I woke this morning in a nice Psalm 23 mood.
This is my favorite version of the song put to music. The hymn tune is “Resignation.” Even in the secret places of our hearts – even in the far-away dreams of our souls, and even in Sweard, Alaska! – there, too, are the green pastures, the still waters, and the mercy that will follow us all the days of our lives.
Keep the faith!
My Shepherd Will Supply My Need
based on Psalm 23
(Hymn tune: Resignation)
My Shepherd will supply my need:
Jehovah is His Name;
In pastures fresh He makes me feed,
Beside the living stream.
He brings my wandering spirit back
When I forsake His ways,
And leads me, for His mercy’s sake,
In paths of truth and grace. 2. When I walk through the shades of death,
Thy presence is my stay;
A word of Thy supporting breath
Drives all my fears away.
Thy hand, in sight of all my foes,
Doth still my table spread;
My cup with blessings overflows,
Thine oil anoints my head.
3. The sure provisions of my God
Attend me all my days;
O may Thy house be my abode,
And all my work be praise!
There would I find a settled rest,
While others go and come;
No more a stranger, nor a guest,
But like a child at home.
Tags: Bells, Cello, Psalm 23, Resignation, Watts
Abba,
I come back to you now, as I have
many times before.
Once again,
I’ve learned lessons
through life rather than through teaching.
Give me the strength
to pass on these lessons.
In
your
name.
- Amen
There’s a few songs in our Christmas Carol repertoire that really don’t have much to do with the 25th of December.
I’m not sure if The Twelve Days of Christmas is considered a carol or a popular song, but the days mentioned therein (pardon my old English verbiage, Scribe got a (facsimile) 1540 Anglican missal for Christmas!) are the twelve days after the Nativity of Christ.
Today, though, is a much better one because most people sing the song Good King Wenceslas, never knowing exactly what “The feast of Stephen” is.
Easy enough to explain! This would be the feast day for St. Stephen, the first martyr in the church, which just happens to be….
The 26th of December.
Thus, on the Feast day of St. Stephen (today in the Christian calendar), King Wenceslas looked out his window to see the poor man trying to find sticks and twigs, amongst the winter snow.
And so the story goes on from there.
It’s an important one, too: the story is based on a real person, St. Wenceslaus I, Duke or Bohemia (907 – 935) , and speaks of a ruler who was so very pious and brave in his ruling of the people that, when he ventured out in the bad weather to help the poor, his page was able to survive by walking in the King’s footsteps, warmed by the heat emanating from the king’s feet. Wenceslaus was considered a martyr of the Church and saint, immediately after his death. He was beloved so much as a fair and passionate ruler that Cosmos of Prague wrote this about him in 1119:
But his deeds I think you know better than I could tell you; for, as is read in his Passion, no one doubts that, rising every night from his noble bed, with bare feet and only one chamberlain, he went around to God’s churches and gave alms generously to widows, orphans, those in prison and afflicted by every difficulty, so much so that he was considered, not a prince, but the father of all the wretched.
A few centuries later Pope Pius II claimed the Wenceslas legends as truth and himself walked 10 miles barefoot in ice and snow as a Thanksgiving. Ah – those were the days!
The carol’s lyrics were written by English hymn writer John Mason Neale – a big fan of “High Church” traditions – and for some reason set it to the tune of “Tempus Adest Floridum” (“It is time for flowering”) which was a Springtime carol, some time in the 1830s.
Here is a link to a public domain version of the song, with singers: Good King Wenceslas
And this is a mixed-voice choral version with organ, featuring the usually-expected shift to minor key in the 4th verse as the page is freezing in the cold snow:
Good King Wenceslas
lyrics by: John Mason Neale
hymn tune: Tempus Adest Floridum
Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even;
Brightly shone the moon that night, tho’ the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight, gath’ring winter fuel.
“Hither, page, and stand by me, if thou know’st it, telling,
Yonder peasant, who is he? Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence, underneath the mountain;
Right against the forest fence, by Saint Agnes’ fountain.”
“Bring me flesh, and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither:
Thou and I will see him dine, when we bear them thither.”
Page and monarch, forth they went, forth they went together;
Through the rude wind’s wild lament and the bitter weather.
“Sire, the night is darker now, and the wind blows stronger;
Fails my heart, I know not how; I can go no longer.”
“Mark my footsteps, good my page. Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage freeze thy blood less coldly.”
In his master’s steps he trod, where the snow lay dinted;
Heat was in the very sod which the saint had printed.
Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.
————–
Keep the faith!
- Amen
Tags: Christians, grace, Hymns, Inspiration
I got interrupted in my prayers tonight by singing.
