“O worship the King” - Hanover.
“Lift up your heads to the coming King”.
“Lo! he comes with clouds descending” - Helmsley.
“Lord, your Church on earth is seeking” - Everton.
“The King shall come when morning dawns” - Richmond.
“... “Lo! he comes with clouds descending” - Helmsley ...
Aren't you a bit previous? That one's for next week!
At St Pete's, I'm sad to report that we had the Wrong Collect, i.e. not
Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
However, we did sing reasonably lustily (despite the lack of skill/practice on the part of the organist) the following:
All glory, laud and honour - St Theodulph Alleluia, alleluia, hearts to heaven - Lux Eoi* Jesus is Lord - Jesus is Lord The King of Love my shepherd is Dominus Regit Me Crown him with many crowns - Diademata
*tune by Sullivan, which is so Sullivanesque it makes you want to sing "taran-tara" or "yes, yes" at the end of each line ...
“... “Lo! he comes with clouds descending” - Helmsley ...
Aren't you a bit previous? That one's for next week!
Problem is, the lectionary readings for several weeks running have been about Jesus' return; today's, from Matthew 25, began: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him ...".
Maybe They are trying to get Advent to start earlier?
St Ansgar, Uppsala, had Matthew 25 as the Gospel reading today, which the Church of Sweden calls Judgement (or Doom!) Sunday and Christ the King Sunday. The priest in his homily pointed out that the day could be regarded from both perspectives - Christ as both Judge and King.
Even the old BCP Collect which @Piglet missed today refers to *being rewarded*, so there must have been a thought of some sort of judgement in Cranmer's mind.
The priest in his homily pointed out that the day could be regarded from both perspectives - Christ as both Judge and King.
That's how we took it, although the greatest emphasis was placed on doing the works of mercy by which we shall be judged (and which, of course, are' good' in their own right).
The priest in his homily pointed out that the day could be regarded from both perspectives - Christ as both Judge and King.
That's how we took it, although the greatest emphasis was placed on doing the works of mercy by which we shall be judged (and which, of course, are' good' in their own right).
I expect the chap I was listening to did much the same, but he usually preaches fairly long homilies, and my understanding of Swedish is so minimal that I couldn't keep up for more than the first few minutes!
The entrance hymn at that service was the Swedish version of Wake, O wake with tidings thrilling, to the tune Wachet Auf by Bach (of course - this is a Lutheran church).
All hail the power of Jesus' Name! (Coronation)
Christ is the King! O friends upraise (Christus Rex)
Lord of the ages evermore (Wareham)
Crown him with many crowns (Diademata)
Choral:
Mozart: Missa in C Major (in honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis), K. 167
Luciano Migliavacca: Jesu Rex admirabilis
John Ireland: Te Deum laudamus in F
Christ the King for us too. At first glance, the hymns weren’t the ones I might expect for the day, but in the context of the service as it played on out, they fit. (Though the last hymn may have been as much a nod to Thanksgiving a few days ago.) We had:
“Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”/HYMN TO JOY
“I’ve Got Peace Like a River”
“Give Thanks for Those Whose Faith Is Firm”/REPTON
“God, You Made All Things for Singing/UNION SEMINARY
“Let All Things Now Living”/ASH GROVE
Hills Of The North, Rejoice (Little Cornard)
O For a Closer Walk With God (didn't get which tune was used)
Every Promise of the Lord (Getty/Townend)
Great is thy Faithfulness (Faithfulness)
OK, so this is the thing. We have two carol services scheduled for 17th December. Because of the setup involved we don't have a main morning service on that day. In order to have four Advent services in the morning, we started a week early.
