Advent is the season of watching and waiting, but it is also, as the days draw nearer to Christmas, a time of hastening. There are lists of people to write to, presents to think up, to get or make, to wrap and have delivered. Nor is it just the business of getting and giving. There is also a spiritual urgency, our eagerness for the Lord's coming. “Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ,” goes the collect for the first Sunday of Advent.
And, in the space between our secular and liturgical hurrying, there are carols—many of which immortalize the haste of the Christmas season. “Shepherds come a-running into Bethlehem,” begins a Polish number with a jaunty tune. “There's a star in the east on Christmas morn, rise up shepherd and follow,” urges an old spiritual. And the lovely French carol calls out, “Bring a torch, Jeanette, Isabella! Bring a torch and quickly run. Come and see the lovely Jesus.”
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