Advent 2: Dear Desire of Every Nation
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
Ososo (Come Now, O Prince of Peace)

INVITATION TO DEEPER LISTENING:

The setting of Ososo below was created by First-Plymouth Church in Lincoln, Nebraska in October 2020. They are a UCC congregation with a sizable music ministry that has had to find ways to adapt practices of congregational singing to online worship within this global pandemic. I invite you to use the video to familiarize yourself with the tune and text, as well as create a devotional space that welcomes embodied prayer.

You can find the sheet music here but I invite you to first experience the piece without music.

  1. Watch the video of Ososo below and notice the space it creates within you. What are your ears and eyes drawn to? What do you feel as you listen? Are there images, colors, or movements it inspires?

  2. Read Psalm 85, the Lectionary psalm for this week. How is the energy of this song shaping what you hear in scripture? Are there words or phrases in the psalm you are drawn to? Are there words or phrases that resonate with the hymn? Speak them aloud and hold them in a space of prayer.

  3. Finally, watch the video again and mirror the prayer gestures the singers offer. You are welcome to do it seated or standing. What do you notice in this experience? How has your relationship with the song changed? How does it feel to pray with your body?

  • Here is another contemporary, bilingual setting by Proskuneo Ministries, a multi-cultural music ministry that is committed to worshipping in ways that celebrate cultural, linguistic, and musical diversity.

  • Finally, I offer a bilingual setting of Ososo woven into a litany of confession from Prayers Encircling the World, An International Anthology. The Korean text is sung by The Rev. Peter Bae, a former international student at Eden Theological Seminary who helped our choir learn the song several years ago. I am grateful for his voice and for the gentle, deeply thoughtful spirit he brings to his ministry.

FURTHER READING:

After early studies in Korea followed by training in Germany, composer Geonyong Lee (b. 1947) returned home to challenge the modernism which dominated Korean composition in the early 1980s. He founded a composer’s group called The Third Generation and has devoted his efforts toward creating music that honors the musical and cultural identity of Korea. This reversed a trend from the previous generation of composers who tried to emulate Western theory and practices in an attempt to overcome what they viewed as the musical “backwardness” of Korea.

Dr. Michael Hawn offers an excellent blog post about Ososo, with more information about the composer and what inspired the creation of a hymn that, in very short time, has found its way into hymnals around the world.

And if you’d like to deepen your knowledge of hymns from Global Ecumenical sources, as well as hear stories from composers of sacred song in other countries, take a moment to read another worthy blog post by Dr. Hawn, Can Songs Bring Reconciliation?