A page is turned

A page is turned, and with the turn another year is gone, 
And whether for the good or ill our lives are moving on.

The humble birth of God’s own son falls further in the past;
Now, in such days of hate and fear our hopes can fade so fast. 

Our eyes did not behold the sight of child in manger laid, 
Nor did our ears first hear the song the angel chorus made.

In times of educated doubt it can defy our will
To hold the hope that this low birth would in our hearts instill. 

Lord, in this year approaching fast be born in us anew,
And place on us your holy charge to do the good and true.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, December 2022. 

MUSIC: Tune ST. FLAVIAN, Day's Psalter, 1562. 

The twelve hymns of Christmas continue with a New Year's Eve reflection on holding on to the hope manifested in the Nativity amidst hard and doubtful times. 

Star-watchers on the road

Star-watchers on the road, out from their Eastern lands,

Are following a special star 'cross rivers, rocks, and sands.

What do they hope to see? What means this stellar sign

To scholars who are traveling far because these stars align?

 

They travel so because they take this star as news

That one now born has come to be a new King of the Jews. 

Their homage they will pay, and gifts they will bestow;

And then, their work complete and done, with gladness they will go.

 

So surely they must seek a palace grand and fair,

For where else might a newborn king be housed and fed but there?

This wondrous guiding star must lead them to a place

Of grandeur fine, and not a town of humble peasant grace.

 

And so they journey on, this special child to find.

They travel with this single goal and regal place in mind.

How can they comprehend what they are yet to see?

And will they come to understand this holy mystery?

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, December 2022.

MUSIC: Tune TERRA BEATA, Franklin L. Sheppard, 1915.

 

 

 

Apparently the "twelve hymns of Christmas" are going to continue, and at this point (being halfway there) why not? What about those Magi traveling so far to see this "king of the Jews"? What are they expecting to see at this stage of their journey?

 

O little town

O little town we saw before, so precious in our sight,

How have you passed those days and hours since that most holy night?

What of those restless travelers, bound here by law of Rome

To register and give account in their ancestral home?

 

What of that child born in this town, laid in a manger stall,

Whose birth drew shepherds to this place who heard an angel's call? 

What of his mother Mary dear, and father Joseph too, 

Those homeless migrants stranded in your town; what did you do?

 

O little town we call our own, or city great or small,

Or rural route, or mountainside, wherever home may fall: 

How do we welcome strangers who vainly seek a place?

May we yet learn to show them all God's mercy and God's grace.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, December 2022.

MUSIC: Tune FOREST GREEN, English folk melody; arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906.

            Alternate tune ST. LOUIS, Lewis Henry Redner, 1868.

 

 

Since this potential "twelve hymns of Christmas" thing hasn't let go yet, what was it like in Bethlehem after that night had passed? And what did become of all those folks who had to come in for that census, or to Mary and Joseph and the child Jesus, after that night? And what would happen in our town in such a circumstance?

How did those shepherds

How did those shepherds spend that lonely night,

Unlike that glorious night that came before?

No angels singing, no more holy light,

Only their sheep to watch, and nothing more.

 

Oh, how that night brought fear and then great joy!

Heavenly the song of God's own love did shine!

Into the town to see an infant boy,

Small child, and yet the Son of God divine!

 

Now nights have passed, none like that night before.

Bound to their flock until the break of day,

Still they kept watch, for sheep and yet for more, 

Watching for hope, for love, for God's new way.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, December 2022.

MUSIC: Tune EVENTIDE, William Henry Monk, 1861.

 

 

What *did* those shepherds do when keeping watch over their flocks by night, after *that* night?

On the third day of this Christmas

On the third day of this Christmas,

How our faith is feeling worn!

The Nativity is past us; 

Our attention is now torn.

What we saw and felt and wondered

Threatens now to fade away; 

Help our faith, O God our Maker,

As we mark another day.

 

On the third day of this Christmas,

How our hope is wearing thin!