We celebrated Christ the King and included some real belters;-
All hail the power of Jesus' name! (Sadly not to Diadem but to Miles Lane)
Sing we the King who is coming to reign (Glory Song ... one of my all time favourite tunes)
Christ is the King! O friends rejoice
Meekness and Majesty
Hail Redeemer, King divine! (this one wasn't in any of our hymn books, and sadly we (in the choir) had no sheet music, but we soon recalled it from a previous occasion ..... Google tells me its only in Catholic hymnals, but its a great hymn with a good tune)
We celebrated Christ the King and included some real belters;-
All hail the power of Jesus' name! (Sadly not to Diadem but to Miles Lane)
Sing we the King who is coming to reign (Glory Song ... one of my all time favourite tunes)
Yes, I prefer "Diadem". After "Songs of Praise" today we watched (last Sunday's) edition of the Welsh hymn-singing programme "Dechrau Canu" and they had "All hail" in Welsh.
We sang "Sing we the king" a fortnight ago, to finish with. As you may recall, it was written by Sylvester Horne - Ipswich MP and father of the broadcaster Kenneth Horne. The tune was originally written for "The Glory Song".
Maybe They are trying to get Advent to start earlier?
St Ansgar, Uppsala, had Matthew 25 as the Gospel reading today, which the Church of Sweden calls Judgement (or Doom!) Sunday and Christ the King Sunday. The priest in his homily pointed out that the day could be regarded from both perspectives - Christ as both Judge and King.
Even the old BCP Collect which @Piglet missed today refers to *being rewarded*, so there must have been a thought of some sort of judgement in Cranmer's mind.
Well indeed... it always seems that there isn't enough Advent to fit everything in (especially this year when O Sapientia has already arrived by the week of Advent II ) and the readings in many midweek lectionaries are already heading in that direction.*
I follow Benedictine Daily Prayer and passed through Baruch which meant the exhortation 'look to the East, Jerusalem!' was a few weeks ago.
*this is also my excuse for 'stirring up' my Christmas puddings a week in advance... maturation most important!
Scottish Voices did an Advent Carol Service at Old St Paul's in Edinburgh today, which was absolutely wonderful. This is what we sang (congregational hymns in bold):
Matin Responsory - Palestrina O come, O come Emmanuel arr. Willcocks Adam lay ybounden - Boris Ord People, look east - French trad, arr. Barry Rose Hark! the glad sound - Bristol This is the truth sent from above English trad, arr. Vaughan Williams Sans Day Carol - John Rutter Come, thou long-expected Jesus - tune by Stainer Light of the world - Elgar God to Adam came in Eden - John Barnard Gabriel's Message - Pettman Lo! he comes with clouds descending - Helmsley
This sort of thing is the reason Advent is my favourite season of the year.
Our first Sunday in the month “Hymns of Praise” service had an obvious Advent theme.
Christ, Whose glory fills the skies / RATISBON
O Come, O Come Emmanuel / VENI EMMANUEL (during which the first Advent candle was lit)
We Rest on Thee / FINLANDIA
Come, Thou long expected Jesus / STUTTGART
Lo! He comes, with clouds descending! / HELMSLEY
Advent Sunday:
O come O come Emmanuel
The advent of our God (St Thomas)
Jesus, where'er thy people meet (Wareham)
Creator of the stars of night (Conditor Alme)
Hark a herald voice is calling (Merton)
Ye servants of the Lord (Narenza) The Advent Prose (traditional chant - sung by a cantor) Hark! a herald voice is calling (Merton) Come thou long-expected Jesus (Cross of Jesus) Lo, he comes with clouds descending (Helmsley)
We had an excellent selection at St Pete's to bring in the season of Advent:
Arise to greet the Lord of light - Repton People, look east - Carol of the Advent The advent of our King - Franconia This is the truth sent from above - The Truth from Above Hills of the North, rejoice - Little Cornard
Arise to greet the Lord of light is in our default hymnbook, as is another *modern* Advent hymn, to wit, Behold the Saviour of the nations, by Michael Foster.
The tune is the well-known St Clement, usually sung to The day Thou gavest Lord is ended.
Advent Sunday
Our church has no choir but usually has an organist. He is not local and usually comes by train I believe. This morning it was announced that he had travel problems so would not be joining us. So we sang unaccompanied but with the strongest singer in the congregation giving us a lead:
O come O come Emmanuel (it worked quite well and the lack of accompaniment seemed to add to the solemnity)
Only by Grace
Give Thanks ( the one that sounds like Go West by the Pet Shop Boys)
There is a Redeemer ( by this point one of the congregation had come forward to play the piano)
We were supposed to have ended with Lo he comes with clouds descending but we ended up not singing it but the pianist played Helmsley after the service was over.
