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...)