Moving toward a looming new year,

There is not much left within.

What we face ahead is daunting; 

Can we possibly endure?

Lift our hope, O Holy Spirit,

And our confidence assure. 

 

On the third day of this Christmas,

How our love is fraying fast! 

Stress and strain drive us to wonder

If our good can ever last.

In a world demanding of us

What we don't know how to give,

Keep our love, O Christ our Savior,

Shining forth in how we live.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, December 2022.

MUSIC: Tune NETTLETON, Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second, 1813.

 

 

It is not my intention to come up with some kind of "Twelve Hymns of Christmas" marathon, but this particular sequence of days is, so far, provoking reflections that end up attaching themselves to tunes. Make of it what you will.  

In the time of Christmas present

In the time of Christmas present,

We, to mark Your work begun,

Celebrate the birth of Jesus,

Son of God, the Holy One.

We sing songs of praise and wonder

For the thing that You have done:

"Christ the Savior is born."

 

In our joyous celebrations

Children sing and organs play.

Candles flicker in the darkness

As the night o'ertakes the day.

Still, we long for holy quiet

As we journey on Your way:

"Come, let us adore him."

 

For we wait this holy coming

In a world of blinding noise,

One that in its boisterous clamor

Settles for such lesser toys.

How can we, amidst such furor,

Hear Your word and all its joys?

"Christ the Savior is born."

 

Help us, Lord, in such confusion,

Keep our hearts affixed on You; 

Teach us how to bear Your word in

All we say and all we do.

Train our thoughts on Jesus only,

Who is holy, good, and true:

"Come, let us adore him."

 

 

Text: Charles Spence Freeman, December 2022.

Music: Tune DIVINUM MYSTERIUM, Plainsong, Mode V 

I can only guess that folks who are heavily invovled in a church's observances of the seasons of Advent and Christmas (and maybe even Epiphany) can get thoroughly overwhelmed by the work at times and lose the thread that makes those seasons matter (raises hand). I also wonder if for everybody - ministers, musicians, congregations - it can be sorely challenging to keep that thread amidst the ferocious drumbeat of "the holidays" (a name that in some forms truly respects none of the observances that happen in this time). This text tries to sort through all that. A couple of phrases from familiar carols of the season do pop in, and the use of a chant tune is deliberate in a way I am not certain I can explain, as is the old-fashioned use of capitalized second-person pronouns in addressing God. 

Come, you faithful ones, rejoicing (new tune!)

Come, you faithful ones, rejoicing;

            Come, you seekers of our God!

See the wondrous incarnation;

            Come, be joyful and be awed!

See this infant and behold

            God in human flesh enrolled!

See the wonder of salvation

            Come to us and every nation.

 

With the shepherds watch and wonder

            At this unexpected sight:

See the child with mother Mary,

            Wrapped against the chill of night.

Yet this infant that you see

            Son of God has come to be.

Let your praise be now unceasing

            And with love your joy increasing!

 

Celebrate the child Messiah!

            Celebrate the newborn Lord!

Celebrate with songs of gladness!

            Celebrate with one accord!

Let the good news spread abroad

            Of our incarnated God!

For this saving love endeavor

            Glory to our God forever!

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, January 2022.

MUSIC: Tune NEWBORN LORD, Dreama Lovitt, November 2022. Used by permission.

The most exciting thing! This Christmas text from last year has a rollicking fun new tune! (Hopefully I don't sabotage it at our Christmas Eve service with my attempts to play the tambourine part...)

Nothing in life

Nothing in life, nothing in death can separate us

From the love of our God given in our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, November 2022, after Romans 8:38-39.

MUSIC: Tune QUARTET NO. 4, George Whitefield Chadwick, 1896.

 

 

An "acapella shout" (but it doesn't have to be a shout) roughly summarizing Paul's declaration of assurance to the church at Rome. The tune is lifted wholesale from the fourth movement of a string quartet by the composer who most occupied my studies back in my musicology days. 