I agree - O come, O come, Emmanuel sounds a lot more solemn when sung a capella. We did just that for an evening Advent Liturgy one year, basing the service around the various verses. There were other hymns, too, for which we used the CDs on our church laptop...
Advent didn't get a mention at our place ; it was a Bible study-type meeting we have occasionally. We only sang a couple of songs, one of them being "By Grace Alone Somehow I Stand."
The hymn begins at about 15 minutes in...! You may catch a glimpse of a little girl, in full Santa costume minus beard... , and note that the liturgical colour here is white, unlike many of us who were in purple today.
BTW, note, also, the copious use of incense - not that common in Lutheran churches, I guess, though they only seem to use it here on High Days and Holy Days...
We had:
Make way, make way
Hope is a candle once lit by the prophets (BARD OF ARMAGH because I don't know GALLOWAY TAM)
People look east (BESANCON)
Judge eternal (RHUDDLAN)
O come, o come Emmanuel
Advent didn't get a mention at our place ; it was a Bible study-type meeting we have occasionally. We only sang a couple of songs, one of them being "By Grace Alone Somehow I Stand."
Ah, I can imagine that becoming "After far too many repeated worship songs this evening, somehow I stand"
O Come, O Come Emmanuel (Veni Emmanuel)
Jesus Shall Reign Where’er The Sun (Duke Street)
Rejoice, the Lord is King! (Gopsal)
Joy To The World! (Antioch)
Lit the second advent candle for Hope and/or Faith
Yes, the second. We lit the first last week. We don't have a main service on the 3rd Sunday of Advent because of our Candlelit Carol Services. so in order to have four advent services we started a week early.
“While We Are Waiting, Come”/WAITING*
“He Came Down”/HE CAME DOWN*
“Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”/PICARDY
“Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”/HYFRYDOL
“Soon and Very Soon”
And as strange as it may sound, the prelude was a meditative, hauntingly beautiful harmonica solo of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”
*My understanding is that we’ll sing these two every Sunday in Advent, as part of the gathering portion of the liturgy.
We had an ecumenical Advent carol service at St Pete's this evening, with readers* from all the local churches.
The hymns/carols were:
O come, O come, Emmanuel - Veni Emmanuel Lo! he comes with clouds descending - Helmsley Come now, Prince of peace - O So So** The Angel Gabriel from heaven came - Birjina Gaztettobat Zeggen Hark the glad sound, the Saviour comes - Bristol Let all mortal flesh keep silence - Picardy Come, thou long expected Jesus - Stuttgart Love divine, all loves excelling - Blaenwern
* but strangely no clergy except our own Rev'd Rosie ...
** That was a new one on me, from the Church of Scotland's CH4, and I liked it. As you know, I'm not always receptive to "new" hymns - - but this one is a wee gem - it's one of those rather modal tunes that makes you feel a bit shivery ...
Looking at what most others seem to have had today ours must appear very traditional!
Hark a herald voice is calling (Merton)
Come thou long expected Jesus (Cross of Jesus)
Lo! he comes (Helmsley)
High word of God who once didst come (St Clement)
Thou art coming O my Saviour
The final hymn attracted much shrieking in places but a good time was had by all 😏
"We light the Advent candles" / Tune by our organist / choirmaster
"Lo he comes with clouds descending" / HELMSLEY
Psalm 80:1-7,16-18, chanted
"Rejoice rejoice believers" / LLANGLOFFAN
"'Sleepers wake!' a voice astounds us" / WACHET AUF (isorhythmic)
"Have thine own way Lord" (LEVAS 145)
"The King shall come when morning dawns" / ST. STEPHEN
** That was a new one on me, from the Church of Scotland's CH4, and I liked it. As you know, I'm not always receptive to "new" hymns - - but this one is a wee gem - it's one of those rather modal tunes that makes you feel a bit shivery ...
