The Feast of the Epiphany

January sixth is always the date for this celebration of Christ revealed to the world through the visit of strangers from another land (Matthew 2), though most churches will move it to a Sunday. Epiphany on the church calendar dates back to the fourth century, where it celebrated the whole Nativity narrative (before Christmas became a separate event with its own date).

Katherine Lee Bates (1859-1929), best known for America the beautiful, wrote this Epiphany poem in 1905 and it appeared in a handful of hymnals (though apparently not since the Methodist Hymnal of 1935).  As you'll see, second stanza is probably the reason for this. The "kings" are traditional rather than scriptural, though tradition has won out in this case.

The kings of the east are riding
Tonight to Bethlehem;
The sunset glows dividing,
The kings of the east are riding,
A star their journey guiding,
Gleaming with gold and gem.
The kings of the east are riding
Tonight to Bethlehem.

To a strange sweet harp of Zion
The starry host troops forth:
The golden-glaived Orion
To a strange sweet harp of Zion,
The Archer and the Lion,
The Watcher of the north:
To a strange sweet harp of Zion
The starry host sweeps forth.

There beams above a manger
The child-face of a star;
Amid the stars a stranger,
It beams above a manger,
What means this ether-ranger
To pause where poor folk are?
There beams above a manger
The child-face of a star.

Katharine Lee Bates, 1905
Tune: WALLACE (Irregular)
Clarence G. Hamilton, 1905

Eight Years Ago: Saw you never, in the twilight

Seven Years Ago: Earth has many a noble city

Six Years Ago: What star is this, with beams so bright

Five Years Ago: As with gladness those of old

Four Years Ago: O thou, who by a star didst guide

Three Years Ago: Lo! the pilgrim Magi

One Year Ago: Hail, O Source of every blessing

The Feast of the Presentation

Forty days after Christmas we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation, or Candlemas, an occasion described in Luke 2:22-40. Mary and Joseph have brought the infant Jesus to the temple to carry out the required rituals, and there they meet Simeon and Anna, two faithful servants of God who have been waiting for the fulfillment of God's promise.

This hymn by James Montgomery is probably most often sung at Christmas, but in fact it encompasses these whole forty days, moving on to Epiphany in stanza three and this feast day in stanza four. I must admit that I had sung this hymn for many years before realizing that the saints mentioned in the last stanza were actually Anna and Simeon.

Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o’er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.

Refrain
Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

Shepherds, in the field abiding,
Watching o’er your flocks by night,
God with us is now residing;
Yonder shines the infant Light:
Refrain

Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great Desire of nations;
Ye have seen his natal star.
Refrain

Saints, before the altar bending,
Watching long in hope and fear;
Suddenly the Christ, descending,
In the temple shall appear.
Refrain

James Montgomery, 1816; alt.
Tune: REGENT SQUARE (8.7.8.7.8.7.)
Henry T. Smart, 1867

REGENT SQUARE is probably the most well-known tune by Victorian composer Henry Smart (though LANCASHIRE would be a close second). In the course of writing this blog I have discovered that I like several other tunes by Smart which are no longer sung often, and have presented some of them here on the site (click Smart's tag below).


P.S. - The illustration above is detail from The Presentation in the Temple by Philippe de Champaigne (1648) done for the high altar of the Church of Saint-Honore in Paris.



Eight Years Ago: O Zion, open wide thy gates

Seven Years Ago: Hail to the Lord who comes

Six Years Ago: O Jerusalem beloved (now on Facebook)

Five Years Ago: In peace and joy I now depart

Three Years Ago: In the temple now behold him

Two Years Ago: Joy! joy! the Mother comes

The Feast of the Epiphany

Twelve days after Christmas we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, marked by the visitation of the Magi to the infant Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12), and beginning a season in the church year that commemorates the revelation of Jesus as the child of God to the people of the world.  The painting above, Adoration of the Magi by Jacopo Pontormo (c.1520), shows those strangers paying homage to the child, but behind them there streams a long procession of pilgrims waiting to do the same thing, illustrating the broader meaning of the season..

Hail, O source of every blessing,
Sovereign God of humankind!
Nations now, your truth possessing,
To your courts admission find.

Once revealed to Eastern sages,
See the star of mercy shine;
Mystery hid in former ages,
Mystery great of love divine.

Gratefully we come before you,
In your church obtain a place,
Now by faith behold your glory,
Praise your Name, and taste your grace.

Once far off, but now invited,
We approach your sacred throne;
In your covenant united,
Reconciled, redeemed, made one.

