Reginald Heber wrote this hymn for Trinity Sunday, building it on Revelation 4. Paul Westermeyer writes, "This accounts not only for 'Holy, holy holy' and its reminder of Isaiah 6:3, but for the imagery of 'golden crowns' and 'glassy sea,' which point beyond the realm of our experience and comprehension to the numinous (and which, as for the book of Revelation generally, when turned into literal figures become meaningless)."
Hymn: Be Thou My Vision
The text for this hymn comes from an ancient Irish poem, “Rob tu mo bhoile, a Comdie cride.” It was translated by Mary E. Byrne in 1905 and later versified by Eleanor Hull in 1912.
Hymn: Open My Eyes, That I May See
Clara Scott, the author of this hymn, taught music at the Ladies’ Seminary at Lyons, Iowa for many years. She wrote many pieces for voice and instruments, including The Royal Anthem Book (1882), which was the first collection of anthems published by a woman. The phrase “Open my eyes” is drawn from Psalm 119:18, which reads, “Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”
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