Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King, on this last Sunday of the liturgical year. We sang this in church today -
At the Name of Jesus
'tis the Father's pleasure we should call him Lord,
who from the beginning was the mighty Word.
At his voice creation sprang at once to sight,
all the angel faces, all the hosts of light,
cherubim in heaven, stars upon their way,
all the heav'nly orders in their great array.
Humbled for a season to receive a name
from the lips of sinners unto whom he came,
faithfully he bore it, spotless to the last,
brought it back victorious when from death he passed;
Bore it up triumphant with its human light,
thro' all ranks of creatures to the central height,
to the throne of Godhead, to the Father's breast,
filled it with the glory of that perfect rest.
In your hearts enthrone him; there let him subdue
all that is not holy, all that is not true;
crown him as your captain in temptation's hour;
let his will enfold you in its light and pow'r.
Christians, this Lord Jesus shall return again
in his Father's glory with his angel train;
for all wreaths of empire meet upon his brow,
and our hearts confess him King of glory now.
- music by Ralph Vaughn Williams
online photo from St. George Episcopal Church, New York
Advent begins next Sunday - it is a time of preparation for Christmas. The church year follows the life of Christ; Advent, the time of waiting before his birth, begins the year in the same way that our lives begin at our conception, and those who wait for us to be born are busy preparing for us.
*I tried to link a choir singing the hymn, but youtube doesn't seem to allow it anymore.
I love that hymn, and the tune pops into my mind immediately -- at least, A tune... even though it wasn't sung much in any of the churches that I've ever been in.
ReplyDeleteGretchen Joanna
Same here, Gretchen. I know the melody was somewhat familiar, but we rarely sing it at church.
DeleteHere I am at last, Lisa! I have just read a month's posts and am now up-to-date with your blog. I now have a new lap-top which doesn't take an hour to warm up and a new mouse which doesn't turn itself off every few minutes. I became so frustrated and angry with using my laptop I gave up and read books and knitted instead! I can't seem to be able to use my phone to do anything as complicated as commenting on posts.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't sing 'At the Name of Jesus' on Sunday but sang three other excellent and cheerful 'King' hymns which made a nice antidote to all the sad hymns last week for Remembrance Sunday. I know two different tunes for At the Name of Jesus; I wonder which one you tried to link to? What a pity Youtube won't let you do it any more. I cannot believe we are so close to Advent again! Where has the year gone to? <3
Clare Pooley, welcome back! :D I imagined the worst, of course. A new laptop sure makes a difference, since I got a new one just a few months ago. I hope your knitting will come in handy at Christmas-time! The hymn version I tried to link to was one sung by the Cardiff Festival Choir, and there was a profile of Vaughn Williams on the screen.
DeleteThe knitting will come in useful as a thing to calm myself with after a frantic day or as something to warm my hands on a cold day. I have just begun a rather complicated pattern for a jacket in butterfly stitch with moss stitch (I think you call it seed stitch) edges which will take me some months to complete. The stitches are easy to do but I have to keep my wits about me because of all the counting and the increases and decreases. I have just listened to 'At the Name...' and that is a new tune to me though I know the place the tune was named after - 'King's Weston' - a grand house near Bristol. The two tunes we use in church are called 'Camberwell' (a district in South London) and 'Evelyns' both of which can be found on Youtube, if you're interested. :D
DeleteI had to look up butterfly stitch - it's beautiful!! As for seed and moss, I thought they were very similar, but not quite the same https://theknittingspace.com/seed-stitch-vs-moss-stitch/ it seems that the terms are interchangeable in your country. Either way, I've always liked the effect, but so much back-and-forthing commands the attention, I agree. I will look up those melodies on youtube. :)
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