Yes, it’s quite lovely.
FYI, the tune and original text are Korean. One thing our hymnal does that I really love is a one- or two-sentence note about the hymn at the bottom of the page. The note for “Come Now, O Prince of Peace” says: “Originally created for a 1988 world conference for the peace and reunification of the Korean peninsula, these four stanzas centering on peace, love, freedom, and unity demonstrate how texts for particular situations can become hymns that speak deeply to shared human longings.”
Out to St-Pat’s-in-the-West yesterday for Advent 1: chanted Advent prose in lieu of processional hymn ( as is their wont in Lent and Advent), Casciolini in C ( Kyrie, Agnus) chanted Sanctus and the anthem was Byrd Vigilate very ably sung by the splendid choir. One hymn: Nicolai Wachet auf. A great start to the season.
“While We Are Waiting, Come”/WAITING*
“He Came Down”/HE CAME DOWN*
“Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”/PICARDY
“Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”/HYFRYDOL
“Soon and Very Soon”
And as strange as it may sound, the prelude was a meditative, hauntingly beautiful harmonica solo of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”
*My understanding is that we’ll sing these two every Sunday in Advent, as part of the gathering portion of the liturgy.
One of my favourite Advent hymns - Prepare the royal highway - was the introit at Sankt Ansgar, Uppsala, this morning, as it was at Uppsala Cathedral.
I've only found an English translation in the US Lutheran Book of Worship, which is a pity, as it deserves IMHO to be better known in this country.
FWIW, that hymn is known in my tribe as “Prepare the Way, O Zion,” so you might try looking for a translation under that name.
Thanks!
In my LBW, it's Prepare the royal highway, but the line Prepare the way O Zion is also listed against the same number in the index - although no alternative words are provided.
Hymnary lists 12 books in which it appears, but AFAICT none are any of those commonly used in this country. Perhaps someone will prove me wrong?
... FYI, the tune and original text are Korean ...
I wondered when I saw the name of the writer/composer - I had it down to Oriental of some sort, and, knowing diddly-squat about Oriental languages, had got as far as a toss-up between Thai and Vietnamese.
I'm sure I must be missing something - what has it to do with cricket?
The answer is in @Bishops Finger’s earlier post —the Lutheran Book of Worship, the former service book/hymnal of what are now the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
... FYI, the tune and original text are Korean ...
I wondered when I saw the name of the writer/composer - I had it down to Oriental of some sort, and, knowing diddly-squat about Oriental languages, had got as far as a toss-up between Thai and Vietnamese.
Hymns
There’s a light upon the mountains, / There’s a light upon the mountains
Wake, awake, for night is flying,/ Wachet auf
O day of God, draw near in beauty and in power, / Bellwoods
Christians, lift your hearts and voices, / Triumph
Lo he comes with clouds descending, / Helmsley
Choir
An Australian Christmas Song, / Hazel Hughes
Lo, how a rose e’er blooming, / arr. Johnson
We had two very lovely but rather different services for Advent Sunday.
The morning Eucharist was sung by the children's choristers.
The Introit was the first stanza of Veni redemptor gentium in Latin, not sure by whom; the hymns were The Lord shall come and not be slow, Christ be our light and bom-bom-bom-bom Long ago, prophets knew with a setting of Come, thou long expected Jesus as the communion motet.
The evening service was the candlelightt Advent Procession, one of my favourite services of the year. We started with the Mattins Responsory (after Palestrina) and for hymns Come, thou redeemer of the Earth, O Come O Come Emmanuel, People look East, Wake, O Wake and the inevitable Lo, He Comes to conclude matters.
Choral pieces included some which were new to me: a setting of the Rorate Coeli by Judith Weir, I am the day, soon to be born by Jonathan Dove; Angelus Domino nuntiavit by Franz Biebl and Judah and Jerusalem, fear not by Gabriel Jackson, as well as the more familiar Canite tuba in Sion by Jacobus Handl.
So, all very wonderful all told, a lovely start to the year!
I agree - O come, O come, Emmanuel sounds a lot more solemn when sung a capella. We did just that for an evening Advent Liturgy one year, basing the service around the various verses. There were other hymns, too, for which we used the CDs on our church laptop...
