Swiftly Pass the Clouds of Glory

This Transfiguration text by Thomas H. Troeger, b. 1945, is another good addition to Lutheran Service Book (416).  It is set to a fine tune, LOVE'S LIGHT, by LCMS composer, Amanda Husberg, b. 1940.   If you missed using this one last Sunday, make a mental note to use it for Transfiguration 2011.  Troeger's text amplifies the final stanza of the well-known hymn, "'Tis Good, Lord, to Be Here":  'Tis good, Lord, to be here!  Yet we may not remain; But since Thou bidst us leave the mount, Come with us to the plain.  Troeger's text takes us with Peter, James and John down the mountain to the plain and valley, to Jerusalem and the cross.  No disciple is greater that his master; our lives are shaped by the cross as well, as are the lives of all true followers of Jesus.  For such living under the cross, we truly need a daily transfiguration of our perceptions and intentions.

Swiftly pass the clouds of glory,

    Heaven’s voice, the dazzling light;

Moses and Elijah vanish;

    Christ alone commands the height!

Peter, James, and John fall silent,

    Turning from the summit’s rise

Downward toward the shadowed valley

    Where their Lord has fixed His eyes.

Glimpsed and gone the revelation,

    They shall gain and keep its truth,

Not by building on the mountain

    Any shrine or sacred booth,

But by following the Savior

    Through the valley to the cross

And by testing faith’s resilience

    Through betrayal, pain, and loss.

Lord, transfigure our perception

    With the purest light that shines,

And recast our life’s intentions

    To the shape of Your designs,

Till we seek no other glory

    Than what lies past Calv’ry’s hill

And our living and our dying

    And our rising by Your will.

Jesus, Take Us to the Mountain

Our choir sang this Transfiguration text by Jaroslav Vajda as the anthem before the Gospel lesson in our early service today.   Vajda wrote the text in 1991 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of St. Luke Lutheran Church, Silver Spring, Maryland.  Here the hymn writer is as much at a loss for words contemplating the glory of the transfigured Christ as were the disciples!  Christian Worship Supplement features this text (CWS 712) with the tune SILVER SPRING by Carl Schalk, who composed the tune for Vajda's hymn text to commemorate the same joyful occasion. 

1.  Jesus, take us to the mountain

         Where, with Peter, James and John,

             We are dazzled by Your glory,

         Light as blinding as the sun.

                 There prepare us for the night

                 By the vision of that sight.

2.  What do you want us to see there

         That Your close companions saw?

             Your divinity revealed there

         Fills us with the self-same awe.

                 Clothed in flesh like ours You go,

                 Matched to meet our deadliest foe.

3.  What do You want us to hear there

         That Your dear disciples heard?

             Once again the voice from heaven

         Says of the incarnate Word:

                 "Listen, listen ev'ryone;

                  This is My beloved Son!"

4.  Take us to that other mountain

         Where we see You glorified.  

             Where You shouted, "It is finished!"

         Where for all the world You died.

                 Hear the stunned centurion:

                 "Truly this was God's own Son!"

5.  We who have beheld Your glory,

         Risen and ascended Lord,

             Cannot help but tell the story,

         All that we have seen and heard,

                 Say with Peter, James, and John:

                 "You are God's beloved Son!"

Rise, Shine, You People

Ronald Klug wrote this hymn at the request of Wilson Egbert of Augsburg Publishing House for a 1973 series of bulletin inserts featuring new hymns.  This Epiphany text was inspired by one of Klug's favorite Epiphany texts, Isaiah 60:1  "Rise, shine, for  your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you."  The publisher sent Klug's text to Dale Wood so that the text could be published with a new tune.  Wood named his newly-written tune WOJTKIEWIECZ (voyd-KEV-itch), the original Polish family name that was simplified by the immigration official to Wood.

1.  Rise, shine, you people!  Christ the Lord has entered

     Our human story; God in Him is centered.

          He comes to us, by death and sin surrounded,

          With grace unbounded.

2.  See how He sends the pow'rs of evil reeling;

     He brings us freedom, light and life and healing.

