Notes on the Notes – December 18, 2022
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Welcome Love!
This week’s music:
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (VU #1 v. 2)
“O come, thou wisdom from on high,
Who ord’rest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!”
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is a well-known Advent hymn. While it is most commonly known by that English title, it is in fact a translation of the original Latin, “Veni, Veni, Emmanuel,” from the 9th century. Each week during Advent, we will be using one verse of the hymn as our candle-lighting response. This week’s verse refers to a hope that the one who comes will bring and share God’s wisdom. The dictionary defines wisdom as “the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting.” Through Jesus, we are shown the path to living a full life, if we but follow the ways of wisdom.
Hear the song by For King and Country at: https://youtu.be/draHA_9MS18
“People, Look East” (VU #9)
“People, look east. The time is near
of the crowning of the year.
Make your house fair as you are able,
Trim the hearth and set the table.
People, look east and sing today:
Love the guest is on the way.
Furrows, be glad. Though earth is bare,
one more seed is planted there:
Give up your strength the see to nourish,
That in course the flower may flourish.
People, look east and sing today:
Love the rose is on the way.
Birds, though you long have ceased to build,
Guard the nest that must be filled;
Even the hour when wings are frozen
God for fledgling time has chosen.
People, look east and sing today;
Love the bird is on the way.
Stars, keep the watch. When night is dim
one more light the bowl shall brim,
Shining beyond the frosty weather,
Bright as sun and moon together.
People, look east and sing today:
Love the star is on the way.
Angels, announce with shouts of mirth
Christ who brings new life to earth.
Set every peak and valley humming
With the word, the Lord is coming.
People, look east and sing today;
Love the Lord is on the way.”
The words for this hymn were written by Eleanor Farjeon for The Oxford Book of Carols (1928). Farjeon, a native of London, was a devout Catholic who viewed her faith as “a progression toward which her spiritual life moved rather than a conversion experience.” (The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion, p. 323) She achieved acclaim as an author of children’s nursery rhymes and singing games, and is best remembered for her poem “Morning Has Broken.” The tune, BESANÇON, is an ancient French carol which first appeared in Christmas Carols New and Old (1871), as the setting for “Shepherds, Shake Off Your Drowsy Sleep.” It was harmonized by Martin Fallas Shaw in 1928.
See the carol sung by Canto Deo Chamber Choir at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwel-dlLSAY
“Jesus Came Bringing Us Love” (MV #33)
“Jesus came bringing us love,
Jesus came bringing us love,
Jesus came bringing us love,
Hallelujah, forever more!”
The words and music for this song come from a traditional Cameroon song. It was arranged for inclusion in More Voices in 2007. We will be using the fourth verse of the song as we explore this week’s Advent theme of love.
“Once in Royal David’s City” (VU #62)
“Once in royal David’s city stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed.
Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little child.
He came down to earth from heaven who, with God, is over all,
And his shelter was a stable, and his cradle was a stall.
There among the poor and lowly lived on earth our Saviour holy.
For he is our lifelong pattern; daily, when on earth he grew,
He was tempted, scorned, rejected, tears and smiles like us he knew.
Thus he feels for all our sadness, and he shares in all our gladness.
And our eyes at last shall see him, through his own redeeming love;
For that child who seemed so helpless is our Lord in heaven above;
And he leads his children on to the place where he is gone.”
“Once In Royal David’s City” is a Christmas carol originally written as a poem by Cecil Frances Alexander. The carol was first published in 1848 in Miss Cecil Humphreys’ “Hymns for little Children.” A year later, the English organist Henry John Gauntlett discovered the poem and set it to music. Since 1919, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at the King’s College Chapel Cambridge has begun its Christmas Eve service, with Dr Arthur Henry Mann’s arrangement of “Once in Royal David’s City” as the processional hymn.
See some of the younger members of Libera sing this hymn in 2019: https://youtu.be/mNzgeSUB4fk
“Celebrate Jesus the King”
“A tiny Child was born in royal David’s town.
The Holy Son of God,
Love to the earth come down.
Now let us together praise the King forever.
Glory to God! Hear the angels sing.
Let ev’ry nation sound the jubilation!
Celebrate Jesus, the King!
A tiny Child was born in lowly Bethlehem.
When shepherds heard the news, they ran to worship Him.
Now let us together praise the King forever…
Alleluia! Lift your voice and sing!
Alleluia! Celebrate Jesus, the King!
Let us together praise the King forever…”
This joyful anthem celebrating Jesus’ birth was written by Michael Barrett and J. Paul Williams in 2010.
“May the Spirit of the Christ Child”
“May the Spirit of the Christ Child show us how in love to live
For the joy and peace of Christmas is for us to share and give.
May the story of God’s coming, God with us – Emmanuel,
Fill the world with light of Christmas as in awe we do God’s will.”
Our offering response for the season of Advent uses the familiar melody of ODE TO JOY. Through the words, we are reminded that it is our response and action that brings about God’s kingdom in the world.
“Carols of the Angels”
“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.”
Angels we have heard on high sweetly singing o’er the plains,
And the mountains in reply echo back their joyous strains.
Gloria in excelsis Deo,
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
The first Noel, the angel did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay-
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep,
On a cold winter’s night that was so deep.
Noel, noel! Noel, noel! Born is the King of Israel!
Noel, noel! Noel, noel! Born is the King of Israel!
Hail the Heav’n-born 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.”
Glory to the newborn King.”
This medley of Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Angels We Have Heard on High and The First Noel was arranged by Camp Kirkland in 2001.
The carol we now know as “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” did not start life as such, and required at least four people to bring it to its current form. Charles Wesley wrote the original words as a Christmas Day hymn and first published it in 1739, with ten four-line verses, rather than the longer eight-line verses with refrain which we have now. The tune was composed by Felix Mendelssohn for his Festgesang, Op. 68. It was scored for male voices with brass accompaniment, for the Gutenberg Festival in 1840 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the invention of the printing press. It was adapted into a hymn tune by William Hayman Cummings in 1856.
Hear Frank Sinatra sing at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GWFdFqLKZ4
From “A Charlie Brown Christmas:” https://youtu.be/wTu00FCLgPs?list=RDwTu00FCLgPs
Many years ago shepherds in the hills of southern France had a Christmas Eve custom of calling to one another, singing “Gloria in Excelsis Deo,” each from his own hillside. The traditional tune that the shepherds used may have been from a late Medieval Latin chorale. It became the magnificent chorus of “Angels We Have Heard on High.”
See Andrea Bocelli at: https://youtu.be/B5iaV989_5M
See Pentatonix sing the carol at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAMzAIH12yc
Enjoy Lindsey Stirling’s violin interpretation at: https://youtu.be/IFsDAoCHYiQ
The text of the carol, The First Noel, likely dates from the 17th century or earlier. It was published in 1823 in a book of old English carols. The tune, a traditional West Country melody, may be a fragment of an older English carol melody.
Watch Jacki Evancho from 2011 at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm6yI1OrbzM
Hear a version of the carol with Pachelbel’s Canon at: https://youtu.be/JqvX0B0GK74
“Saviour, Dwell with Us” (VU #48)
“Saviour, dwell with us that we may go forth, your light to be.
Send us out, good news to sing; hope, peace, joy, and love to bring.
God incarnate, with us dwell. Come, O come, Emmanuel.
Come, Lord Jesus, don’t delay; shine your love through us this day.
Saviour, dwell with us that we may go forth, your light to be.”
Our benediction response will be sung to the tune of “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing (VU #48).” As we go into this last week before Christmas, we are reminded of our work to bring God’s love to the world.
