This Sunday we will experience the final Sunday after Epiphany before we enter the season of Lent. This will also be the last time that we sing ALLELUIA! during worship until Easter, so several of our hymns incorporate Alleluia!
Our Processional hymn will be Ye watchers and ye holy ones, written in 1909 by John Athelstan Riley. Riley was involved in compiling The English Hymnal of 1906 and contributed several hymn translations. This hymn is based, in part, on the Te Deum laudamus, an ancient hymn that is still used in both the Eastern and Western branches of the Church. You are God: we praise you; You are the Lord: we acclaim you; You are the eternal Father: all creation worships you. As this hymn is sung, contemplate the vastness of creation as it worships God continually, in heaven and on earth, past and present, including angels and Christians of all traditions. (Hymnary.org)
The Sequence hymn will be Christ, upon the mountain peak, written by Brian Wren in 1962. He based the text on the gospel story of Christ’s transfiguration. Powerfully poetic, it not only captures something of the awe in the event -- we share in the awe as we sing “Alleluia” -- but also presents a cosmic picture: the saints, angels, prophets, all nations, and the whole creation bring praise to the true Son of God! (Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988, Hymnary.org)
St. Martin’s Choir will sing an arrangement of Antonio Vivaldi’s canon titled, All Earth Rejoice with a Gladsome Voice by Hal H. Hopson. The text is very reminiscent of the Te Deum:
All the earth rejoice with a gladsome voice; now sing we alleluia.
Praise the Lord, Rejoice, rejoice and sing.
Sing alleluia, sing, O praise the Lord. Sound the trumpet; sound the harp. Praise the Lord.
(copyright 1992 by Belwin Mills, text and arrangement by Hal H. Hopson, all rights reserved)
Our Communion hymn will be Alleluia, song of gladness and comes from the Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal. It is an alternate text of the 11 century hymn Alleluia, dulce carmen that was translated by John M Neale in 1861. It finds us in our current journey as we anticipate Ash Wednesday and gives hope to us as we contemplate where we are today and our eternal desire to forever sing Alleluia joyfully! (Copyright 2006 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Augsburg Fortress, Publishers)
Our final hymn is another “oldie by goodie” Revive Us Again, or We praise Thee, O God! It was written in 1863 by William P Mackay, a Presbyterian minister in Scotland. He writes about his own conversion from a life of selfishness. While a young physician, he found himself treating a dying man who demonstrated great faith and joy. When the man died he left Mackay his special book. Upon looking at the book, Mackay realized that it was Mackay’s own childhood Bible that his mother had given him and that he had sold in earlier years when he needed funds. He was so moved that he converted to faithful Christianity and pursued the ministry. He also wrote several hymns, including this one found in our Lift Every Voice hymnal. (Then Sings My Soul, 150 of the World’s greatest hymn stories; copyright 2003 by Robert J. Morgan)