          All men and women, who by guilt are driven,

          Now are forgiven.

3.  Come, celebrate, your banners high unfurling,

     Your songs and prayers against the darkness hurling.

          To all the world go out and tell the story

          Of Jesus' glory.

4.  Tell how the Father sent His Son to save us.

     Tell of the Son, who life and freedom gave us.

          Tell how the Spirit calls from ev'ry nation

          His new creation.

As with Gladness Men of Old

"When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.  On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.  Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh."  (Matthew 2:10-11)   On Epiphany Sunday (1858), William Dix was too sick to attend church.  At home in bed, he read the story of the wise men and tried to apply the lesson to his own life.  The result was this familiar Epiphany hymn, "As with Gladness Men of Old."   As the wise men did--following, adoring, giving--so should we.  William Dix was a gifted poet but he made his living as the manager of a maritime insurance company in Glasgow, Scotland.  He knew the rigors of travel in the late 19th century and the joy of bringing gifts from far-off places.  Yet in this text he does not focus on the costliness of the Magi's gifts but rather that the Magi found what they sought and their worship of the Christ child.   In 1859, the text was already slated for inclusion in the original edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861) but was first published in 1861 in a small collection intended for private circulation entitled Hymns of Joy and Love.

1.  As with gladness men of old

     Did the guiding star behold;

        As with joy they hailed its light, 

        Leading onward, beaming bright;

     So, most gracious Lord, may we

     Evermore be led by Thee.

2.  As with joyful steps they sped,

     Savior, to Thy lowly bed,

         There to bend the knee before

         Thee, whom heav'n and earth adore;

     So may we with willing feet

     Ever seek Thy mercy seat.

3.  As they offered gifts most rare

     At Thy cradle, rude and bare,

         So may we with holy joy,

         Pure and free from sin's alloy,

     All our costliest treasures bring,

    Christ, to Thee, our heav'nly King. 

4.  Holy Jesus, ev'ry day

     Keep us in the narrow way;

         And when earthly things are past,

         Bring our ransomed souls at last

     Where they need no star to guide,

     Where no clouds Thy glory hide.

5.  In the heav'nly country bright

     Need they no created light;

         Thou its light, its joy, its crown,

         Thou its sun which goes not down;

     There forever may we sing

     Alleluias to our King.

  

Brightest and Best of the Stars of the Morning

This Epiphany hymn by Reginald Heber (1783-1826) first appeared in print in the November 11, 1811 edition of the Christian Observer.  Later it was included in his posthumous collection of texts entitled, "Hymns, written and adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year (1827).  Heber's original opening line was "sons of the morning," a reference perhaps to Isaiah 14:12 in which Lucifer is described, or possibly a reference to Job 38:7 in which the "morning stars" and "sons of God" join to praise God for His mighty acts of creation.  In the preparation of Lutheran Book of Worship, the ILCW (Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship) thought it advisable to change Heber's "sons of the morning" to "stars of the morning" to avoid any confusion.  Other minor changes froma the original include the change from "odors" to "fragrance" since "odors" in our modern context usually means unpleasant smells.  The tune MORNING STAR, to which this hymn is set in Lutheran Service Book, was written by James Harding (1850-1911) and first published in an American hymnal in 1901, The New Psalms and Hymns, a hymnal used by Presbyterians of that era.

1.  Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,

        Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid;

     Star of the East, the horizon adorning,

        Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

2.  Cold on His cradle the dewdrops are shining;

        Low lies His head with the beasts of the stall;

     Angels adore Him in slumber reclining,

        Maker and Monarch and Savior of all.

3.  Shall we not yield Him, in costlly devotion,

        Fragrance of Edom and off'rings divine,

     Gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean,

        Myrrh from the forest and gold from the mine?

 

4.  Vainly we offer each ample oblation,

        Vainly with gifts would His favor secure,

     Richer by far is the heart's adoration;

        Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.

5.  Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,

        Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid;

     Star of the East, the horizon adorning,

        Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright

Here is the second of Nicolai's two great hymns, "The Queen of Chorales."

O Morning Star, how fair and bright!

