A Song for Christmas

Listen to "Emmanuel at Last," a song for Christmas

Christmas is coming! I hope you are wrapped in joyous expectation. I’ve got two young kids, so there is more joyous expectation than we know what to do with :)

Of all the things that God could become to seek our desire and attention, it’s amazing that God becomes a baby, Emmanuel, God-with-us. When God shows up to fulfill a promise to his people, it’s messy and vulnerable, embodied and real.

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Emmanuel at Last

The Shepherd became a lamb
A stranger in this land
He became one of us

The nest became the bird
The spoken Word was finally heard
For the sake of love
All for the sake of love

I see the future in reach
For all of us who want to believe
This mess of things
He came for all of us
The promise of the past
Emmanuel at last

Joy came to the world 
In the body of a virgin girl
Mother to all of us
Mother to all of us

I see the future in reach
For all of us who want to believe
This mess of things
He came for all of us
The promise of the past
Emmanuel at last

The Word became a baby
With its cheek pressed on my chest
To show us we are worthy
Of this closeness

I see the future in reach
For all of us who want to believe
This mess of things
He came for all of us
The promise of the past
Emmanuel at last

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Credits:
Music & lyrics by Allie Levanway
Mixed by Meg Settle
Mastered by Edsel Holden
Allie Levanway: baritone ukelele, voice, wurly, organ
John Mark Painter: guitars, bass, accordion, drums

"Real love and real affection are not distant disembodied realities. When we think of love and of the movements of our hearts, we do not think of abstract principles but of embraces, the warmth of bodies, the comforting meal, rocking the baby to sleep. Love is not some set of legal procedures: love is the infant pressing itself against its mother to hear her heartbeat again. Love is not some general sense of goodwill: love is the anguished cry in the hospital room in the night when we find ourselves powerless. " 
- Will Levanway, Christmas Eve sermon at Christ Church Episcopal, 2021

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Merry Christmas, friends! Evensong will come on Sunday for your Christmas Eve festivities. Thank you for listening!

Love, Allie