Not the kind you would expect like children and families singing carols house-to-house (welcome to the South!) in the slushy, mostly-melted snow (ditto.) But the kind when you are so deep in prayer that you can hear the proverbial heavenly hosts sing….
And this is a good thing because I was in one of the three basic prayers, and, even knowing what it was that was in my mind, I could not finish the sentence, “God I thank you…” I knew what it was, and A knew what it was (I use “A” instead of “he” or “she” here.) We were suddenly that old married couple (welll… stretch your imagination here 
who have been together so long that they can finish each other’ sentences, speak without speaking, and (as Scripture points out) God knows our every thought even before we think it. I don’t DEPEND on that to shorten prayer time, but I got that far and … singing.
“God, I thank you…”
As I sat fumbling for where to continue, there indeed was that multitude of the Heavenly hosts. No great Alleluias tonight. But comfort where often there is none, and hope where patience draws thin.
I learned tonight that tomorrow morning (Christmas day) my cousin Terry /might be/… just /might/ be moved from Intensive care to the general floor, after 10 days in ICU, most of that time kept in a drug-induced coma. Yesterday the best he could do was stare sort of off into dead space (I think he and I will later compare notes on what he saw and what he was looking at.) If you spoke his name he could turn his head in your direction, but was still in that grogged-up, drugged out floating space where we don’t remember pain, we don’t remember days of motionlessness hooked up to machines.
We won’t remember.
Today, he was grouchy and asking for Burger King. Believe me, getting back to the “grouchy” phase in ICU is such a blessing after floating for days in that beige nuage, feeling all that alone-ness and fear. The ICU experience after a few days of no stimulation can lead to psychosis and delusions (trust me – I was THERE when my doctor’s hair turned bright peacock blue for about 10 minutes!) When I got out of there and into the general floor, I BEGGED my mother to stay with me because I was so afraid – of the unknown, of what might happen to me next, of the night. She’s an old trooper, and she slept there in my room every night for a full week, in a kind-of comfortable but not really, blue plastic recliner while I was trying to string together thoughts and sentences. For a week she held up the prayer side for the both of us!
“God, I thank you…”
I wanted to thank God for leading my cousin through that, and then, oh… by the way… me too. But as far as my prayer muscles would go tonight was “…well, Lord, you know….” and then… the singing.
I wonder if when Franz Gruber wrote the words “Sleep in Heavenly peace,” he was referring to the Christ child or to us. He wrote of the moment when everything in the universe changed: No Big Bang, no overturning wars, no disasters, no pomp and circumstance. Just the dawn of redeeming grace. It’s almost tough to match the Scripture story of angels scaring the sheepskins off a bunch of shepherds. to here, surrounded by peace and love, the angels sing, “Alleluia!”So simple, so easy.
I think that Gruber – with that sort of promise in mind, meant that WE may now sleep in heavenly peace, as Christ is born this night to bring salvation and grace. And in the silence – the blessed silence – Alleluia!
Rest well tonight, weary world.
God I thank you… Alleluia, Alleluia.
- Amen
Tags: Angels, guidance, Inspiration, prayer
A Call to Prayer
Let us remember tonight in our prayers:
* Those who do not have enough heat and are cold. Remember the ones with no money to pay those bills… the ones who find their rest on steam grates and exhaust vents. The ones who have to sleep in their car.
We, too, have been cold, and if we pray tonight from warmth, remember the one who was born with no place to lay his head but in a cold stable. There he was warmed by the golden glow of the Maker’s love.
* Let us remember tonight those who do not have enough to eat. The ones who do not have enough food, especially to spread a holiday feast to celebrate the Advent of that tiny baby. remember those held back from our help by distance or illness, or pride.
If we pray tonight from nourishment, remember the one who climbed Golgotha in our stead, with only vinegar on a rag to ease his parch.
* Let us remember tonight those who cannot dress through lack of clothes or infirmity. Remember the ones who cannot afford new/warm clothing. And those who are mis-sized now for whatever reason, and who cannot now replace their clothes.
Especially remember those who need clothing to get a job they have been so long missing. Knowing that, if we pray from our well-clothed, warm homes, their lives depend on nothing more than “a good suit of clothes.” Tonight, remember the one born in a manger, wrapped in swaddling.
* Pray tonight, dear friends, that on that great day of our rising, that we, too, will pass the Maker’s test:
- When I was hungry, did you feed me?
- When I was naked, did you clothe me?
- When I was a stranger, did you invite me in?
And so our prayers are now called. Approach the throne of Grace that, together, we may bring peace and the love of our maker to this place.
Amen. Truly say we all.
Tags: Call to Prayer, Christmas
