What Are We Waiting For?

I’m not a very patient person; more than that, I hate being late for appointments or events. Whether I’m driving home from church, or watching my laptop for an email to come through, or trying to figure out what I’m going to write for my next blog post, I try to get things done quickly. Part of this comes from my personality, and part of it comes from several college education classes that instilled the value of economizing my words in the limited time frame of a lesson. And yet, with my tendency to rush headlong toward a goal or appointed time, I always find myself welcoming the times of preparation and expectation in the church, particularly Advent. More and more, I’m discovering the value of this season, where I have to hurry up and wait—the preparation for the coming of Christ is an important exercise in developing my faith.

When did you hear your first Christmas song this year? Were you able to avoid it until after Thanksgiving, then tune into whatever lite radio station was running Delilah’s show, or did you happen upon it even earlier than that? I confess that I started listening to some Christmas choral music as early as October- but that was more to get me in the mood as I planned worship for Advent than anything else. The Christmas decorations started going up in the retail stores just as soon as they stripped the stuff from Halloween, and the Lexus/Mercedes/Kay Jewelers commercials on TV weren’t far behind. We have become so conditioned to look forward to Christmas that we sometimes forget that Advent, just like Lent, is a season of waiting, as we yearn to hear the birth story again.

How many times in the Bible do we see of God causing people to hurry up and wait? Sarah waited so long to have a child that she laughed when told that she would bear Isaac. The Israelites were made to wander the desert for 40 years, before reaching the Promised Land. Even Jesus himself had to wait, not coming to us as a fully-grown man, but as a vulnerable newborn that would have to grow, all the while learning to walk, and talk, and navigate the challenges of his own world before beginning his ministry.

Last year, several church members approached me after each Sunday in Advent, asking why we weren’t singing the good old Christmas hymns yet. They were so eager to break into the familiar refrains of “Joy to the World” and “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” that they couldn’t help but be disappointed when they saw that we were singing things like “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” and “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” instead. It’s a good problem to have: people who are ready to sing about the coming of Christ, and the beginning of his story all over again. But before the birth story can be told, we must hear of a voice crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord!” What are we waiting for? Jesus, his birth, and all the celebrations that come along with it. But we still have to wait. And so we sing:

Come, thou long-expected Jesus,

born to set Thy people free;

from our fears and sins release us;

let us find our rest in thee. 

November 25, 2012: Christ the King Sunday

Nov 25 2012

Hymn: All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name

This hymn is a composite of two different authors’ work and alterations. The first stanza was printed anonymously in the Gospel Magazine (1779) and was reprinted again the next year with seven more stanzas by Edward Perronet, a Congregational minister in England. The hymn appeared again once more in A Selection of Hymns (1787) by John Rippon, where some stanzas were altered or completely changed. The name of Jesus is associated with the imagery of the church as the bride of Christ from the Song of Solomon, but here the crowning on the wedding day is emphasized. Rippon was an English Baptist minister whose Selection of Hymns was widely influential and went through some thirty editions in England and America. Oliver Holden wrote the tune written for this hymn, CORONATION. It is the oldest American hymn tune still widely used, and has been printed and sung more often than any other eighteenth-century American tune.

Hymn: Come Sing, O Church, In Joy!

The text was written by Brian Dill in 1988 for a competition held by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Bicentennial Committee. The theme of the bicentennial year (June 1988-June 1989) was “Celebrate the Journey.” Dill’s hymn was the first-place winner and was designated “The Bicentennial Hymn.”

Hymn: Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart!

Edward Hayes Plumptre wrote this hymn for the Peterborough Choral Festival of 1865. The full text contained ten stanzas that were condensed and edited over the years. Written as a processional hymn, we should keep that in mind as we close worship and go out into the world with this hymn: “Then on, ye pure in heart! Rejoice, give thanks, and sing!”

