SUNDAY HYMNS, PART 21 OF 22: HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING (MERRY CHRISTMAS)

 

"All of Creation Worships" by Jeff Reynolds

Hark! the herald angels sing, 

"Glory to the newborn King;

Peace on earth and mercy mild - 

God and sinners reconciled!"

Joyful, all ye nations, rise, 

Join the triumph of the skies;

With th'angelic host proclaim,

"Christ is born in Bethlehem."

 Hark! the herald angels sing, 

"Glory to the newborn King!"

 

Christ, by highest heav'n adored,

Christ, the everlasting Lord:

Late in time behold Him come, 

Offspring of a virgin's womb.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,

Hail th'incarnate Deity!

Pleased as man with men to dwell,

Jesus, our Emmanuel.

 Hark! the herald angels sing, 

"Glory to the newborn King!"

 

Hail the heav'nborn Prince of Peace!

Hail the Sun of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings, 

Ris'n with healing in His wings.

Mild He lays His glory by, 

Born that man no more may die;

Born to raise the sons of earth,

Born to give them second birth.

 Hark! the herald angels sing, 

"Glory to the newborn King!"

 

Come, Desire of Nations, come!

Fix in us Thy humble home;

Rise, the woman's conq'ring seed, 

Bruise in us the serpent's head.

Adam's likeness now efface,

Stamp in thine image in its place;

Second Adam from above, 

Reinstate us in Thy love.

 Hark! the herald angels sing, 

"Glory to the newborn King!"

 

NOTES ON HYMN

• First off, Merry Christmas! Or for you guys, Joseph Christmas! 
• How many of you following have read through the first three verses, and then pause to see a fourth you've never seen before? Growing up with the Worship & Service Hymnal, I only knew the first three.  But then I attended a church whose hymnal (Praise! Our Songs and Hymns) included the fourth verse. Cyberhymnal includes a fifth.
• This is another hymn written by Charles Wesley. I had a Calvinist joke that Wesley believed you had to earn your salvation so he made the music for this song hard to sing. Uh, not Wesley's fault. I don't know what tune they sang this to during Charles' lifetime, but he died before the composer to this song was born. That composer? Felix Mendelssohn. And do you expect Classical composers to write easy songs to sing? By the way, Mendelssohn was raised Lutheran and also composed the Reformation symphony.
• By the way, my favorite hymn word writer is Charles Wesley. My favorite classical composer is Mendelssohn. No wonder I love this song.
• This song's meter is a 7,7,7,7 double. One interesting thing? Another Wesley song, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" has a 7,7,7,7 meter, which adds a lot of "Alleluia"s ot it. So you could sing "Christ The Lord is Risen Today" to Mendelssohn's tune, dropping the alleluias and using two verses for each round. Or you can sing "Hark The Herald Angels Sing" to the tune of "Christ the Lord is Risen Today, with the alleluias and doubling the verse number. 
  

 

 

SUNDAY HYMNS, PART 20 OF 22: COME, THOU LONG EXPECTED JESUS

Arlington Avenue Baptist Church, Indianapolis. Note at the base of the tree are shoebox gifts. We donate these to the Metropolitan Baptist Center every Christmas, which they take to women's shelters for their children (each box has the gender and age range listed).

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.

 

Israel's strength and consolation, 

Hope of all the earth Thou art;

Dear desire of every nation, 

Joy of every longing heart.

 

Born Thy people to deliver, 

Born a child and yet a king.

Born to reign in us forever, 

Now Thy gracious kingdom bring. 

By Thine own eternal Spirit 

Rule in all our hearts alone;

By Thine all sufficient merit, 

Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

NOTES ON HYMN

• This is an Advent hymn. By now, I think you all might know the difference between an Advent song and a Christmas song? I had chose 5 songs I wanted to use for the Advent and Christmas seasons, and putting them with the weeks seemed natural for most of them. This one is not as obvious with the theme "Adevent of Love", but it definitely fits.
  