 

A Night Hymn

Now let the darkness put to flight the shine of daytime's light,

And let our weary bodies keep the rule of night and sleep.

 

Now let the falling evening shade be in our eyes displayed,

And let those eyes then close for rest so we might live our best.

 

Now let the blackness of the sky lift up our souls on high,

And let those souls be thrilled and awed in nearness to our God.

 

Now let us rest until we know the spark of daytime's glow,

And let rested bodies rise to live as God's own prize.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, November 2022.

MUSIC: Suggested tune TALLIS' ORDINAL, Thomas Tallis, c.1567, alt.

 

 

A hymn for night and going to sleep.

In a time of endless hatred

In a time of endless hatred, playing hard upon our fears,

First one shooting, then another, draining all our store of tears;

Will this always be our fortune, marking all our days and years?

 

Yet we know, when we remember what our history has taught,

That this violence is no new thing; is our living all for nought?

Will we ever learn your justice? Can we live as yet we ought?

 

From the making of false idols, hollow strength and wayward pride,

Claiming slaughter as a birthright with these weapons that divide; 

From such horrifying falsehood, teach us, Lord, to turn aside.

 

In our tears and in our anger, let us never be dismayed; 

You are still our God, no matter how those demons are arrayed. 

Let our hope be founded on you; teach us not to be afraid.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, November 2022.

MUSIC: Tune TRINITY, Peter Cutts, 1983. Copyright 1983 Hope Publishing Company (hence not reproduced here).

I struggle with responses to recent events, especially tragedies or especially crimes of the like that have been too common of late (unlike others whose hymns can be found in these realms). It's too easy to slip into anger, and to paraphrase David Banner you wouldn't like my writing when I'm angry. But eventually something has to come out. This is what came out today. We'll see if it develops.

Two general Advent hymns

Apparently the Advent season is a major inspiration point for my hymn writing thing. These two are more general hymns for the season rather than being tied to specific weeks or events or texts. The first acknowledges the challenge of marking Advent in a time of conflict and division; the second functions almost as an Advent "preview," with a little peek at everything forthcoming.

In time of Advent we await God's son in humble birth.

To angel choirs and shepherds' fame our hearts rejoice and lips exclaim,

"We pray your will be done! O come, Lord Jesus, come!"

 

Yet now, in days of hateful song, the guiding star's light dims. 

As factions thrive on driving fear and threaten those whom you hold dear,

Our hope has come undone. O come, Lord Jesus, come.

 

Amidst the strife and raging fire we long to know you near.

We yearn for holy majesty and pray with longing, "Can we see

Our lives and souls redone?" O come, Lord Jesus, come.

 

So guide our steps and actions here in this unraveling time,

So that your Song born long ago will be the only Lord we know.

We pray your will be done! O come, Lord Jesus, come.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, September 2020.

MUSIC: Tune REPTON, C. Hubert H. Parry, 1888.

 

Manger scenes and hanging greens, signals of a season;

Are we, in these festive scenes, searching for a reason?

Have we in our sound and song, ‘hope” and “joy” and “glory,”

Somehow got the meaning wrong? Have we lost the story?

 

Listen to the prophets’ call, pointing to deliverance;

Righteousness for one and all, making hope and difference.

Justice is their constant cry, peace their faithful calling;

Pointing to redemption nigh, warning us from falling.

 

Hear the songs that call us near, pointing to a Savior. 

Zechariah makes us hear of God’s coming favor.

Mary knows God’s blessing true, strength and mercy showing.

John, baptizing, calls anew for repentance growing.

 

See the visions yet to come, sights that leave us reeling.

Yet we see through all of these Jesus’s own revealing. 

Hear the call to stand and wait, watchful and unfailing; 

Never fearing any fate, knowing God’s prevailing.

