O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

This is a great Advent hymn. I love its evocation of the history of God's people and the theme of hopeful and eager expectation.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.
Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, thou Wisdom from on high,
who orderest all things mightily;
to us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go. Refrain

O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free
thine own from Satan's tyranny;
from depths of hell thy people save,
and give them victory over the grave. Refrain

O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer
our spirits by thine advent here;
disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
and death's dark shadows put to flight. Refrain

O come, thou Key of David, come,
and open wide our heavenly home;
make safe the way that leads on high,
and close the path to misery. Refrain

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
who to thy tribes on Sinai's height
in ancient times once gave the law
in cloud and majesty and awe. Refrain

O come, thou Root of Jesse's tree,
an ensign of thy people be;
before thee rulers silent fall;
all peoples on thy mercy call. Refrain

O come, Desire of nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind;
bid thou our sad divisions cease,
and be thyself our King of Peace. Refrain

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear. Refrain

A new short-lived interest

So I've decided that if everything else falls through, I'm going to be a professional ocarinist.

I got an ocarina (a kind of funny little wind instrument that's apparently been around for thousands of years) this week at Pike Place Market in Seattle, and I'm pretty excited about it so far. It's small, it has four holes, it's in the key of F#, and it can play a chromatic scale over a range of one octave. Oh, it's also high-pitched and loud, which means that Jeanette groans every time it makes an appearance.

But I'm not discouraged. So far I've been able to fake my way through "Amazing Grace," "My Song is Love Unknown," "Joy to the World," "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," and a barely recognizable rendition of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

With that kind of encouraging success, I probably won't lose track of my ocarina for at least another week or two.

The Raven

One thing I noticed almost immediately when I moved to Seattle was that there are an extraordinary number of crows in this city. They're everywhere. And they always make me think of the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. And since it's a creepy poem and we're closing in on Halloween, this seemed like as good a time as any to post about "The Raven."

(Before I go on, I'll make a feeble attempt at tying this post in with the Catholic theme of this blog.) Though he was baptized in the Episcopal Church and was not, I don't think, very religious, Poe once wrote and published quite a lovely piece called "A Catholic Hymn," which is addressed to the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. Here it is:

At morn -- at noon -- at twilight dim --
Maria! thou hast heard my hymn!
In joy and woe -- in good and ill --
Mother of God, be with me still!
When the Hours flew brightly by,
And not a cloud obscured the sky,
My soul, lest it should truant be,
Thy grace did guide to thine and thee;
Now, when storms of Fate o'ercast
Darkly my Present and my Past,
Let my Future radiant shine
With sweet hopes of thee and thine!

Anyway, back to "The Raven." Most kids are forced to study this poem in school at some point, but in my opinion it's one of those poems that should just be enjoyed without too much analysis. I think the majority of my generation has seen the James Earl Jones-narrated version of the poem on The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror special, which is excellent. Unfortunately, it's a little abridged, so you miss out on some of the story.

Luckily, there's an awesome film version of the entire poem, made in 1963 and starring the ridiculous Vincent Price, which I highly recommend. Here it is:

I Sing the Mighty Power of God

I came across a great hymn this morning as I was praying the Liturgy of the Hours called "I Sing the Mighty Power of God." The words were written in 1715 by Isaac Watts, the "Father of English Hymnody" who is credited with writing 750 hymns, including such well-known ones as "Joy to the World!" and "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross."

The hymn celebrates the power and the goodness of God, which is revealed through His creation, as Paul affirms in his Letter to the Romans: "Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and his deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made" (1:20).

One of the tunes for the hymn is called Ellacombe, which you can hear here. These are the words, which first struck me:

I sing the mighty power of God,
That made the mountains rise;
That spread the flowing seas abroad,
And built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained
The sun to rule the day.
The moon shines full at his command,
And all the stars obey.

I sing the goodness of the Lord,
That filled the earth with food.
He formed the creatures with his word,
And then pronounced them good.
Lord, how your wonders are displayed
Where e'er I turn my eye:
If I survey the ground I tread,
Or gaze upon the sky!

There's not a plant or flower below,
But makes your glories known;
And clouds arise, and tempests blow,
By order from your throne;
While all that borrows life from you
Is ever in your care,
And everywhere that man can be,
You, God, are present there.

My song is love unknown

I just felt like sharing one of my very favorite hymns, which is called "My Song Is Love Unknown." The words were written by Samuel Crossman, a 17th century Anglican minister, and the music is by John Ireland, a 20th century English composer.

It is just amazing to me how powerful the effect can be when beautiful music is combined with beautiful and true words, and this hymn is one of the most powerful I know. While reading or singing this hymn, I am often overwhelmed by its evocation of the almost unbelievable love for us that God demonstrated through the sacrifice of Jesus.

The words are below, and you can go here to listen to the music in a rather strange MIDI version. For some reason it sounds like a ghost is singing the tenor line, but it'll give you the idea. Anyway, please listen, read, and reflect if you like.

My Song Is Love Unknown

My song is love unknown, my Savior's love to me, love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be. O who am I that for my sake my Lord should take frail flesh, and die?

He came from his blest throne salvation to bestow, but men made strange, and none the longed-for Christ would know. But O my friend, my friend indeed, who at my need his life did spend.

Sometimes they strew his way, and his strong praises sing, resounding all the day hosannas to their King. Then "Crucify!" is all their breath, and for his death they thirst and cry.

Why, what hath my Lord done? What makes this rage and spite? He made the lame to run, he gave the blind their sight. Sweet injuries! Yet they at these themselves displease, and 'gainst him rise.

They rise, and needs will have my dear Lord made away; a murderer they save, the Prince of Life they slay. Yet steadfast he to suffering goes, that he his foes from thence might free.

In life no house, no home my Lord on earth might have; in death no friendly tomb but what a stranger gave. What may I say? Heaven was his home; but mine the tomb wherein he lay.

Here might I stay and sing, no story so divine; never was love, dear King, never was grief like thine. This is my friend, in whose sweet praise I all my days could gladly spend.