• The tune of this song is Hyfrydol, written by Rowland Huw Pritchard. Hyfrydol is the only thing Cyberhymnal lists Pritchard writing, which I find hard to believe because of how good that tune is. The Worship & Service Hymnal included three songs besides this one with the tune, the best known of those I'd guess to be "Our Great Savior" (with the chorus, "Hallelujah, what a Savior! Hallelujah, what a Friend!"). Additionally, it suggests this tune as an alternate for Charles Wesley's "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling," and Elton Trueblood suggested this tune for a song he wrote he called "Baptism By Fire" which is printed in his excellent book "The Incindiery Fellowship." (I learned about the book when the Baptist Hymnal 1991 set the lyrics to a different tune and used the first line "God Whose Purpose Is To Kindle" as the title.
• The lyrics to this song are written by Charles Wesley. It's not unusual to see hymns with Wesley's words have music composed by musicians not yet born when Wesley died. 
• One question I have for Mr. Wesley is how many verses this song has. There are only two verses to this song, but was Wesley's original thought for a pair of verses to be set to a 8,7,8,7 Doubled tune, or a quartet set to 8,7,8,7? Honestly, looking at the words, it gives me an impression it was written with four verses. Yet combining the verses to this tune produces a beautiful song.
• Final comment: I will admit I have questions on whether Christmas trees should be on a church's platform. However, in the case of the one at Arlington Avenue Baptist Church (above photo), it also serves as a reminder of preparing shoe-box gifts for the Baptist Center where they are distributed to the children of mothers in rescue shelters. This fits Advent of Love, does it not?
  

SUNDAY HYMNS, PART 15 OF 22: SPIRIT OF GOD, DESCEND UPON MY HEART

 

Dove statue, Peace Garden, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden

Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;    

Wean it from earth, through all its pulses move;

Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art, 

And make me love Thee as I ought to love.

I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies, 

No sudden rending of the veil of clay,

No angel visitant, no opening skies; 

But take the dimness of my soul away.

Hast Thou not bid us love Thee, God and King? 

All, all Thine own, soul, heart and strength and mind.

I see Thy cross - there teach my heart to cling; 

O let me seek Thee, and O let me find.

Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh; 

Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear,

To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh; 

Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.

Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love, 

One holy passion filling all my frame;

The baptism of the heaven descended Dove, 

My heart an altar and Thy love the flame.

NOTES ON HYMN

• This song is in the Worship and Service hymnal that was a major part of my life (used by two churches I attended while growing up and at chapel at Bible College) and probably in others also which I was unaware of until we sang it once at Arlington Avenue Baptist Church no sooner than 2018. It has become a favorite.
• The end of the song is called "modal." Typically, a verse/song ends on the root note of the key. For example, this hymn is in the key of C, and thus the root note is C. However, this song ends on the G note; it still ends with the notes of a C major triad (C,E,G), but not the root note. This is called a modal ending, and you'll notice a different tone because of it.
• The meter of this song is 10,10,10,10. Becky and I sing this to the tune of "Abide With Me." You can also sing it to the tunes of "Search Me, O Lord" (aka "Cleanse Me) and, if you want to add trumpets or not, "God Of Our Fathers."
  

SUNDAY HYMNS, PART 14 OF 22: PRAISE THE SAVIOR, YE WHO KNOW HIM

 

Finches at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Praise the Savior, ye who know Him!

Who can tell how much we owe Him?

Gladly let us render to Him

All we are and have.

Jesus is the name that charms us;

He for conflict fits and arms us;

Nothing moves and nothing harms us

While we trust in Him.

Trust in Him, ye saints, forever;

He is faithful, changing never;

Neither force nor guile can sever

Those He loves from Him.

Keep us, Lord, O keep us cleaving

To Thyself and still believing,

Till the hour of our receiving

Promised joys with Thee.

Then we shall be where we would be, 

Then we shall be what we should be;

Things that are not now, nor could be,

Soon shall be our own.

NOTES ON HYMN:

• While this is in the Worship & Service hymnal, I was introduced to the first verse by singing the first verse to the tune of "Alleluia", though the last line is a little edited to fit the Long Meter (8,8,8,8) of "Alleluia."
• One thing I like about the words to this hymn is that it flows from one verse to the next.
  
  

SUNDAY HYMNS, PART 13 OF 22: STAND UP, STAND UP FOR JESUS

At Faith Family Church, Cookeville, TN

Stand up! Stand up for Jesus, Ye soldiers of the Cross!

Lift high His royal banner, It must not suffer loss. 

From victory unto victory, His army shall He lead

Till every foe is vanquished And Christ is Lord indeed.

 

Stand up! Stand up for Jesus, The trumpet call obey.

Forth to the mighty conflict In this His glorious day.

Ye that are men, now serve Him Against unnumbered foes;

Let courage rise with danger And strength to strength oppose.

 

Stand up! Stand up for Jesus, Stand in His strength alone;

The arm of flesh will fail you, Ye dare not trust your own.

Put on the Gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer;

Where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there.