Anthem: Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation

The author of this Latin hymn which begins “Angularis fundamentum” is unknown, and has been traced back to the eighth century, although its origins may be even earlier. It is based on several passages from scripture (1 Peter 2:5; Revelation 21; and Ephesians 2:20) and was used in medieval rites for the dedication of a church. Paul Westermeyer writes, “Neale’s translation address Christ the sure foundation and cornerstone ‘who, the two-fold walls surmounting, binds them closely into one.’ There is good reason to sing the hymn as we have it, ‘binding all the church in one,’ but the hymn’s intention was probably more precise, the ‘two-fold walls’ being a reference to Jews and Gentiles.” As we close this church year and begin anew with Advent, we renew our dedication to our worship and our work for the next year, founded on and in Christ.

November 18, 2012: The Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Order of Worship for November 18 2012

Hymn: We Gather Together

From The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion: This folk hymn dating from the seventeenth century was first written during Holland’s struggles for independence from Spain. The political environment played a role in the writing of the text. Frederick Henry, prince of Orange, had just assumed leadership of the Dutch provinces following the assassination of his father, William the Silent (1625). A capable politician and military leader, Frederick led the way for Dutch independence, and peace came to the Netherlands in 1648.

Tiffany Shomsky of Hymnary.org writes: When this hymn was first published in America, the idea of the United States' Manifest Destiny to overtake the American continent in God's name was still popular. The militant language and patriotic association can lend a sense of nationalism to the song that is inappropriate for a worship service. It may take some care to put this text in an appropriate context for worship. However, there are several phrases that may bring certain Scripture passages to mind (e.g., “the wicked oppressing,” Ps. 55:3; see also Scripture references below). When the hymn is put in this context, the message is clearly about the Church seeking God's help and thanking Him for His presence in the pursuit of victory over evil.

Hymn: Let All Things Now Living

Katherine K. Davis wrote this text for the tune ASH GROVE in the 1920s; it was published under a pseudonym. Davis wrote several other texts under different pseudonymns, including “The Little Drummer Boy.” The hymn references Old Testament imagery and instructs all creatures to praise their Creating God. The first stanza gives reasons for praising, and the second joins all the voices together in one song.

Hymn and Anthem: Now Thank We All Our God

Perhaps the most well known hymn to ever come out of Germany, the first two stanzas were written by Martin Rinkart around 1630 as a table prayer before a meal. They are based on a text from the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus 50:22-24: “And now bless the God of all, who everywhere works great wonders, who fosters growth from our birth.” The final stanza serves as a Trinitarian doxology. The anthem setting the choir will sing today is a rhythmic version of the tune that is more in line with what the original tune would have sounded like.

Anthem: Come, Ye Thankful People, Come

Composer Jason McCoy wrote this anthem in 2011, using the words of Henry Alford and Anna Barbauld. The first verse uses Alford’s words from his hymn, “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come,” published in 1844 and revised in 1867. The Psalter Hymnal Handbook writes that the text “uses imagery found in two gospel parables: the growing seed (Mark 4:26-29) and the wheat and the weeds (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43). However, the initial agricultural harvest theme becomes an eschatological metaphor for the final judgment when the angels will gather God’s chosen people into the “glorious harvest home” and cast the evil “weeds” into the “fire.” Thus the text provocatively combines language and imagery that represent annual harvests as well as the ultimate consummation of history. The second and third verses were compiled using stanzas from Barbauld’s hymn, “Praise to God, Immortal Praise.”

November 11, 2012: The Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Nov 11 2012

Hymn: Eternal Father, Strong to Save

From The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion: The text was written by William Whiting for a student who was about to set sail for America (1860). It was published in an altered form in Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861). In America the hymn is known as the “Navy Hymn,” because it is used at the Naval Academy at Annapolis.

Hymn: To God Be the Glory

Fanny Crosby wrote this hymn for children and titled it, “Praise for Redemption.” It was published in an 1875 hymnal and long forgotten until 1954. In that year, someone suggested the hymn to Cliff Barrows to be used during the Billy Graham Greater London Crusade. It soon became a favorite of the crusade and was used at the 1954 Nashville Crusade. This particular hymn is different from other Crosby works in that it takes a more objective, distant point of view rather than a subjective, personal nature.

