Wednesday, December 24, 2014

I love this Christmas carol

This is my favorite Christmas hymn yet I have never sung it in public. Even though I never tried to introduce it to the congregation, I enjoyed it every Christmas, singing it out of the hymn-book or playing it at the piano. It was written by Aurelius Prudentius in the 5th Century and translated from Latin to English by John M. Neale and Henry W. Baker. You can hear it here.

Of The Father’s Love Begotten

Of the Father’s love begotten, ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see, evermore and evermore!

At His Word the worlds were framed; He commanded; it was done:
Heaven and earth and depths of ocean in their threefold order one;
All that grows beneath the shining
Of the moon and burning sun, evermore and evermore!

He is found in human fashion, death and sorrow here to know,
That the race of Adam’s children doomed by law to endless woe,
May not henceforth die and perish
In the dreadful gulf below, evermore and evermore!

O that birth forever blessed, when the virgin, full of grace,
By the Holy Ghost conceiving, bare the Savior of our race;
And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer,
First revealed His sacred face, evermore and evermore!

This is He Whom seers in old time chanted of with one accord;
Whom the voices of the prophets promised in their faithful word;
Now He shines, the long expected,
Let creation praise its Lord, evermore and evermore!

O ye heights of heaven adore Him; angel hosts, His praises sing;
Powers, dominions, bow before Him, and extol our God and King!
Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert sing, evermore and evermore!

Righteous judge of souls departed, righteous King of them that live,
On the Father’s throne exalted none in might with Thee may strive;
Who at last in vengeance coming
Sinners from Thy face shalt drive, evermore and evermore!

Thee let old men, thee let young men, thee let boys in chorus sing;
Matrons, virgins, little maidens, with glad voices answering:
Let their guileless songs re-echo,
And the heart its music bring, evermore and evermore!

Christ, to Thee with God the Father, and, O Holy Ghost, to Thee,
Hymn and chant with high thanksgiving, and unwearied praises be:
Honor, glory, and dominion,
And eternal victory, evermore and evermore!

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

From Heaven Above To Earth I Come

The last carol I mentioned post was "A Great and Mighty Wonder", an old and obscure song that I introduced to the church. It became one of my favorite Christmas Carols. There was another song I introduced that became one of my favorites – “From Heaven Above To Earth I Come.” It was written by Martin Luther for his son Hans in 1540. Luther, who loved Christmas, entitled it Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her (doesn't that clear things up?). Since most of us don’t know German, it was translated into English by Catherine Winkworth in 1855. (If you know and like hymns, especially older hymns, then you are familiar with Winkworth.) We sang this to the tune, Sagina (And Can It Be That I Should Gain – a hymn I believe every Christian knows by heart!)


From Heaven Above To Earth I Come

From Heaven above to earth I come
To bear good news to every home;
Glad tidings of great joy I bring
Whereof I now will say and sing:
To you this night is born a child
Of Mary, chosen mother mild;
This little child, of lowly birth,
Shall be the joy of all your earth.

"This is the Christ, our God and Lord,
Who in all need shall aid afford;
He will Himself your Savior be,
Himself from sin will make you free.
He brings those blessings, long ago
Prepared by God for all below;
Henceforth His kingdom open stands
Open to people in all lands.

Now let us all with gladsome cheer
Follow the shepherds, and draw near
To see what God for us has done
In sending us His glorious Son.
Give heed, my heart, lift up thine eyes!
Who is it in yon manger lies?
Who is this lovely baby boy?
’Tis Jesus Christ our only joy.

Welcome to earth, Thou noble guest,
Through whom e'en wicked men are blest!
In mercy come to our distress,
How can we thank thy gentleness?
Ah, Lord, who didst all things create,
How cam’st Thou to this estate,
To make the hay and straw thy bed
Whereon the ox and ass are fed?

And thus, dear Lord, it pleaseth Thee
To make this truth quite plain to me,
That all the world's wealth, honor, might,
Are naught and worthless in Thy sight.
Ah! dearest Jesus, Holy Child,
Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee.

My heart for very joy doth leap,
My lips no more can silence keep;
I too must sing with joyful tongue
That sweetest ancient cradle-song—
Glory to God in highest Heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given!
While angels sing with pious mirth
A glad new year to all the earth

Monday, December 22, 2014

Singing on Sunday night

I finished reading Joel last night. The first half of the book is full of warnings and judgment, the last half is full of the promises of salvation and restoration. As I was meditating on the promises of restoration, a Scripture chorus came to mind, which I began to sing:


Therefore the redeemed
Of the Lord shall return
And come with singing unto Zion,
And everlasting joy
Shall be upon their head. (2x)

They shall obtain gladness and joy,
And sorrow and mourning shall flee away. (Isaiah 51:11)


After singing this two or three times, another Scripture song came to mind. I thought they were wonderfully related:


Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD
and to the house of our God (2x)

and he will teach us of his ways
and we will walk in his paths
for the law shall go forth out of Zion
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.  (Isaiah 2:3)


I sang them the rest of the night. Praise the Lord! Amen!

A Great and Mighty Wonder

One of my all-time favorites is "A Great and Mighty Wonder." This was written in the 7th century by St. Germanus and translated into English by John Mason Neale (who translated a lot of ancient songs). The tune we used is Ellacombe (“The Day of Resurrection”, another old hymn also translated by J.M. Neale), which is a bright tune and easy to learn.

A Great and Mighty Wonder

A great and mighty wonder.
A full and holy cure:
The Virgin bears the Infant
With virgin honor pure!

