The words are by far the most familiar of our Advent hymns.

“O come, O come, Emmanuel\and ransom captive Israel\that mourns in lowly exile here\until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel\shall come to you, O Israel.”

As familiar as these words are, their meaning is sometimes lost or never known at all. Why these words? What do they mean? Perhaps a little story can help us understand.

The time was long ago. Young Josh was confused. He had heard all the stories about how his people had been mighty and powerful when they ruled their own land far away. He was familiar with the stories about the mighty kings, Saul and David and Solomon.

Josh had heard all about how beautiful the temple was that was built in Jerusalem, his family's home city. He knew that God had chosen his people as a special people and that God still had a wonderful purpose for them.

But things were strange now. The only life that Josh had ever known was as a foreigner in someone else's land. Living in Babylon was tough because life there for Josh and his family — and all of their people — was a life of captivity. They were being forced to live there against their will and were watched as prisoners, making it impossible to return to their own country.

“But don't give up hope,” the prophet kept saying. “Remember, you are the children of Abraham. You are God's chosen people. God will not leave you here in exile. He will call you back to your rightful home.”

Then the prophet would always continue, “The Lord God Almighty will raise up for you a Messiah, the very Son of God, who will come and rescue and save you from your horrible peril. And never forget, God is Emmanuel, which means literally `God is with us!' He is with us even here in this far country.”

Josh and his people believed that the prophet spoke the very words and true promise of God. They wrote prayers and songs and cried out to God to come and save them, which he did eventually.

These prayers and songs and the crying out for God to come and save are the background and setting for our familiar hymn. The music we use comes much later, but even it dates all the way back to the 15th century.

The first lines are a yearning call by people in exile, people scattered from all they know as security and home. Out on the plains of Babylon the haunting melody cries out the plea, “O come, O come, Emmanuel! And ransom [verb] captive [adjective] Israel [God's people now in exile], who are weary and mournful in their separation as they wait for God's Son to appear.”

But the refrain of the hymn is the answer to each call for help! The refrain is the hopeful, promising, and confident answer. For each time the plea is made for God to come, the assurance is proclaimed. The people are called from sorrow into joy because of the wonderful and sure promise of God. “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come [notice the sentence structure which gives the correct meaning] to you, O Israel.!”

So, as Martin Luther would ask, “What does this mean for us?” (This is the question Luther repeats over and over in his doctrinal instructions in “The Catechism.” For he believed nothing of the faith is left in the long ago and far away.)

So, “What does this mean for us?” Here's what it means for us: In Advent we ponder our own condition of “exile,” our own separation from that which could make us whole.

Our cry, too, is for Emmanuel, “God with us”, to come to us. He is the only one who can restore our completeness. He is the only one who can “bring us home.” And to our pleas, as well, comes the good news of hope. To our ears and hearts and lives God's promise comes, “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you!”

And so he has.

And so he does.

And so he shall.

In that hope. In that joy. I wish you and your family “a very merry Christmas.”

The Rev. Justin Kollmeyer is senior pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church on Ga. Highway 314 in Fayetteville. He invites all who may seek a Christmas Eve service to join him and his church in a candlelight Communion service at 5, 7, 9, or 11 p.m.

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