  

Stand up! Stand up for Jesus, the strife will not be long:

This day the noise of battle, The next the Victor's song.  

To him that overcometh, A crown of life shall be;

He with the King of Glory Shall reign eternally. 

 

NOTES ON THIS HYMN

• For those paying attention: Yes, I did deviate from my original format of going in alphabetic order for the first 16 installments. Why? Well, those who know me know two of my favorite holidays are Reformation Day (Oct. 31) and All Saints Day (Nov. 1). (You probably know some other holiday I won't name that shares the date with Reformation Day is one of my least.) Out of the songs on my list, I thought this was most fitting for Reformation Day and All Saints Day. I'll resume in alphabetic order where I left off next week.
  
• In the hymnal I grew up with, the lyrics were included to two different tunes. Hymn #459 is to the tune Geibel, which had the words to verses 1, 2, and 4, and included a chorus (which lyrically consisted of the first two lines); this was the newer tune. #460 is to the tune Webb, which I hear more often and is the tune I normally see in hymnals, which included all four verses, but no chorus.
• You can call the meter of this hymn either 7, 6, 7, 6 doubled or 13, 13, 13, 13. 
• I know I have no role in planning my funeral, but if you asked me what songs I'd like sung at my funeral, this would be one.   

SUNDAY HYMNS, PART 11 OF 22: OH, TO BE LIKE THEE

Painting of Jesus by Kerry Jackson, at Arlington Avenue Baptist Church.

Oh, to be like Thee! Blessed Redeemer, 

This is my constant longing and prayer.

Gladly I'll forfeit all of earth's treasures, Jesus,  

Thy perfect likeness to wear.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Full of compassion, 

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting, 

Seeking the wandring sinner to find.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Lowly in spirit, 

Holy and harmless, patient and brave; 

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches, 

Willing to suffer others to save.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! While I am pleading, 

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love; 

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling, 

Fit me for life and heaven above.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee, 

Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art!

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness; 

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

 

NOTES ON HYMN

• This is another song in the Worship & Service Hymnal I grew up with that I didn't know until later in life; in this case, Becky - who grew up with this song - introduced it to me.
• If you are not familiar with this song, the final stanza is the chorus. It has the same meter as the verses. My hunch is that the lyricist, Thomas Chisholm, wrote a poem with multiple verses and the musician decided to make one verse the chorus. The same is true of another song Chisholm wrote the lyrics to that you're probably more familiar with: "Great Is Thy Faithfulness."
• In case you're interested in the meter, it's 10,9,10,9. You can interchange tunes between this song, "I Must Tell Jesus," and "Heavenly Sunlight." I also wrote a poem I intended to be a song (nobody ever attempted to set it to music) called Sola Scriptura."
• As I mentioned, Becky grew up with this song while in the Church of Christ. I included the four verses from the Worship & Service Hymnal, but there's a fifth verse in the Church of Christ hymnal.     

SUNDAY HYMNS, PART 10 OF 22: O FOR A HEART TO PRAISE MY GOD

Kookaburas, Louisville Zoo

O for a heart to praise my God, 

A heart from sin set free,

A heart that always feels Thy blood 

So freely shed for me!

 

A heart resigned, submissive, meek, 

My great Redeemer's throne,

Where only Christ is heard to speak, 

Where Jesus reigns alone;

 

A lowly, humble, contrite heart, 

Believing, true, and clean,

Which neither life nor death can part 

From Christ who dwells within.

 

A heart in every thought renewed, 

And full of love divine;

Perfect, and right, and pure, and good, 

A copy, Lord, of Thine!

 

Thy nature, gracious Lord, impart; Come quickly from above,

Write Thy new name upon my heart, Thy new, best name of Love.

 

NOTES ON HYMN

• This is the second hymn by Charles Wesley included in this series. It won't be the last. Wesley is only one of two hymn writers I'll be including more than one song by, the other being Isaac Watts.
• Does this song at all make you think of another of Wesley's classics, "O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing?" Both of them are written Common Meter (8,6,8,6). In the Worship and Service Hymnal I grew up with, both songs are set to the tune Azmon, though for this song it also suggests a couple of other tunes, including Arlington, which is usually associate with "Am I A Soldier Of The Cross."
• In the above mentioned hymnal, it only included four verses for this song, omitting the third verse I included. The Cyberhymnal lists nine verses for "O For A Thousand Tongues" and eight for this one, so I selected one of the other verses to include when Becky and I sing it.