Refrain:
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.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Hark, How All The Welkin Rings

Today is the last Sunday in Advent and the last few days before Chistmas. This week I plan to post my favorite Christmas carols. I begin with one we sang a couple of weeks ago, "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing". But, as you can see, the way we sing it today is not the way it was originally written. While I never asked the congregation to sing these opening lines, I did introduce some of these other stanzas. And in case you're wondering, "welkin" is an old word for "heaven".

Hark, How All The Welkin Rings

1. HARK how all the Welkin rings
" Glory to the King of Kings,
" Peace on Earth, and Mercy mild,
" GOD and Sinners reconcil'd !

2. Joyful all ye Nations rise,
Join the Triumph of the Skies;
Universal Nature say,
" Christ the Lord is born to Day!

3. Christ, by highest Heav'n ador'd,
Christ, the Everlasting Lord,
Late in Time behold him come,
Offspring of a Virgin's Womb.

4. Veil'd in Flesh, the Godhead see,
Hail th' Incarnate Deity !
Pleas'd as Man with Men t'appear,
Jesus, our Immanuel here !

5. Hail the Heav'nly Prince of Peace !
Hail the Sun of Righteousness !
Light and Life to All he brings,
Ris'n with Healing in his Wings.

6. Mild he lays his Glory by ;
Born ; that Man no more may die,
Born ; to raise the Sons of Earth,
Born ; to give them Second Birth.

7. Come, Desire of Nations, come,
Fix in Us thy humble Home,
Rise, the Woman's Conqu'ring Seed,
Bruise in Us the Serpent's Head.

8. Now display thy saving Pow'r,
Ruin'd Nature now restore,
Now in Mystic Union join
Thine to Ours, and Ours to Thine.

9. Adam's likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp thy Image in its Place,
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in thy Love.

10. Let us Thee, tho' lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the Heav'nly Man:
O ! to All Thyself impart,
Form'd in each Believing Heart.

"Hymn For Christmas Day"
"Sun of Righteousness"
Words: Charles Wesley (1707-1788) 
Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739, 1743.
Meter: 77 77



Wednesday, December 17, 2014

I need cash....

A man came in last night, who has not been in the store in a while. He said, "Been a while since I seen you." I agreed. Then he leaned on the counter and announced, "I need some cash." I looked at him, wondering if he meant what it sounded like (that he was robbing me) and thinking this was strange. He explained, "I've got $16 in mostly gold coins and I need some bills." I laughed, told him what I thought he might've meant and gave him cash for the coins. Then I bought the thirteen gold coins from the drawer. Going in my Hawai'i fund.


Another man came in and had a pack of light blue American Spirit cigarettes in his hand. He said, “I bought these here earlier and it's the wrong flavor. Can I trade them for the ones I want?”
“No.” And then I explained that he didn’t buy them from me, so I don’t know if he bought them here or not, and that once you leave the store with tobacco products you can’t return them anyway.
“Can I buy the flavor I want, get a receipt, and return tomorrow and switch packs for the flavor I want?”
“No.” Then I looked at our cigarettes - we still had 1 light blue box left. I explained, I count cigarettes every night; there were two last night when I counted and I sold one pack after the count… “You didn’t buy these here.”
“I bought them at a Kangaroo, but I don't remember which one...”
Whatever. “Go to that one.”
“Ok. Can I have a pack of Newport 100s?”
So what was all that about???


Still another man came for box of Newports. $5.91. He had $5 in cash and coins. So he went out to his car to look for more money. It always amazes me that people can almost always go out to their car and find money. He came back with 91 pennies. 91 nasty looking pennies. I got a cup and said, "Put the pennies in the cup. I'm gonna wash them first!"


Just another Tuesday night at the Roo.

Saturday, December 6, 2014

What a difference it makes when you put a face on it

There is a young woman who often stops on her way home from work, shortly after 2 AM. She works in a, shall we say, not very respectable place. I’ve gotten to know her a little. She and her boy friend now have three children and live with her mom and step-dad. I don’t think her boy friend works regularly. She just recently had her third baby, as in four weeks ago, but had to return to work because she is literally the bread winner in the home.

She came in last night to buy gas and cigarettes. After paying, she told me she was going to hang around for a while because there was a police car parked outside and she had no insurance on her car. I looked out the window and saw the police car. He was poised like a cat ready to pounce, and I had the feeling that he was not on break, but was waiting for her. Sure enough, when she went out to her car, he pulled up and I knew she was busted.

This incident lasted a little more than two hours. They were out by the pump for some time and she was on the phone for most of it. Then she pulled her car to a parking spot by the door as he followed, and I knew what that meant. I went out to talk to her. It seems the officer allowed her to contact the insurance company, but insurance would cost her $93 and had to be paid by debit/credit card. She doesn’t have one and had only $10 cash on her. The officer had also suggested I wouldn’t allow her to leave her car here to wait for the tow truck. (Why would he tell her that??) While I was talking to her, the officer got back out of his car and asked me, “Do you have any questions for me?” (Now why would I have questions for him? I was vexed at him!) “Nope.”

So, her car was towed. Meanwhile, she had to wait for her mom to come get her, from almost an hour away. The towing charge is $110, plus $25 a day for every day the car is on their lot. She can’t catch a break.

It’s easy to be tough on crime when you don’t know the people or their story. But, when you know the story, it breaks your heart. Here is a girl who lives right on the edge. Any thing that happens is nearly catastrophic. And of course, stuff is nearly always happening to her. And now this. This crime has a face and I admit, I was irked that the officer didn’t give her a break. I mean, doesn’t he know that she is trying? and barely getting by?

Is this justification for driving around with no insurance? No. And he did give her a break, he didn’t take her to jail for driving with a suspended license (oh, did I forget to mention, when your insurance lapses your license is suspended?).  But, what a difference it makes when you put a face on the crime.