O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (stanza 1)

 This is Advent Sunday, the first Sunday in Advent. Advent is the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas and observed by some Christians as a season of prayer and fasting. This week I am posting all seven stanzas of the ninth-century Latin hymn "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," translated by John Mason Neale (1818-1866), one stanza per diem. Here is stanza 1 of that Christian hymn for Advent and Christmas. The official lyric video of Enya singing "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" in both English and Latin follows the stanza. Tomorrow I will post stanza 2.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel,

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear.

          Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

          Shall come to thee, O Israel.

The Power of the Gospel

From the Bible: Romans 1:16-17

(Good News Translation)

Paul wrote:

I have complete confidence in the gospel; it is God's power to save all who believe, first the Jews and also the Gentiles. For the gospel reveals how God puts people right with himself: it is through faith from beginning to end. As the scripture says, "The person who is put right with God through faith shall live."

Quoted in the June/July 1986 issue of the

American Bible Society Record

To read an article about Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), click here.