April 1, 2012: Palm Sunday

Apr 1 2012

Hymn: All Glory, Laud, and Honor

The original text of this hymn comes from a long poem by Theodulph, Bishop of Orleans (760-821). He became Charlemagne’s leading theologian, all the while honing his gift of poetry. The hymn references four different Biblical texts: Psalm 24:7-10, Psalm 118:25-26, Matthew 21:1-17, and Luke 19:37-38.

Hymn: Beneath the Cross of Jesus

Elizabeth Clephane wrote this text anonymously the year before her death. Four years later, it was published in the Scottish religious magazine The Family Treasury (1872) with the title “Breathings on the Border.” It has a devotional quality to it which lends itself to be sung during Lent and other times of penitence.

Hymn: O Sing a Song of Bethlehem

LindaJo McKim writes, “Written by Louis Benson (1899), this hymn is one of the best poetic portrayals of the life of Christ. Using four geographical areas, the hymn lifts up stages in Jesus’ life. In Bethlehem there shone a light that continues today. In Nazareth flowers bloomed and today these flowers bring beauty into the believer’s life. The peace that came over Galilee still brings peace to the believer. Calvary’s redeeming power is adequate to meet today’s needs.”

Anthem: Let All the World in Every Corner Sing

The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams set a collection of the Welsh poet George Herbert’s texts, Five Mystical Songs, between 1907 and 1911. This is the final piece from that set, composed for solo baritone, chorus, and orchestra. Herbert’s original setting suggests that the poem be read or sung antiphonally; that is, between two different groups or choirs, like a call and response. Vaughan Williams achieves this end by having the full chorus sing “Let all the world in every corner sing,” while having individual sections sing parts of the verses. Vaughan Williams was an authority on English folk music; he edited the 1906 English Hymnal, which included several of his own hymn settings that are still sung today. George Herbert is best known for his poetry, which was published immediately after his death in a collection entitled The Temple.

Anthem: My Song Is Love Unknown

George Herbert has a connection to this anthem; a poem he wrote called “Love Unknown” seems to have influenced Samuel Crossman’s own writing. For example, in Herbert’s poem, Jesus speaks in stanzas; after each stanza comes the refrain “Was ever grief like mine?” Whether or not Herbert’s writing inspired Crossman, the text is a fitting conclusion to Lent as we move toward Holy Week and the Passion. Gracia Grindal writes that a “befuddled balladeer” tells a story with this “contradiction and paradox: ‘Love to the loveless shown / that they might lovely be.’ …Few hymns tell the story so well and so powerfully. And few tell us so much about ourselves.”