Longing for Home – My Hymn for Advent, Free for Your Church to Use

I’ve spent a lot of time the past few years pondering the biblical theme of exile and the consequent longing in our hearts to go home.

So I decided to put those thoughts into a song.

The story starts in the Garden, the original temple. Where God and humanity dwelt together in harmony. Where our first parents reflected God’s presence as priests and mediated God’s rule as vice-regents.

But that Edenic state did not last long.

And the theme of exile began.

Throughout the pages of the Hebrew Bible we find people on the move, looking for a place where they can settle and live under God’s smile.

They were looking for home.

But every time it seemed the search was over, something happened that reminded God’s people of their exilic state. A famine that drove them to Egypt. Philistine raiders who captured their cities. Internal division that split the kingdom.

And ultimately a superpower king who sent them to Babylon.

We hear the echoes of exile in the Psalms, none more so than in Psalm 137 in which the people sit and weep by the rivers of Babylon.

“How can we sing the songs of the Lord,” they ask, “while in a foreign land?”

The theme of exile carries into the New Testament where the apostles remind followers of Jesus that we too are foreigners and strangers in this world, exiles longing for home.

What’s remarkable about this description is that it appears after the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the One in whom all God’s promises have been fulfilled.

One might have thought that Jesus’ coming is the end of our exile, but no. He has opened the way, he himself is the Way. And yet we await the consummation of all things.

We are still longing for home.

That’s why Christians find comfort when they envision themselves soaring to heaven when they die. As the apostle Paul puts it, “To be away from the body” means we will “be present with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:6–9).

It’s a glorious truth, but even this hope is not the end of the story.

Even heaven isn’t our final home.

In the two climactic final chapters of the Bible, what do we see?

Not the destruction of the physical world and our disembodied souls enjoying an endless spiritual existence.

No, we see heaven come down to earth.

We see God dwell with us.

We see Eden restored, as a city this time, not a garden.

But Eden all the same.

When the human race fell into sin, God set an angel with flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life.

When all things are made new, God will open Eden once again.

This is what we long for during the Advent season. For Jesus to recreate all things. For Jesus to reopen Eden.

For Jesus to make this world our home.

Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

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Here’s the song I wrote.

I intended this to be a simple Advent hymn that gives voice to our lament, that testifies to this season of waiting. Waiting for our exile to end.

Longing for home.

The lyrics unite our voices with generations of God’s people who have waited in faith for the Lord to bring all his promises to pass.

You can download a pdf of the lead sheet here.

I know some of you are not musicians and you’d like to know how it goes. Kimberly graciously agreed to create a demo of the song that you can listen to here. (Please note that this mp3 is for demo purposes only. Please ask for permission to use it otherwise.)

Here are the lyrics:

-1-
We sat and wept outside the Garden
long banished from our Eden home.
We chose to rule as kings not princes,
to be like God, live on our own.

“Restore us, Lord, from this long exile,
a hell we carry everywhere.
Reverse the curse you laid upon us.
It is too much for us to bear.”

-2-
We sat and wept beside the river
and longed for home, Jerusalem.
How can we sing the songs of Zion
as exiles in a foreign land?

“Have mercy, Lord, upon your people.
Our sins surround us like a flood.
Recall your promise of forgiveness,
and bring your captive children home.”

-Bridge-
He heard our prayer, restored our land
and still the curse remained,
until the day when he appeared,
when God became a man.

He wept with us, he walked with us,
the Way, the Truth, the Life.
Then to our disbelieving eyes
we watched our Savior die.

-3-
We sat and wept as Jesus suffered,
accursed for us upon a tree.
Then Jesus rose, the tomb is empty,
the Savior lives, and we are free.

“Return, O Lord, and reign forever.
Bring our long exile to an end.
We wait for you to open Eden
and make this world our home again.”

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I’d love to hear your thoughts about the song!

(Or anything else, for that matter!)

Drop a comment below, or fill out the form to the right so you can send me an email directly.