Above:  Christ the Merciful

Image in the Public Domain

Original Danish Words by Hans Adolf Brorson (1694-1764)

English Translation (1898) by Harriet Reynolds Krauth Spaeth (1845-1925)

Hymn Source = Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary (1996), Evangelical Lutheran Synod

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1.  Thy little ones, dear Lord, we are,

And come Thy holy bed to see;

Enlighten ev’ry soul and mind

That we the way to Thee may find.

2.  With songs we hasten Thee to greet

And kiss the dust before Thy feet;

O blessed hour, O sweetest night,

That gave Thee birth, our soul’s delight.

3.  Now welcome! From Thy heav’nly home

Thou to our vale of tears art come;

Man hath no off’ring for Thee save

The stable, manger, cross, and grave.

4.  Jesus, alas! how can it be

So few bestow a thought on Thee

Or on the love, so wondrous great,

That drew Thee down to our estate?

5.  O draw us wholly to Thee, Lord,

Do Thou to us Thy grace accord,

True faith and love to us impart,

That we may hold Thee in our heart.

6.  Keep us, howe’er the world may lure,

In our baptismal cov’nant pure;

That ev’ry yearning thought may be

Directed only unto Thee

7.  Until at last we, too, proclaim,

With all Thy saints, Thy glorious name;

In Paradise our songs renew,

And praise Thee as the angels do.

8.  We gather round Thee, Jesus dear,

So happy in Thy presence here;

Grant us, our Savior, ev’ry one,

To stand in heav’n before Thy throne.

Above:  The Adoration of the Shepherds, by Charles Le Brun

Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923)

Words by Timothy Lamb (1758-1829)

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1.  Hail, Thou wondrous Infant Stranger,

Born lost Eden to regain;

Welcome in Thy humble manger,

Welcome to Thy creature man;

Hail Immanuel, Hail Immanuel,

Thou Who wast ere time began.

2.  Say, ye blest seraphic legions,

What thus brought your Maker down?

Say, why did He leave your regions,

Why forsake His heavenly throne?

Notes melodious, notes melodious,

Tell the cause:  Goodwill to Man.

3.  We this offered Saviour needed,

Hence we join your theme with joy;

We by none will be exceeded,

While we laud this mystery,

And with wonder, and with wonder,

God incarnate glorify.

Above:  The Hymn

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Hymn Source = Pilgrim Hymnal (1935), Congregational Christian Churches

Original Latin Words by Father Charles Coffin (1676-1749)

English Translation by James Russell Woodford (1820-1885)

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1. God from on high hath heard:

Let sighs and sorrows cease;

The skies unfold, and lo!

Descends the gift of peace.

2. Hark! On the midnight air

Celestial voices swell;

The hosts of heav’n proclaim

“God comes on earth to dwell!”

3. Haste with the shepherds; see

The mystery of grace:

A manger bed, a child,

Is all the eye can trace.

4. O child, thy silence speaks,

And bids us not refuse

To bear what flesh would shun,

To spurn what flesh would choose.

5. Fill us with holy love;

Heal thou our earthly pride;

Be born within our hearts,

And ever there abide.

Above:  All Angels Episcopal Church, Eatonton, Georgia, December 24, 2009

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

(https://plus.google.com/photos/114749828757741527421/albums/5420764542723000881/5420766365059194738?banner=pwa&pid=5420766365059194738&oid=114749828757741527421)

Original Danish Words by Hans Adolph Brorson (1694-1764)

English Translation by Jens Christian Aaberg (1877-1970)

Hymn Source = Hymnal for Church and Home, Third Edition (1938), of the American Evangelical Lutheran Church and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church, denominations with Danish heritage

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/assembled-in-this-thy-house-danish-american-lutherans-1870-1962/

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1.  My heart remains in wonder

Before that lowly bed

Within the stable yonder

Where Christ, my Lord, was laid.

My faith finds there its treasure,

My heart its pure delight,

A joy beyond all measure,

The blessed Christmas night.

2.  But oh, my heart is riven

With grief and sore dismay

To see the Lord of heaven

Repose on straw and hay,

That He, whom angels offer

Their worship and acclaim,

From sinful man must suffer

Such scorn, neglect, and shame.

3.  Why should not castles royal

Before him open stand,

And kings as servants loyal

Obey His least command

Why came He not in splendor,

Arrayed in robes of light,

And called the world to render

Its homage to His might.

4.  The sparrow finds a gable

Where it may build its next,

The oxen know their stable

For shelter, food, and rest,

Must then my Lord and Savior

A homeless stranger go,

Denied the simplest favor

His lowly creatures know?

5.  O come, my Lord, I pray Thee!

And be my honor’d guest,

I will in love array Thee

A home within my breast.

That home can be no stranger

To Thee, who made me free,

Thou shalt find there a manger

Warmed by my love to Thee.

Above:  Adoration of the Shepherds, by Gerard van Honthorst

Image Source = Wikipedia

Hymn Source = The Hymnal 1982, of The Episcopal Church

Words by Philip Doddridge (1702-1751), an English Congregationalist hymn writer

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1.  Hark! the glad sound! the Savior comes,

the Savior promised long;

let every heart prepare a throne,

and every voice a song.

2.  He comes, the prisoners to release

in Satan’s bondage held;

the gates of brass before him burst,

the iron fetters yield.

3.  He comes, the broken heart to bind,

the bleeding soul to cure;

and with the treasures of his grace

to enrich the humble poor.