May we, body, soul, and spirit,
Live devoted to your praise,
Glorious realms of bliss inherit,
Grateful anthems ever raise!

Basil Woodd, 1810; alt.
Tune: PETERSON (8.7.8.7.)
Emily Swan Perkins, 1921

The Reverend Basil Woodd (1760-1831) prepared a collection of psalm and scriptural paraphrases with a very long title: New Metrical Version of the Psalms of David; With an Appendix of Select Psalms and Hymns; Adapted to the Service of the United Church of England and Ireland: For Every Sunday in the Year, Festival Days, Saints' Days, &c. (1794).

Composer Emily Swan Perkins (1866-1941) was a founding member of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada and also for many years its corresponding secretary.



Seven Years Ago: Saw you never, in the twilight

Six Years Ago: Earth has many a noble city

Five Years Ago: What star is this, with beams so bright

Four Years Ago: As with gladness those of old

Three Years Ago: O thou, who by a star didst guide

Two Years Ago: Lo! the pilgrim Magi

A Hush of Expectation

In some traditions we are still in the liturgical season of Epiphany, which will run until the Sunday before Lent -- March 2 this year (when we hear the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus).  It's a long season in 2014; often we have already passed Ash Wednesday by this time.

There are still hymns that can be used for the season without singing about the three kings and the star over Bethlehem, even though some worship planners are out of ideas.  Light is a recurring Epiphany theme, as well as the spreading of the awareness of Jesus.  Today the light comes from the dawn of the coming day of God, which seems appropriate for Epiphany, and also for other times of the year as well.

I encountered this text in an interesting collection I recently found, Social Hymns of Brotherhood and Aspiration (1914), though I suspect it was not first published there.

There’s a light upon the mountains,
As we greet the coming morn;
When our eyes shall see the beauty
And the splendors of the dawn;
Weary was our heart with waiting,
And the night-watch seemed so long,
But the jubilee is breaking
And we hail it with a song.

There’s a hush of expectation
And a quiet in the air
And the breath of God is moving
In the fervent breath of prayer;
Then we hear a distant music
And it comes with fuller swell;
’Tis the triumph-song of Jesus,
Promised One, Immanuel!

Christ is breaking down the barriers,
He is casting up the way;
He is calling for his angels
To build up the gates of day:
But his angels here are human,
Not the shining hosts above;
For the drumbeats of this legion
Are the heartbeats of our love.

Henry Burton, 1910; alt.
Tune: TON-Y-BOTEL (8.7.8.7.D.)
Thomas J. Williams, 1890

The Baptism of Christ

The Sunday after the Feast of the Epiphany sometimes commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by his cousin John, as told in Matthew 3: 13-16.  Infant or adult baptisms are often performed today in churches which mark this day, but even if there are no such celebrations the people of the congregation may renew their baptismal vows together.

O God, our strength in weakness,
We pray to you for grace,
Patience to trust your promise,
And speed to run the race;
When your baptismal waters
Were poured upon our brow,
We then were made your children
And pledged our earliest vow.

So we on earth are blessèd
For we shall see the Lord,
Forever and forever,
By seraphim adored;
And we shall drink the pleasure
Such as no tongue can tell
From heav'ns clear crystal river,
And life’s eternal well.

Then sing to our Creator,
Who formed us with great love;
And sing to God the Savior
Who leads to realms above;
Sing we with saints and angels
Before the heavenly throne,
To God the Holy Spirit,
Sing to the Three in One.

Christopher Wordsworth, 1881; alt.
Tune: STOKE (7.6.7.6.D.)
Mrs. G. E. Cole, 1889

Christopher Wordsworth wrote this text toward the end of his life, long after his major collection The Holy Year (1862).  He was Bishop of Lincoln from 1868 until his death in 1885, and apparently wrote this hymn for the handbook of the Lincoln Girls' Friendly Society.   Many of his other hymns have already appeared here (click on the tag below).

I am unable to find anything more about Mrs. G. E. Cole, whose tune first appeared in the 1889 supplement of Hymns Ancient and Modern (not even her name!).  It's likely that the initials belong to her husband.



Five Years Ago: 'I come,' the great Redeemer cries

The Feast of the Epiphany

Twelve days after Christmas we come again to the Feast of the Epiphany, marked by the familiar story of three royal visitors to the infant Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12).  

Many churches probably celebrated this occasion yesterday but there will be some service today in various places.

Lo! the pilgrim magi
Leave their royal halls,
And with eager footsteps
Speed to Bethlehem's walls;
As they onward journey,
Faith, which firmly rests,
Built on hope unswerving,
Triumphs in their breasts.

