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My prayer time today resulted in singing, “O Come, O Come, Immanuel”. Perhaps an odd choice for March, but this morning I was pleading with God for deliverance for His people. In a sense, the peoples of the world are being held captive. Some are held captive by illness, some are being held captive by fear, some feel like captives in their own homes, some are held captive by the economic fallout of this virus – job loss, lost revenue, retirement savings… the list goes on and on. The lyrics as they appear in our Gray Psalter Hymnal are as follows:

O Come, O Come, Immanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

O Come, O Wisdom from on high, who ordered all things mightily; to us the path of knowledge show and teach us in its ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

O Come, O Come, great Lord of might, who to your tribes on Sinai’s height in ancient times did give the law in clouds of majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

O come, O Branch of Jesse’s stem, unto your own and rescue them! From depths of hell your people save, and give them victory o’er the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

O Come, O Key of David, come and open wide our heavenly home. Make safe for us the heavenward road and bar the way to death’s abode.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

O Come, O Bright and Morning Star, and bring us comfort from afar! Dispel the shadows of the night and turn our darkness into light.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

O Come, O King of nations, bind in one the hearts of all mankind. Bid all our sad divisions cease and be yourself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

Several of these verses are such appropriate prayers for our day, and the chorus is a great praise to sing as we hold to hope in a difficult period of our lives. Let’s pray them together:

Merciful and gracious Father, we come to you with a song in our minds and on our hearts. A song of your promised coming, a song of joy that is established in the certain hope of the return of Jesus Christ and the day when all things will be made new. We long for that day, when at last, captives are completely free. We know that Jesus paid the ransom; but God, we confess, it sometimes feels like we are captives in this world because you and your reign are not fully known to all. We confess, God, that we need your wisdom in these days; we need your law to remind us of what sin is, so that we can rejoice more than ever at what you have delivered us from. We long for more and more of your people to know about your rescue of sinners… to begin to experience your victory over the grave, as we do. We rejoice that you have made a way to your heavenly home through Jesus Christ and we do not need to fear death. So, Lord, comfort us we pray; O Bright Morning Star, shine all the brighter in this present darkness… dispel this shadow… make your mercies new again and turn this darkness into light. King of nations, unite us under your banner, reveal yourself in this hour as the one and only King of Peace! Amen.

Pastor Kevin Heeres