The focus of Advent II is on peace and preparation. If we’re taking them together, I interpret that as meaning stepping away from whatever mishegoss is going on (seasonal or otherwise) and considering how to welcome the redeemer. Or the baby. Or maybe it’s about opening oneself to the spirit of peace.
I mean—given current world
events, peace seems like a stretch, so perhaps we need to prepare for it, take
action to bring it about, to make our particular corner of the world more
peaceful.
So today’s Advent piece is “Wachet
auf, ruft uns die Stimme”. In the past I’ve given you the Bach
cantata of this, but the original hymn predates Bach by 125 years. It was
written by Philipp Nicolai, in 1598, during a time of plague in his hometown
(Unna, in what was then Westphalia, now Germany). It draws on the parable of
the 10 virgins and is thus a warning to, well, basically, to not sleep on the
job.
In the parable, all 10 virgins
went out with their lamps to greet the bridegroom. Five were foolish and brought
no oil for their lamps; the other five—the wise ones—did. The bridegroom was
late and they all fell asleep waiting. When he finally arrived, the cry of “Behold!
The bridegroom cometh” sang out, the foolish women asked the wise ones for oil
for their lamps. They were denied and told to go find someone who sells oil.
While they were gone, the bridegroom arrived and all who were there went in
with him to the marriage feast and the door shut. When the foolish virgins
arrived, they were not allowed in.
The moral of this is not, as
you might think, cut your friends some slack, but to always be on the
watch, for you don’t know the day or the hour when the Son of Man will come.
Ergo: be prepared.
The title translates to “Awake!
The voice calls to us”; the lyrics enjoin us to take up our lamps to welcome
the Christ. This version is by the Toronto Chamber Choir, recorded two years
ago in another time of plague.
May all who are in need of
peace be prepared to welcome it wherever it may be found.
No comments:
Post a Comment