Refrain: 
Praise to the Creator,
Fount of Life alone;
who unto the nations,
made Christ's glory known.

O what joy and gladness
Filled each heart, from far
When, to guide their footsteps,
Shone that radiant star;
O'er that home so holy,
Pouring down its ray,
Where the cradled infant
With his mother lay.
Refrain

Costly pomp and splendor
Earthly kings array;
Christ, a mightier Monarch,
Hath a nobler sway;
Straw may be his pallet,
Mean his garb may be,
Yet with power transcendent
He all hearts can free.
Refrain

At his crib they worship,
Kneeling on the floor,
And their God there present,
In that babe adore;
To our God and Savior
We, as seekers true,
Give our hearts o'erflowing,
Give our tribute due.
Refrain

Charles Coffin, 1736;
tr, John David Chambers, 1857; alt.
Tune: ARMAGEDDON (6.5.6.5.D. with refrain)
Luise Richardt, 19th cent.;
adapt. John Goss, 1871 

The Roman Catholic Charles Coffin wrote his hymns in Latin, most for the Paris Breviary (1736).  We saw a much more familiar Epiphany hymn by Coffin a few years ago.

Luise Reichardt (1779-1826), born in Berlin, was the daughter of two composers, Juliane Reichardt and Johann Friedrich Reichardt.  One of her grandfathers had been concert master in the court of Frederick the Great.  Her earliest published songs appeared in 1800 in a collection of her father's work.  This particular melody was adapted into a hymn tune by John Goss, and has been used most often with the text Who is on the Lord's side.




Five Years Ago: Saw you never, in the twilight

Four Years Ago:  Earth has many a noble city

Three Years Ago: What star is this, with beams so bright

Two Years Ago: As with gladness those of old

One Year Ago:  O thou, who by a star didst guide

The Feast of the Epiphany

This year, January 6 falls on a Sunday, so the Feast of the Epiphany can be celebrated on its own day, instead of being transferred, as many churches usually do.  Today's hymn is by our old friend John Mason Neale, first published in his Hymns for Children (1842).

O thou who by a star didst guide
The sages on their way,
Until it came and stood beside
The place where Jesus lay.

Although by stars thou dost not lead
Thy people now below,
The Holy Spirit, when we need,
Will show us how to go.

As yet we know thee but in part;
But still we trust thy Word,
That blessèd are the pure in heart,
For they shall find the Lord.

Creator give us then thy grace
To make us pure in heart,
That we may see thee face to face
Hereafter, as thou art.

John Mason Neale, 1842; alt.

Tune: CREDITON (C.M.)

Thomas Clark, c. 1807

Four Years Ago: Saw you never, in the twilight 

Three Years Ago: Earth has many a noble city 

Two Years Ago: What star is this, with beams so bright 

One Year Ago: As with gladness those of old

The Feast of the Epiphany

January 6 is the "official" date for the Feast of the Epiphany, though your church may celebrate it on Sunday. In some parts of the world, it is better known as Three Kings Day, but by any name it marks the visit to the infant Jesus by people of distant countries (whether they were indeed kings, or magi, or whatever), as opposed to the nearby shepherds. It signifies the eventual importance of this baby who was to be known around the world, not just in Bethlehem or Galilee.

This hymn was written by William Chatterton Dix, whose work we have seen before, and appeared in his first collection, Hymns of Love and Joy (1861). Reportedly he wrote it on the feast day, January 6, 1856.

As with gladness those 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 to thee.

As with joyful steps they sped

To that lowly manger-bed;

There to bend the knee before

Christ, whom heaven and earth adore;

So may we with willing feet

Ever seek the mercy seat.

As they offered gifts most rare

At that manger 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 heavenly King.

Holy Jesus! every 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.

In that heavenly country bright,

Need they no created light;

Thou its light, its joy, its crown,

Thou its sun which goes not down;

There for ever may we sing

Alleluias echoing.

William Chatterton Dix, 1856; alt.

Tune: DIX (7.7.7.7.7.7.)

Conrad Kocher, 1838; adapt. William H. Monk, 1861

This well-known tune was altered slightly from its German original form by William Henry Monk, editor of Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861), where it was first matched to this text. It was probably also Monk who named the tune for this text's author.

P.S. You may have thought that after three years (beginnning a fourth later this month) that we have run out of familiar hymns, but as you can see we're not done yet.

Three Years Ago: Saw you never, in the twilight

Two Years Ago: Earth has many a noble city

One Year Ago: What star is this, with beams so bright

P.S. You may have thought that after three years (beginnning a fourth later this month) that we have run out of familiar hymns, but as you can see we're not done yet.

