Notes on the Notes – December 12, 2021

Advent 3

Our Deepest Gifts – Love

This Week’s Music:

“Light a Candle”

“Light a candle for love in the darkness,
Hearts contest, we know you are near;
Advent watching and waiting for Jesus,
God with us, your purpose is clear,
Emmanuel, love is here;
Love is here!”

Our Advent candle-lighting response was written by Lisa Waites in 2018. Our Advent theme for this week is Love.

“Holy Child Within the Manger”

“Holy Child within the manger, long ago, yet ever near;
Come as friend to ev’ry stranger, come as hope for ev’ry fear.
As you lived to heal the broken, greet the outcast, free the bound.
As you taught us love unspoken, teach us now where you are found.

Once again we tell the story – how your love for us was shown,
When the Image of your glory wore an image like our own.
Come, enlighten with your wisdom, come and fill us with your grace,
May the fire of your compassion kindle ev’ry land and race.

Holy Child within the manger, lead us ever in your way,
So we see in ev’ry stranger how you come to us today.
In our lives and in our living give us strength to live as you,
That our hearts might be forgiving and our spirits strong and true.”

The words for our opening hymn were written by Marty Haugen (1987).  The tune we will be using is the familiar tune BEACH SPRING.

“On Jordan’s Bank” (VU #20 v 1, 2, 4, 5)

“On Jordan’s bank, the Baptist’s cry announces that the Lamb is nigh;
Awake and hearken, for he brings glad tidings of the King of Kings.

Then cleansed be every life from sin; make straight the way for God within;
And let each heart prepare a home where such a mighty guest may come.

Stretch forth your hand, our health restore, and help us rise to fall no more.
O let your face upon us shine, and fill the world with love divine.

All praise to you, eternal Son, whose advent has our freedom won;
And praise to God whom we adore, with Holy Spirit evermore.”

The words of this hymn refer to the story of John the Baptist, a forerunner of Jesus.  John the Baptist urged his followers to repent and be baptized in preparation for the coming of the Messiah.  Charles Coffin, rector of the University of Paris, wrote this Advent hymn in Latin and published it in his Hymni Sacri (1736).  A century later, John Chandler translated it for inclusion in his Hymns of the Primitive Church (1827).  The 17th-century German melody (1690) was brought to England by John Wesley and was arranged by W.H. Harvergal in 1864.

“When God is a Child” (VU #7 v 4)

“Love is a flame that burns in our heart,
Jesus has come and will never depart.
When God is a child there’s joy in our song.
The last shall be first and the weak shall be strong,
And none shall be afraid.”

We will be using one verse of this hymn by Brian Wren for each week of Advent. The words of the song will be reflected in our Advent art work.  Brian Wren wrote this hymn for Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Chicago in Advent 1985.  The tune MOON BEAMS was composed for Wren’s text by Joan Collier Fogg in 1987.

“God So Loved the World”

“God so loved the world that on a starlit night,
He sent His Son, the Promised One, 
To be the world’s True Light, 
To be the world’s True Light.

God so loved the world.
God so loved the world. 

God so loved the world that in a humble place
The angels sand and heaven rang
To celebrate God’s grace.

And shepherds came from the hillside
To see the promise come true.
And there, in Bethlehem’s borrowed room,
They found what love could do,
What God’s love could do.

God so loved the world and loves it still today.
So when we hear the baby cry
And his young mother’s lullaby,
Our hearts sing out the glad reply
God so loved,
God so loved,
God so loved the world.” 

This week’s anthem was written by Mary Kay Beall and references John 3:16.

“Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” (VU #48) 

“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 the angelic host proclaim,  Christ is born in Bethlehem:
Hark! the herald angels sing  Glory to the newborn King.

Christ, by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord,
Late in time behold him come, offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the God-head see; hail, the incarnate deity,
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel!
Hark!  The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King!

Hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by, born that we no more may die;
Born to raise us from the earth, born to give us second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King!”

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

Hear Mario Lanza sing at:  https://youtu.be/idPLtEfad-M

See the carol sung at King’s College Cambridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_iLXNSIaYc

“There’s a Song of Love”

“There’s a song of love in my heart;
Love is a gift from Jesus.
There’s a song of love in my heart;
Love is a gift from God.
Alleluia!  Love in my heart is singing praises.
Alleluia!  Love is a gift from God.”

Our benediction response for the season of Advent was written by Handt Hanson (1996) with piano adaptation by Henry Wiens.

Bonus video: