lord to come, “until at last it [the kingdom of the devil] shall be utterly destroyed, and sin, death, and hell shall be exterminated, that we may live forever in perfect righteousness and blessedness.” It is the certainty of our hope that enables us not to give in to despair when we look at the chaos around us. The hope of Advent drives away fear. For we know that God has everything firmly under His control and His Kingdom will come, but in His way, and at His time.

This Advent, may we look forward to the ultimate fulfillment of this hope when God’s Kingdom comes to earth, but may we also live in that hope today. May we continually pray, “Savior of the Nations, Come!” Come into our hearts, come into our schools, come into our communities, come into our churches, and come to all the nations. And may we, in faith, anticipate that we will see His Kingdom come as the Holy Spirit does His work around us, in us, and through us.