Three Years Ago: Saw you never, in the twiligh

Two Years Ago: Earth has many a noble city

One Year Ago: What star is this, with beams so bright

However Long the Journey

O star of Truth, down-shining,
Through clouds of doubt and fear,
I ask beneath thy guidance
My pathway may appear.
However long the journey,
However hard it be,
Though I be lone and weary,
Lead on, I follow thee.

I know thy blessèd radiance
Can never lead astray,
Though ancient creed and custom
May point some other way.
E’en if through untrod desert,
Or over trackless sea,
Though I be lone and weary,
Lead on, I follow thee.



Minot Judson Savage, 1883; alt.
Tune: MUNICH (7.6.7.6.D.)
Neuvermehrtes Gesangbuch, 1693
harm. Felix Mendelssohn, 1847


Two Years Ago: Phillips Brooks

As Christ, the Morning Star

The Epiphany season continues in many churches, with lessons about Christ revealing his glory to the world. The image of Jesus as the Morning Star comes from Revelation 22:16, and we know it from another popular hymn often sung during this season. This text is even earlier, and still appears in Lutheran hymnals.

The Savior sent from heaven,
Foretold by ancient seers,
By our Creator given,
In human form appears.
No sphere his light confining,
No star so brightly shining,
As Christ, our Morning Star.

O time of God appointed,
O bright and holy morn!
The Sovereign One anointed,
The Christ, the virgin-born,
Grim death to vanquish for us,
To open heav'n before us,
And bring us life again.

Awaken now our spirit
To know and love you more,
In faith to stand unshaken,
In spirit to adore,
That we, through this world moving,
Each glimpse of heaven proving,
May reap in fullness there.

Creator, here before you,
With God the Holy Ghost,
And Jesus, we adore you,
O pride of angel-host.
Before you mortals lowly
Cry "Holy, Holy, Holy,"
Eternal Trinity!

Elizabeth Cruciger, 1524
tr. Arthur Tozer Russell, 1851; alt.
Tune: MEIN FREUD (7.6.7.6.7.7.6.)
Erfurt Enchiridion, 1524

Elizabeth Cruciger was the first Lutheran woman to write hymns. Born around 1500, she married Caspar Cruciger, a student of Martin Luther whom Luther encouraged and helped in various ways. Elizabeth also became a friend of Luther's wife Katherine. This text appeared in the Enchiridion, published in Erfurt in 1524, one of the first Protestant hymnals, and Luther later included it in some of his own hymn collections. It was first translated into English by Arthur Tozer Russell in his Psalms and Hymns (1851), an Anglican hymnbook.

The tune was selected by Cruciger hersself, but it was based on an older German folk tune often matched with the secular text Mein Freud mocht such wohl mehren. Like many other chorale melodies set down in the Enchiridion, it was used by Johann Sebastian Bach in some of his cantatas and organ works.


Two Years Ago: Wisdom eternal, brooding o'er creation

The Feast of the Epiphany

Today's Feast of the Epiphany marks the visit of the "three kings" to the baby Jesus and his parents, told in Matthew 2:1-12, though as you can see they aren't called kings there, nor are there said to be three of them.

Another important part of the story is the star that led them on their journey, which always appears in the hymns for this day. Its appearance was foretold in Numbers 24:17, which reads in part: There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, which many will recognize from a popular Epiphany anthem by Felix Mendelssohn.

Today's hymn was written in Latin (Quae stella sole pulchrior) by Charles Coffin and appeared in the Roman Catholic Paris Breviary (1736). It was translated by John Chandler a century later though it has been much altered since.

What star is this, with beams so bright,
More beauteous than the noonday light?
It shines to herald forth the Word.
Of whom the nations long have heard.

True spake the prophet from afar
Who told the rise of this bright star:
And eastern sages with amaze
Upon the wondrous token gaze.

The guiding star above is bright:
Within them shines a clearer light,
And leads them on with power benign
To seek the Giver of the sign.

Their love can brook no dull delay,
Though toil and danger block the way;
Home, kindred, native land, and all
They leave at their Creator's call.

To God our Maker, heav'nly Light,
To Christ, revealed to earthly sight,
And to the Holy Spirit, raise
Our equal and unceasing praise.

Charles Coffin, 1736
tr. John Chandler, 1837; alt.

Tune: PUER NOBIS (L.M.)
Michael Praetorius, 1609
harm. George Woodward, 1901

Two Years Ago: Saw you never, in the twilight

One Year Ago: Earth has many a noble city

Proclaimed the Present Lord

One of the gospel passages that often comes around during the season of Epiphany is the story of Jesus turning water into wine during a wedding celebration at Cana, told in John 2:1-11. Many churches will hear that lesson today.

