We went to church this morning and sang Christmas Carols. That was nice. And how those brethren sang! As we sang, I remembered that I regularly introduced a new Christmas Carol every year. Usually some really old obscure song that I had discovered. You see, I had learned that old Christmas songs had really great words, and if we could learn them they would be brand new songs to us.
One of my all-time favorites is "A Great and Mighty Wonder." This was written in the 7th century by St. Germanus and the original title was μεγα και παραδοξον Θαυμα. It had been translated into English by John Mason Neale (who translated a lot of ancient songs). All of this was in its favor. All we had to do was learn the tune. The hymnbook had put it to Ellacombe (The Day of Resurrection, another old hymn also translated by J.M. Neale!), which is a bright tune and easy to learn. So we learned it and sang it every Advent season thereafter.
I love this carol and am enjoying singing it again. I hope you can join me. If you don’t know it or have forgotten how it goes, just grab a hymnbook and look up the tune Ellacombe. I mean, everybody has like 10 different hymnbooks lying around, right? OK, so maybe collecting hymnbooks is one of my eccentricities! But you can also go here for the sheet music.
A great and mighty wonder.
A full and holy cure:
The Virgin bears the Infant
With virgin honor pure!
Repeat the hymn again:
Repeat the hymn again:
"To God on high be glory
And peace on earth to men!"
The Word becomes incarnate
And yet remains on high,
And cherubim sing anthems
To shepherds from the sky.
While thus they sing your Monarch,
Those bright angelic bands,
Rejoice, ye vales and mountains,
Ye oceans, clap your hands.
Since all He comes to ransom.
By all be He adored,
The Infant born in Bethlehem,
The Savior and the Lord.
__________________________
"A Great and Mighty Wonder"
μεγα και παραδοξον Θαυμα
St. Germanus, 634-734
Translated by John M. Neale, 1818-1866
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