4.  Our glad hosannas, Prince of Peace,

thy welcome shall proclaim;

and heaven’s eternal arches ring

with thy beloved Name.

Above:  Second Coming Icon

Image Source = Wikipedia

Hymn Source = The Methodist Hymnal (1965), of The Methodist Church

Words by Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

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1.  Lo, he comes with clouds descending,

Once for favored sinners slain;

Thousand, thousand saints attending

Swell the triumph of his train;

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

God appears on earth to reign,

God appears on earth to reign.

2.  Every eye shall now behold him,

Robed in dreadful majesty;

Those who set at naught and sold him,

Pierced and nailed him to the tree,

Deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing,

Shall the true Messiah see,

Shall the true Messiah see.

3.  The dear tokens of his passion

Still his dazzling body bears;

Cause of endless exultation

To his ransomed worshipers;

With what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture,

Gaze we on those glorious scars!

Gaze we on those glorious scars!

4.  Yea, Amen! Let all adore thee,

High on thy eternal throne;

Savior, take the power and glory,

Claim the kingdom for thine own;

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Everlasting God, come down!

Everlasting God, come down!

Byzantine Fresco of the Nativity, Middle 1300s

Image Source = Wikipedia

Hymn Source = Common Service Book (1917), of the predecessor bodies of the United Lutheran Church in America (1918-1962)

Words by Isaac Watts in 1719

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1.  Joy to the world! the Lord is come;

Let earth receive her King;

Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

2.  Joy to the earth!  the Saviour reigns;

Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains,

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

3.  No more let sin and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse is found,

Far as, far as the curse is found.

4.  He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders, and wonders of His love.

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/first-day-of-christmas-christmas-day/

Adoration of the Shepherds, by Georges de La Tour, circa 1644

Image Source = Wikipedia

Hymn Source = The Hymnal 1982, of The Episcopal Church

Words by Charles Wesley (1707-1788), a priest of The Church of England

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1.  Come, thou long-expected Jesus,

born to set thy people free;

from our fears and sins release us,

let us find our rest in thee.

2.  Israel’s strength and consolation,

hope of all the earth thou art;

dear desire of every nation,

joy of every longing heart.

3.  Born thy people to deliver,

born a child, and yet a king,

born to reign in us for ever,

now thy gracious kingdom bring.

4.  By thine own eternal Spirit

rule in all our hearts alone;

by thine all-sufficient mercy

raise us to thy glorious throne.

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/fourth-sunday-of-advent-year-b/

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/fifteenth-day-of-advent-third-sunday-of-advent-year-b/

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http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/eighth-day-of-advent-second-sunday-of-advent-year-a/

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http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/fourth-sunday-of-advent-year-a/

Above:  A 1925 Postcard Showing the River Jordan

Image Source = Wikipedia

Hymn Source = The Book of Common Praise (1908), of The Church of England in Canada, now called The Anglican Church of Canada

Original words (1736) by Charles Coffin (1676-1749), a French Roman Catholic priest and author of many Latin hymns; English translation (1837) by John Chandler (1806-1876), a Church of England priest and translator of many hymns

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1.  On Jordan’s bank, the Baptist’s cry

Announces that the Lord is nigh;

Awake, and hearken, for he brings

Glad tidings of the King of kings.

2.  Then cleansed be every breast from sin;

Make straight the way for GOD within;

Prepare we in our hearts a home,

Where such a mighty Guest may come.

3.  For thou art our Salvation, LORD,

Our Refuge, and our great Reward;

Without thy grace we waste away,

Like flowers that wither and decay.

4.  To heal the sick stretch out thine hand,

And bid the fallen sinner stand;

Shine forth, and let thy light restore

Earth’s own true loveliness once more.

5.  All praise, Eternal SON, to thee

Whose Advent doth thy people free,

Whom with the FATHER we adore

And HOLY GHOST for evermore.

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/fourth-sunday-of-advent-year-b/

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/fifteenth-day-of-advent-third-sunday-of-advent-year-b/

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http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/eighth-day-of-advent-second-sunday-of-advent-year-a/

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Above:  Sintra, Portugal, During the Blue Hour

Image Source = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seascape_after_sunset_denoised.jpg

Hymn Source = The Hymnal (1933), of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

Original words (1700) by Laurentius Laurenti (1660-1722), choir director and cantor at the Lutheran cathedral in Bremen; English translation (1854) by Sarah B. Findlater (1823-1907), a Scottish Presbyterian and a prolific translator of German chorales into English

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1.  Rejoice, rejoice, believers,

And let your lights appear;

The evening is advancing,

And darker night is near;

The Bridegroom is arising,

And soon He draweth nigh.

Up, pray, and watch, and wrestle:

At midnight comes the cry.

2.  See that your lights are burning;

Replenish them with oil;

And wait for your salvation,

The end of earthly toil.

The watchers on the mountain

Proclaim the Bridegroom near,

Go meet Him as He cometh,

With alleluias clear.

3.  Our hope and Expectation,

O Jesus, now appear!

Arise, Thou Sun so longed for,

O’er this benighted sphere!

With hearts and hands uplifted,

We plead, O Lord, to see

The day of earth’s redemption

That brings us unto Thee.

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/fourth-sunday-of-advent-year-b/

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/fifteenth-day-of-advent-third-sunday-of-advent-year-b/

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http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/eighth-day-of-advent-second-sunday-of-advent-year-a/

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