The grace of God appeared

The grace of God appeared: 

Salvation to us all!

It calls us to live in this age

With godly self-control.

 

The grace of God appeared,

And trains us now to live 

Against the passions of this world,

This grace that God does give.

 

The grace of God appeared; 

In blessed hope we wait

To see the coming of the Christ

Whose glory is so great.

 

The grace of God appeared,

Who gave himself for all; 

He calls us all to God's own work,

To claim God's holy call.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, November 2024, after Titus 2:11-14.

MUSIC: Tune FESTAL SONG, William H. Walter, 1872.

 

 

This might be even more futile than "Come, you faithful ones, rejoicing" for Christmas Eve; here is a text based on a reading from the RCL. Specifically, it's from the Christmas Eve *epistle reading,*, possibly the loneliest text in the RCL. Nonetheless, here it is.

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 our 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.