There are a number of hymns that mention Cana, but most of them are in praise of the institution of marriage. However, the wedding itself was certainly not the point of the story (which took place at what we would call the reception, anyway). John lays it out pretty clearly at the end of the passage: Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Nothing there about marriage. It's part of the continuing Epiphany story, Christ revealing his divine nature to the world.

The author of this text did get the point. Hyde Wyndham Beaton was ordained in the Church of England and served mainly rural parishes. In 1863 he co-edited The Parish Hymn Book, which contained this hymn.

Glory to thee, O Christ,
Who by thy mighty power
Didst manifest thy glory forth
In Cana’s marriage hour.

Thou spakest: it was done:
Obedient to thy word,
The water redd'ning into wine
Proclaimed the present Lord.

Blest were the guests who saw
That wondrous mystery,
The great beginning of thy works
That kindled faith in thee.

And blessèd they who know
Thine unseen presence true,
When in the promise of thy grace
Thou makest all things new.

For by thy loving hand
Thy people still are fed;
Thine is the cup of blessing here
And thine the heav'nly bread.

O may that grace be ours,
Ever in thee to live,
And drink of those refreshing streams,
Which thou alone canst give.

So, led from strength to strength,
Grant us, O Christ, to see
The promised supper of the Lamb,
Thy great Epiphany.

Hyde W. Beaton, 1863; alt.
Tune: ST. MICHAEL (S.M.)
Louis Bourgeois, 1551
adapt. William Crotch, 1836

A hymn with seven stanzas seems long to some, but they're short ones. And I like each of them for one reason or another, so I didn't see any to leave out. You could also sing this to that most popular of Short Meter tunes, ST. THOMAS, but that seems just a little too jaunty to me in this case.

Louis Bourgeois was the compiler of the Genevan Psalter where this tune first appeared, and was also the probable composer of a more famous tune in that collection, that we know as OLD HUNDREDTH (matched, of course, with that psalm). Composer William Crotch altered this tune a bit, probably reharmonizing it, nearly three hundred years later. Crotch's most well-known piece, perhaps a bit out of fashion these days, is the Epiphany anthem Lo, star-led chiefs, a chorus from his oratorio Palestine (1812).


P.S. The illustration above is a portion of The Wedding at Cana, painted by the seventeenth century artist Mattia Preti. (click to enlarge)

The Feast of the Epiphany

The Feast of the Epiphany, now observed twelve days after Christmas, is in fact the older of the two observances. As early as the fourth century, this day was marked to celebrate the Incarnation, including the Nativity, the visit of the three magi, the baptism of Christ in the Jordan, and even the anniversary of Jesus's first miracle at Cana. Now, of course, we've broken those all up into different occasions, with Christmas overshadowing them all.

The season of Epiphany retained the other observances of the Incarnation, those examples of Christ showing his divine nature to the world around him, leaving the date of January 6 for the story of the sages from the East (but signifying the nations of the world) following a brilliant star which guided them to the wondrous birth in Bethlehem.

This particular hymn also dates from the fourth century, though it was not a part of the Catholic Epiphany liturgy until 1570, following the Council of Trent. Marcus Aurelius Clemens Prudentius only became a Christian poet late in life, after careers as a lawyer and judge. This text (O sola magnarum urbium) begins at line 77 of a much longer work, Quicumque Christum quaeritis. It has been translated into English several times; this one is based on a version by Edward Caswall, altered by the editors of Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1861 (where it was first matched to this tune).

Earth has many a noble city;
Bethlehem, thou dost all excel;
Out of thee the Christ from heaven
Came to rule o'er Israel.

Fairer than the sun at morning
Was the star that told his birth,
To the world its God announcing
Seen in fleshly form on earth.

Eastern sages at his cradle
Make oblations rich and rare;
See them give, in deep devotion,
Gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Sacred gifts of mystic meaning:
Incense doth their God disclose,
Gold the promised reign proclaimeth,
Myrrh his sepulcher foreshows.

Jesus, whom the nations worshipped
At thy glad Epiphany,
Unto Thee, with the Creator
And the Spirit, glory be.

Aurelius Prudentius, 4th cent.
tr. Edward Caswall, 1849; alt.
Tune: STUTTGART (8.7.8.7.)
Psalmodia Sacra; 1715
adapt. Henry J. Gauntlett, 1861


One Year Ago: We Too May Seek That Cradle