Sunday, January 3, 2016

Still Shining For Me (Day Ten)



I think of that star of long ago
That lighted the wanderers’ path below;
In faith I look up, and o’er me I see
That star in its beauty still shining for me.

Refrain
O star that once shone over Bethlehem!
Thy beams yet to mortals great joy proclaim.
Jesus to adore, I hasten with thee,
O star in thy beauty still shining for me.

It sheds on the world its peaceful rays,
And greets every mortal with heav’nly grace.
To Bethlehem’s Babe I hasten with thee,
O star, in thy beauty, still shining for me.
Refrain

No clouds can obscure that kindly star,
Nor brightness of noonday its glories mar;
When shadows of death surround me, I’ll see
That star in its beauty still shining for me.
Refrain

Text and Tune: Andrew L. Skoog, 1921
Tune: BETHLEHEM'S STAR (Irregular with refrain)

Andrew Skoog was born in Sweden in 1856 and his family emigrated to the United States when he was a child.  He grew up in Chicago and later lived in Minneapolis, where he was a church organist, music director and Sunday School teacher, and he also published a Swedish language newspaper, Veckobladet (The Weekly Blade). He was elected to the Minneapolis City Council in 1891.

He was involved in the compilation of seven different hymn collections, some in Swedish. His own hymns and choir anthems number over three hundred, many written in both Swedish and English versions.  This particular text is titled Bethlehems Stjärna in Swedish.



Six Years Ago: We three kings

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