Hymn: Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken

The text of this hymn is based on Isaiah 33:20-21 and “gives a general notion of the state of the redeemed in the kingdom of God,” according to LindaJo McKim. Paul Westermeyer notes that John Newton’s hymn came with a footnote referencing another of his hymns, “Zion, the City of Our God.” He writes, “One paraphrases what those who walk righteously, speak uprightly, despise oppression, wave away a bribe, stop their ears from bloodshed, and shut their eyes from evil (Isaiah 33:15) will see in the glorious city of Zion… Though the glories of the city are not absent, they are not the point. The point is God’s grace that evokes our praise.”

Anthem: Grant Us Thy Peace

English composer John Rutter writes this about Felix Mendelsson’s piece, originally titled Verleih uns Frieden: In 1830 Franz Hauser, a Viennese singer and Bach enthusiast, sent a Lutheran Hymnal to Mendelssohn, who was in Rome. This treasury of words and music inspired Mendelssohn to compose six chorale cantatas, two motets, and the present hymn-setting, which takes only Luther’s text, the music being entirely his own. He wrote to Hauser in 1831: “I intend to set the little song Verleih uns Frieden as a canon with cello and bass.”  

November 4, 2012: All Saints' Sunday

Nov 4 2012

Introit: When We Are Living

Gertrude Suppe supplies the background of this hymn: “In February 1980, after a church meeting in La Trinidad United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, CA, I saw a woman standing off to one side by herself. I got acquainted with her and found that she was visiting from Mexico. I asked if she remembered any of the songs they used in her church in Mexico. She did, and her sister, Ana Maria Domingues, sang a number of simple songs… “Pues si vivimos” was one of them.” The first stanza is based on Romans 14:7-8: “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”

Hymn: Rejoice, the Lord Is King!

Written by Charles Wesley, this hymn is based on Phil. 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: rejoice!” As Paul Westermeyer writes, this is a hymn that simply celebrates the Lordship of Christ and rejoices in it. The tune name, DARWALL’s 148^TH, comes from the composer John Darwall’s musical setting of the 148^th Psalm.

Hymn: How Firm a Foundation

MaryJo McKim writes, “The text first appears in John Rippon’s A Selection of Hymns (1787). Rippon, an English Baptist, became famous and wealthy by publishing a hymnbook containing a collection of texts by [Isaac] Watts and ‘A Selection of the Best Authors.’ The hymn is actually a poetic sermon. The first stanza speaks of the foundation of Christian life as being rooted in God’s Word. The subsequent stanzas are paraphrases from both the Old and New Testaments. FOUNDATION is an American folk melody originally entitled PROTECTION. It is a pentatonic tune [one that uses only five notes in the scale, like AMAZING GRACE] written for this text.”

Hymn: For All the Saints

William Walsham How wrote this hymn for All Saints’ Day in 1864 as a commentary on the phrase “I believe in the communion of the saints” in the Apostles’ Creed. It initially consisted of eleven stanzas, although most hymnals have pared it down to six or less. The Psalter Hymnal Handbook notes: “It begins with a proclamation of thanksgiving for the saints who confessed Christ and found in him protection and inspiration (st. 1-2). That proclamation is followed by a prayer for Christ’s soldiers on earth to be ‘faithful, true, and bold.’ At the crux of the text is the confession of a ‘blest communion’ of saints in heaven and on earth (st. 4). Though the holy warfare may be ‘fierce and long’ (st. 5), ‘all the saints’ may take courage from the vision of a victorious church that worships the triune God on that “more glorious day. (st. 6-7).’”

Anthem: Christ, the Way of Life Possess Me

American composer K. Lee Scott set British minister Timothy Dudley-Smith’s text for the Chancel Choir of First Baptist Church, Monroe, NC in 2002. Dudley-Smith penned the words based on four images from the Book of Proverbs: the way of life, the well of life, the tree of life, and the path of life.