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June 2001 Table of Contents
Musical Insight
Jesus, Our Emmanuel
By Marty Parks
Why do we sing "Come into His presence...", when God is always with us?
I've come to believe that for worshipers today, this phrase has more to do with our realization of God's presence than it does with some physical activity on our part. It really has to do with living Coram Deo, in the presence of God ... a daily determination to become sensitized to God all around us.
The practice of the presence of God, as Brother Lawrence would state it, involves our realization that we're constantly under his gaze, aware of his sovereignty and submitted to his authority. It's a lifestyle, before the face of God, that allows our worship to become a response to God's saving deeds on our behalf. Our day to day actions become our "reasonable service" and our "spiritual act of worship".
I love the visual imagery and the progression of events we see in key scripture passages like Isaiah 6 and Psalm 100. Both make good models for worship today chiefly because both are initiated by an encounter with God. Neither assumes any wrongheaded notion about who God is and what we are. Both passages put him in his place, so to speak, and that realization opens us up to practicing his presence; living Coram Deo.
God has always desired fellowship with us. When he instructed Moses to build the tabernacle in the wilderness, he did so with careful instructions as to its design. That was where he would meet with them, he said. And all throughout the desert wanderings of Israel, the tabernacle went with them. The Most Holy Place was re-assembled each time the Tent of Meeting went up, and God would make his presence known to the High Priest.
Centuries later, as John records, "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). Literally, the Greek word indicates that he [Jesus, the Word] tabernacled or pitched his tent in our midst. And in his last writings to us, this same apostle records the words spoken in a loud voice from the throne of God - "Now the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will live with them" (Revelation 21:3).
God has always desired fellowship with us.
As I began to write a new Christmas work for this year, my thought process stemmed from some amazing discoveries we were making in my own church fellowship - mainly that God is with us, we don't even have to invite him, but we probably should acknowledge his presence among us! As I developed this concept, a simple little worship song came to me:
Jesus, our Emmanuel,
Jesus, our Emmanuel;
We need Your presence more than we could ever tell-
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
And that was just what I needed to get started. My friends at Lillenas Publishing Company agreed to let me include several new, original songs for this musical and, together with some familiar carols, the reality of God's presence among us then and now became fresh and invigorating to me as I wrote, arranged and orchestrated. Choral settings (of medium difficulty!), opportunities for praise team and soloists, congregational involvement, accompaniment for keyboard or orchestra, a script for two narrators - all these elements seemed to find a natural place in what I hope has turned out to be a heart-felt and meaningful expression.
In JESUS, OUR EMMANUEL we celebrate the full extent of God's presence among us...his own incarnation in Jesus. Through the centuries God had spoken to his people and made himself known in a number of ways. Sometimes his voice was quiet and still. Sometimes he moved with tremendous power. Finally, he spoke and moved in a way we could never have imagined-the Word became flesh.
My desire for you is that during this next Christmas season you will again experience for yourself the presence of the Almighty, that your eyes will be opened to the indescribable love of the Father, that your deepest longing will be filled...your longing for God himself.
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