 

As we make our way ahead, seeking out the stable,

Let us, by the Spirit led, live as we are able:

Doing justice, seeking peace, righteousness fulfilling,

Keeping watch with hope and joy as our Lord is willing.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, November 2021.

MUSIC: Suggested tune TEMPUS ADEST FLORIDUM, Piae Cantiones, 1582.

Some lies we tell ourselves

Some lies we tell ourselves because we cannot bear to see

The people that our forbears were, and that we yet could be. 
"They did not really hate," we say, "they didn't, I just know!"

Dear God, please open up our minds, the bitter truth to show.

 

Some lies we tell ourselves because we have a dreadful fear

That those we love would turn aside if that truth they could hear.

Lord, teach us that we're not alone in having things to hide; 

We all have ugly history we'd rather put aside.

 

Some lies we tell ourselves because we deeply dread to face

The bleak and angry sins that so consume the human race, 

And yet we must - we know this, Lord; if we'd be fully true,

To face these sins of history is something we must do.

 

Teach us that facing history's truths is not a prisoning thing;

Indeed, true freedom only comes when, in the words we sing,

We face the sins that we and our ancestors once embraced; 

Those lies we told ourselves can then be banished and erased.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, November 2022.

MUSIC: Tune SALVATION, Kentucky Harmony, 1816.

 

 

This text is basically a first reaction to a ... the best word I can come up with is "pilgrimage" to The Legacy Museum and The National Memorial for Peace and Justice (aka "the lynching memorial") in Montgomery and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta. In a time in which many just won't face the ugly parts of history, some deny them outright, and some even seek to enshrine such forgetting in law and education, such banishing and forgetting seems inimical to a faith that places any value on confession and repentance (which, I think, includes Christianity...?). 

[Note: this does contain a few "sins" of hymn writing, it's true -- contractions!!!??? The tone of this one, as it formed in my head, seemed to demand that some polish give way to a more vernacular and unpolished idiom. I might change my mind eventually. Who knows?]

 

A hymn set for Advent A

A series of four hymns, one each for the four Sundays of Advent, year A, taken from the various and multiple lectionary readings for each Sunday. At the end is a bonus hymn, an alternative for 4A that focuses on the gospel reading for that Sunday (and is a personal favorite of mine). PDFs of each of these hymns can be made available for churches interested in singing these.

Advent 1A: Keep watch

Keep watch, O Christian people! Awake, keep watch, and wait!

Though the Lord may tarry yet, God will surely not be late.

Even though we do not know the hour and do not know the date,

Wake, keep watch, and wait! Wake, keep watch, and wait!

 

Keep watch, O Christian people! Salvation now is near!

For the night is giving way, and the day is nearly here!

Shun the works of darkness grim and put away your quarreling here;

See salvation near! See salvation near!

 

Keep watch, O Christian people! Forget what’s come before!

Still the day is coming when war and sword shall be no more.

Nations all shall fear the Lord and sing his praise from shore to shore.

War shall be no more! War shall be no more!

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, 2019, after Advent 1A scriptures

MUSIC: Tune IN DULCI JUBILO (“Good Christian Friends, Rejoice”), German folk melody, 14^th cent. 

Advent 2A: Prepare your hearts

Prepare your hearts, prepare your minds, the reign of God comes near!

The prophet’s voice cries out to all; let all God’s people hear!

            Let all God’s people hear!

 

Make straight the pathway of our Lord; prepare a road to be

The highway of the Holy One for all the world to see!

            For all the world to see!

 

No one will hurt, no one will harm in our Lord’s holy place;

Our Lord will judge with righteousness and show the poor God’s grace,

            And show the poor God’s grace.

 

So welcome one another all, to give God glory true,

And so prepare the way of God in all you say and do,

            In all you say and do.

 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, 2019, after Advent 2A scriptures.

MUSIC: Possible tunes:

            CHRISTMAS, G.F. Handel, arr. Lowell Mason, 1821.

