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Hold on There...

Last night I had the joy of being at the QUB Chaplains' Carol Service where not only did the President of the MCI, Sahr Yambasu preach with his usual verve about what God being Immanuel might look like today, but also the music by groups from the Presbyterian and Catholic chaplaincies was beautiful. One piece in particular I had never heard before, apparently an Italian composition from the early 20th century (translated into English) which put the chorus of "Adeste Fideles"/"O Come all ye faithful" into a radically different setting, breathing new life into already powerful, but often overly familiar words.

This chimed with an earworm that has been with me for the past few days since Sally and I started our now customary "one album at a time" erection and decoration of our Christmas tree. The first album is invariably Phil Cunningham's peerless Christmas Songbook and the first track on it is a rendering of Chely Wright and Mindy Smith's sentimental "Santa will find you" sung by Eddi Reader. Now she could sing an electricity bill and make it seem poignant and profound and she does not disappoint here... However omnipresence of "Santa" in the original is not something I particularly want to endorse, though I recognise the context of profound loneliness at this time of year that it is written into.

So against that background, following another early morning wake up, and with last night's sermon and Italian reworking of "Adeste Fideles" echoing in my head under the duvet (accompanied by the howling winds of Storm Barra) here is a piece taking the framework of that sentimental seasonal song and offering a marginally more orthodox Christian take on it...

In the dark of the night and the depths of the winter,
And you think that you’re lost and alone;
If you're feeling that you've been completely forgotten,
Please know that you’re not on your own.
    'Cause God's there and he loves you,
    Deep as the ocean, before you were ever born.
    So hold on there because
    God’s love can reach you wherever you are
    God’s love can find you tonight.

If the spark’s been snuffed out and the reservoir’s empty
and the future is filled up with fears.
You're awake, ‘neath the duvet, and longing for daybreak
Yet dreading what dawn will reveal.
    But God's here and he loves you,
    As wide as the cosmos, stronger than fire forged steel.
    Hold on there because
    God’s love can reach you wherever you are
    God’s love can grasp you tonight.

So whatever the time and no matter the season
Hear the good news that Christ came to bring:
'Cause Immanuel means that God is still with us
Even where there’s no angels to sing.
    For God's there in the darkness,
    His love like a beacon, bright as that Beth’lem star.
    Hold on there because
    God’s love will reach you wherever you are
    God’s love surrounds you tonight.

Hold on there because
God’s love can reach you wherever you are
God’s love surrounds you tonight.

Shalom
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