I agree. It's a beautiful and haunting tune but can so easily sound like a dirge.
Comments
“Lift up your heads to the coming King”.
“Lo! he comes with clouds descending” - Helmsley.
“Lord, your Church on earth is seeking” - Everton.
“The King shall come when morning dawns” - Richmond.
At St Pete's, I'm sad to report that we had the Wrong Collect, i.e. not
However, we did sing reasonably lustily (despite the lack of skill/practice on the part of the organist) the following:
All glory, laud and honour - St Theodulph
Alleluia, alleluia, hearts to heaven - Lux Eoi*
Jesus is Lord - Jesus is Lord
The King of Love my shepherd is Dominus Regit Me
Crown him with many crowns - Diademata
*tune by Sullivan, which is so Sullivanesque it makes you want to sing "taran-tara" or "yes, yes" at the end of each line ...
St Ansgar, Uppsala, had Matthew 25 as the Gospel reading today, which the Church of Sweden calls Judgement (or Doom!) Sunday and Christ the King Sunday. The priest in his homily pointed out that the day could be regarded from both perspectives - Christ as both Judge and King.
Even the old BCP Collect which @Piglet missed today refers to *being rewarded*, so there must have been a thought of some sort of judgement in Cranmer's mind.
I expect the chap I was listening to did much the same, but he usually preaches fairly long homilies, and my understanding of Swedish is so minimal that I couldn't keep up for more than the first few minutes!
The entrance hymn at that service was the Swedish version of Wake, O wake with tidings thrilling, to the tune Wachet Auf by Bach (of course - this is a Lutheran church).
All hail the power of Jesus' Name! (Coronation)
Christ is the King! O friends upraise (Christus Rex)
Lord of the ages evermore (Wareham)
Crown him with many crowns (Diademata)
Choral:
Mozart: Missa in C Major (in honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis), K. 167
Luciano Migliavacca: Jesu Rex admirabilis
John Ireland: Te Deum laudamus in F
The fourth song in their Suella 'trilogy' is here https://youtu.be/Raqk9tHFbF0?si=MTiJkaHKgbs8DX3z
“Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”/HYMN TO JOY
“I’ve Got Peace Like a River”
“Give Thanks for Those Whose Faith Is Firm”/REPTON
“God, You Made All Things for Singing/UNION SEMINARY
“Let All Things Now Living”/ASH GROVE
O For a Closer Walk With God (didn't get which tune was used)
Every Promise of the Lord (Getty/Townend)
Great is thy Faithfulness (Faithfulness)
OK, so this is the thing. We have two carol services scheduled for 17th December. Because of the setup involved we don't have a main morning service on that day. In order to have four Advent services in the morning, we started a week early.
Oh, the shame.
We lit a purple candle today.
Yes, I prefer "Diadem". After "Songs of Praise" today we watched (last Sunday's) edition of the Welsh hymn-singing programme "Dechrau Canu" and they had "All hail" in Welsh.
We sang "Sing we the king" a fortnight ago, to finish with. As you may recall, it was written by Sylvester Horne - Ipswich MP and father of the broadcaster Kenneth Horne. The tune was originally written for "The Glory Song".
He Who Would Valiant Be
Fight the Good Fight
Breathe on Me Breath of God
The Church's One Foundation
Well indeed... it always seems that there isn't enough Advent to fit everything in (especially this year when O Sapientia has already arrived by the week of Advent II
I follow Benedictine Daily Prayer and passed through Baruch which meant the exhortation 'look to the East, Jerusalem!' was a few weeks ago.
*this is also my excuse for 'stirring up' my Christmas puddings a week in advance... maturation most important!
