Believe it or not, this actually started as a little melody that leaped to mind during a walk of the dog in the cold and snow of early December. This one took a lot of work to make into a piece of music! The refrain was relatively easy; the stanza melody was a little harder, and putting the syncopated accompaniment in place took a lot of time. And you have to remember: the working title was "Dog Walking Song"! The lyrics came later -- and they were the killer. But it was worth it!
As I say, the lyrics -- especially the stanzas -- took time. You will notice (I hope) the parallels between St. 1 and St. 2. They point to the effect of the coming Messiah, both the ending of what is wrong and the righting of that wrong. I didn't notice till I was almost done with these, but the verses are incredibly parallel or inverse ("Death will dissolve" vs. "Peace will endure"). I don't know how this came about. I'm not usually that poetic.
But Stanza 3 is, I think, the purpose of the whole number. Usually we talk about Advent and Christ's return with fear and terror: the whole "Late Great Planet Earth" terror. This isn't what Jesus says! "When you see these things," he says in Mark 13, "lift up your heads, for your redemption is at hand." Stanza 3 is a near-quote. Nothing terrifying here, unless you are traumatized by joy.
One last exegetical note: Some people have told me that they can't tell if I wrote a song about the coming of the Messiah to Israel (the "First" coming) or the return of Christ to us (the "Second" coming). Exactly! From the start that was my intent. Advent is not just looking forward to Christmas, but to Christ's Advent once again. I hope this song expresses both the past and the future hope.
This song premiered in December of 2000. The Creighton Youth Fellowship wanted to sing a song for worship. I was thinking that we could sing a more familiar, but more contemporary, piece... and then this one pushed its way in. We used wood blocks and bolts for our rhythm band; I didn't have my equipment yet, so there isn't yet a rhythm line in the score.
We've also used this for congregational singing, and it does work well.