10:55 Gathering Song and Response: Let All Things Now Living
Published under the pseudonym “John Cowley,” Katherine Davis wrote this hymn around 1925. Paul Westermeyer writes, “As a whole the text follows the bar form of the tune, with each stanza in two parts. The first half of the first stanza is a call to give thanks to God the creator, protector, and guide. The second half recounts God’s protecting care on our pilgrimage. The first half of the next stanza moves to the praise of the rest of the created order, and the last half provides a frame that calls us back to the joy of our thanksgiving.” Davis wrote around eight hundred choral pieces and arrangements, and also penned “The Little Drummer Boy.”
Crown Him with Many Crowns
The last Sunday before Advent is Christ the King Sunday, as we close out the liturgical year and begin anew with Christ’s coming. The text for this hymn, written by Matthew Bridges, included the caption: “On his head were many crowns (Revelation 19:12).” Each stanza is an elaboration on one of the names for Christ: “the Lamb;” “the Lord of love;” “the Lord of peace;” and “the Lord of years.” The tune DIADEMATA is named after the Greek word for “Crowns.”
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 148TH, comes from the composer John Darwall’s musical setting of the 148th Psalm.
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.
10:55 Anthem: 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. Alice Parker (b. 1925) has composed, conducted, arranged, taught, lectured, and written about music; her arrangements of American hymns with the legendary Robert Shaw are still part of the choral repertory. She is also an advocate for congregational singing, and has been named a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada.
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