Come, O come Lord Jesus - Dean
Advent Litany - Farrell
Glastonbury Mass
Bread of Life - Farrell
Wait for the Lord - Taize
Matin Responsory - Palestrina
O come, O come Emmanuel arr. Willcocks
Adam lay ybounden - Boris Ord
People, look east - French trad, arr. Barry Rose
Hark! the glad sound - Bristol
This is the truth sent from above English trad, arr. Vaughan Williams
Sans Day Carol - John Rutter
Come, thou long-expected Jesus - tune by Stainer
Light of the world - Elgar
God to Adam came in Eden - John Barnard
Gabriel's Message - Pettman
Lo! he comes with clouds descending - Helmsley
This sort of thing is the reason Advent is my favourite season of the year.
Christ, Whose glory fills the skies / RATISBON
O Come, O Come Emmanuel / VENI EMMANUEL (during which the first Advent candle was lit)
We Rest on Thee / FINLANDIA
Come, Thou long expected Jesus / STUTTGART
Lo! He comes, with clouds descending! / HELMSLEY
Final result:
Charles Wesley 3 - 2 The Rest
O come O come Emmanuel
The advent of our God (St Thomas)
Jesus, where'er thy people meet (Wareham)
Creator of the stars of night (Conditor Alme)
Hark a herald voice is calling (Merton)
Ye servants of the Lord (Narenza)
The Advent Prose (traditional chant - sung by a cantor)
Hark! a herald voice is calling (Merton)
Come thou long-expected Jesus (Cross of Jesus)
Lo, he comes with clouds descending (Helmsley)
Arise to greet the Lord of light - Repton
People, look east - Carol of the Advent
The advent of our King - Franconia
This is the truth sent from above - The Truth from Above
Hills of the North, rejoice - Little Cornard
The tune is the well-known St Clement, usually sung to The day Thou gavest Lord is ended.
Our church has no choir but usually has an organist. He is not local and usually comes by train I believe. This morning it was announced that he had travel problems so would not be joining us. So we sang unaccompanied but with the strongest singer in the congregation giving us a lead:
O come O come Emmanuel (it worked quite well and the lack of accompaniment seemed to add to the solemnity)
Only by Grace
Give Thanks ( the one that sounds like Go West by the Pet Shop Boys)
There is a Redeemer ( by this point one of the congregation had come forward to play the piano)
We were supposed to have ended with Lo he comes with clouds descending but we ended up not singing it but the pianist played Helmsley after the service was over.
I agree - O come, O come, Emmanuel sounds a lot more solemn when sung a capella. We did just that for an evening Advent Liturgy one year, basing the service around the various verses. There were other hymns, too, for which we used the CDs on our church laptop...
“Christ is coming!” - Neander (Unser Herrscher).
“The race that long in darkness pined” - Dundee.
“Wait for the Lord” (Taize).
"Earth was waiting”- Picardy.
“Restore, O Lord” (Kendrick).
“The light of the morning" - Crug-y-Bar.
I've only found an English translation in the US Lutheran Book of Worship, which is a pity, as it deserves IMHO to be better known in this country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMEMjoF9DLU
The hymn begins at about 15 minutes in...! You may catch a glimpse of a little girl, in full Santa costume minus beard...
Make way, make way
Hope is a candle once lit by the prophets (BARD OF ARMAGH because I don't know GALLOWAY TAM)
People look east (BESANCON)
Judge eternal (RHUDDLAN)
O come, o come Emmanuel
Ah, I can imagine that becoming "After far too many repeated worship songs this evening, somehow I stand"
Jesus Shall Reign Where’er The Sun (Duke Street)
Rejoice, the Lord is King! (Gopsal)
Joy To The World! (Antioch)
Lit the second advent candle for Hope and/or Faith
Is outrage?
Yes, the second. We lit the first last week. We don't have a main service on the 3rd Sunday of Advent because of our Candlelit Carol Services. so in order to have four advent services we started a week early.
Yes. Is outrage!
Surely the third candle could be lit at the beginning of the Carol Service(s) on Advent 3? Is Not Rocket Science...
“While We Are Waiting, Come”/WAITING*
“He Came Down”/HE CAME DOWN*
“Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”/PICARDY
“Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”/HYFRYDOL
“Soon and Very Soon”
And as strange as it may sound, the prelude was a meditative, hauntingly beautiful harmonica solo of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”
*My understanding is that we’ll sing these two every Sunday in Advent, as part of the gathering portion of the liturgy.