You shine with God's own truth and light,

     Aglow with grace and mercy!

Of Jacob's race, King David's son,

Our Lord and master, You have won

     Our hearts to serve You only!

          Lowly, holy!

     Great and glorious,

     All victorious,

          Rich in blessing!

Rule and might o'er all possessing!

Come, heav'nly bridegroom, light divine,

And deep within our hearts now shine;

     There light a flame undying!

In Your one body let us be

As living branches of a tree,

     Your life our lives supplying.

          Now, though daily

     Earth's deep sadness

     May perplex us

          And distress us,

Yet with heav'nly joy You bless us.

Lord, when You look on us in love,

At once there falls from God above

     A ray of purest pleasure.

Your Word and Spirit, flesh and blood

Refresh our souls with heav'nly food.

     You are our dearest treasure!

          Let Your mercy

     Warm and cheer us!

     O draw near us!

          For You teach us

God's own love through You has reached us.

Almighty Father, in Your Son

You loved us when not yet begun

     Was this old earth's foundation!

Your Son has ransomed us in love

To live in Him here and above:

     This is Your great salvation.

          Alleluia!

     Christ the living,

     To us giving

          Life forever,

Keeps us Yours and fails us never!

O let the harps break forth in sound!

Our joy be all with music crowned,

     Our voices gladly blending!

For Christ goes with us all the way--

Today, tomorrow, ev'ry day!

     His love is never ending!

          Sing out!  Ring out!

     Jubilation!

     Exaltation!

          Tell the story!

Great is He, the King of glory!

What joy to know, when life is past,

The Lord we love is first and last,

     The end and the beginning!

He will one day, oh, glorious grace,

Transport us to that happy place

     Beyond all tears and sinning!

          Amen!  Amen!

     Come, Lord Jesus!

     Crown of gladness!

          We are yearning

For the day of Your returning!

O God of God, O Light of Light

At the front of the hymnal, Lutheran Service Book offers a calendar of commemorations, men and women from the Old and New Testaments and from the first nineteen centuries of the Church. The commemoration given for June 12th is The Ecumenical Council of Niceaea, AD 325.  The Nicene Creed, written in large part to counteract the errors of Arianism, contains these familiar words, "God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made..."  LSB took "O God of God, O Light of Light" and moved it from the Epiphany section of the hymnal, where it had been in Lutheran Worship, and placed it in the Praise and Adoration section of LSB, thereby offering this text for increased use beyond the Epiphany season, perhaps for...The Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, AD 325 on June 12th!  The hymn text was written by John Julian, first appearing in Congregational Hymns, 1884. 

1.  O God of God, O Light of light,

        O Prince of Peace and King of kings:

    To You in heaven's glory bright

        The song of praise forever rings.

    To Him who sits upon the throne,

        The Lamb once slain but raised again,

   Be all the glory He has won,

        All thanks and praise!  Amen, amen.

2.  For deep in prophets' sacred page,

        And grand in poets' winged word,

     Slowly in type, from age to age

        The nations saw their coming Lord;

     Till through the deep Judean night

        Rang out the song, "Goodwill to men!"

     Sung by the firstborn sons of light,

        It echoes now, "Goodwill!"  Amen.

3.  That life of truth, those deeds of love,

        That death so steeped in hate and scorn--

     These all are past, and now above

        He reigns, our king once crowned with thorn.

     Lift up your heads, O mighty gates!

        So sang that host beyond our ken.

     Lift up your heads, your King awaits.

        We lift them up.  Amen, amen.

4.  Then raise to Christ a mighty song,

        And shout His name, His mercies tell!

     Sing, heav'nly host, your praise prolong,

        And all on earth, your anthem swell!

     All hail, O Lamb for sinners slain!

        Forever, let the song ascend!

     Worthy the Lamb, enthroned to reign,

        All glory, pow'r!  Amen, amen.

Two words are worth noting in this text.  A "type" is a person or a thing in the Old Testament era that in some way foreshadowed the coming Christ.

The word "ken" means "knowledge," so something that is beyond our "ken" means something beyond our realm of experience or knowledge.