            WINCHESTER OLD, Este’s Psalms, 1592 (without repeated last line)

Advent 3A: See, the desert shall rejoice

See, the desert shall rejoice, blossoming and blooming,

Brimming with new life against all the darkness looming.

From the wilderness so bleak shall come waters flowing

And the highway of our God, peace and welcome showing.

 

See how Mary does rejoice, trusting and foretelling

How our Savior will bring forth peace and justice swelling;

Filling up the hungry throng; lifting up the lowly. 

This the Savior who she sings; mighty, good, and holy.

 

See the work Messiah does: seeing, walking, healing, 

Hearing, living, good news come, holiness revealing.

Blessed is the one who sees goodness in the Savior

Without taking wrong offense, with no rude behavior.

 

See how patience is our call, like the farmer planting

Crops that bloom forth from the earth, God all favor granting.

Strengthen now your weary heart; death is not our story,

But rejoicing will return in our Savior’s glory. 

 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, 2019, after Advent 3A scriptures.

MUSIC: Tune TEMPUS ADEST FLORIDUM, Piae Cantiones, 1582

            (“Good King Wenceslas,” “Gentle Mary Laid Her Child”)

 

 

Advent 3A contains perhaps the most fertile combination of scriptures of any Sunday of the whole three-year cycle of the Revised Common Lectionary. Acknowledging all of them is a challenge, but all of them have something to teach us. The tune is in Glory to God with the text “Gentle Mary Laid Her Child” but is most famously associated with the popular carol “Good King Wenceslas.”

Advent 4A: Behold and see the promise come

Behold and see the promise come; a woman who will bear a son.

A sign is given from God above, the true and only Holy One.

 

Behold and hear the holy Word, the gospel of God's only Son:

Once promised in the prophets' lore, now see the long-awaited one.

 

Behold and see the troubled man, the father of God's Holy Son; 

In faith he heeds the angel's call to care for God's Anointed One.

 

Behold and hear the call today to follow God's most favored Son,

To serve and work and witness sure, to live in Christ who makes us one.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, August 2020, after Advent 4A scriptures

MUSIC: Tune PUER NOBIS NASCITUR, Trier ms., 14^th cent.; adapt. Michael Praetorius, 1609; harm. George Ratcliffe Woodward, 1910.

Bonus/alternate Advent 4A: When Joseph learned

When Joseph learned his bride-to-be was soon to have a child,

He had no wish to cause her harm or hold her up to shame.

A righteous man, his mind was set, to sad choice reconciled,

Until into his restless dreams the Lord’s own angel came.

 

“Oh, son of David, do the good; take Mary as your wife; 

The child in her is Spirit-made of God’s own true design.

This son she bears will save us all from sin and give us life.”

The angel’s word did give him strength and his good task define.

 

Then came to mind these prophet words: “the woman bears a son,

His name shall be Immanuel,” God-with-us for all time.

So Joseph woke and knew his work was only now begun; 

To be at Mary’s side when she gave birth to life sublime.

 

So Joseph did the Lord’s command, and was, both strong and true,

The earthly father of God’s Son; this work became his call.  

Now give we thanks for one who did what God called him to do,

And take his good obedience as model for us all.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, 2019, after Matthew 1:18-25

MUSIC: Suggested Tunes:

            NOEL (Sullivan), English melody, arr. Arthur Sullivan, 1874 (Sometimes associated with “It came upon the midnight clear”)

            ST. LOUIS, Lewis Henry Redner, 1868 (“O little town of Bethlehem”)

            FOREST GREEN, English folk tune, arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906 (alternate tune for “O little town of Bethlehem”)

            

I had written this hymn a year before the set above. The hymns in the set reach across multiple scripture readings for each Sunday, while this reading clearly focuses on the gospel reading for 4A. Still, I have a soft spot for this hymn; thanks to various settings of the Magnificat Mary gets a decent amout of hymn time, but Joseph? Not so much. Here's one for Jesus's silent but obedient earthly father.