FWIW, that hymn is known in my tribe as “Prepare the Way, O Zion,” so you might try looking for a translation under that name.
A pity that this is the first time I've heard of it - it would have been very suitable for us today.
The hymns/carols were:
O come, O come, Emmanuel - Veni Emmanuel
Lo! he comes with clouds descending - Helmsley
Come now, Prince of peace - O So So**
The Angel Gabriel from heaven came - Birjina Gaztettobat Zeggen
Hark the glad sound, the Saviour comes - Bristol
Let all mortal flesh keep silence - Picardy
Come, thou long expected Jesus - Stuttgart
Love divine, all loves excelling - Blaenwern
* but strangely no clergy except our own Rev'd Rosie ...
** That was a new one on me, from the Church of Scotland's CH4, and I liked it. As you know, I'm not always receptive to "new" hymns -
Hark a herald voice is calling (Merton)
Come thou long expected Jesus (Cross of Jesus)
Lo! he comes (Helmsley)
High word of God who once didst come (St Clement)
Thou art coming O my Saviour
The final hymn attracted much shrieking in places but a good time was had by all 😏
"We light the Advent candles" / Tune by our organist / choirmaster
"Lo he comes with clouds descending" / HELMSLEY
Psalm 80:1-7,16-18, chanted
"Rejoice rejoice believers" / LLANGLOFFAN
"'Sleepers wake!' a voice astounds us" / WACHET AUF (isorhythmic)
"Have thine own way Lord" (LEVAS 145)
"The King shall come when morning dawns" / ST. STEPHEN
Choral: "O very God" by Robert Edward Smith
FYI, the tune and original text are Korean. One thing our hymnal does that I really love is a one- or two-sentence note about the hymn at the bottom of the page. The note for “Come Now, O Prince of Peace” says: “Originally created for a 1988 world conference for the peace and reunification of the Korean peninsula, these four stanzas centering on peace, love, freedom, and unity demonstrate how texts for particular situations can become hymns that speak deeply to shared human longings.”
Thanks!
In my LBW, it's Prepare the royal highway, but the line Prepare the way O Zion is also listed against the same number in the index - although no alternative words are provided.
Hymnary lists 12 books in which it appears, but AFAICT none are any of those commonly used in this country. Perhaps someone will prove me wrong?
I wondered when I saw the name of the writer/composer - I had it down to Oriental of some sort, and, knowing diddly-squat about Oriental languages, had got as far as a toss-up between Thai and Vietnamese.
Either way, it's rather lovely.
Indeed.
Hymns
There’s a light upon the mountains, / There’s a light upon the mountains
Wake, awake, for night is flying,/ Wachet auf
O day of God, draw near in beauty and in power, / Bellwoods
Christians, lift your hearts and voices, / Triumph
Lo he comes with clouds descending, / Helmsley
Choir
An Australian Christmas Song, / Hazel Hughes
Lo, how a rose e’er blooming, / arr. Johnson
The morning Eucharist was sung by the children's choristers.
The Introit was the first stanza of Veni redemptor gentium in Latin, not sure by whom; the hymns were The Lord shall come and not be slow, Christ be our light and bom-bom-bom-bom Long ago, prophets knew with a setting of Come, thou long expected Jesus as the communion motet.
The evening service was the candlelightt Advent Procession, one of my favourite services of the year. We started with the Mattins Responsory (after Palestrina) and for hymns Come, thou redeemer of the Earth, O Come O Come Emmanuel, People look East, Wake, O Wake and the inevitable Lo, He Comes to conclude matters.
Choral pieces included some which were new to me: a setting of the Rorate Coeli by Judith Weir, I am the day, soon to be born by Jonathan Dove; Angelus Domino nuntiavit by Franz Biebl and Judah and Jerusalem, fear not by Gabriel Jackson, as well as the more familiar Canite tuba in Sion by Jacobus Handl.
So, all very wonderful all told, a lovely start to the year!
I agree. It's a beautiful and haunting tune but can so easily sound like a dirge.