Thine Be The Glory

This much loved hymn combines the work of a German composer and a French pastor/hymn writer. To me it epitomises 'big heart music', my own description for the sort of heart-swelling, Lord-serving, soul-dancing music  with which I love to send out the congregation into a new week.

Judas Maccabaeus is an oratorio in three acts composed in 1746 by George Frederic Handel based on a libretto written by Thomas Morell. The oratorio was devised as a compliment to the victorious Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, upon his return from the Battle of Culloden (16 April 1746). Morell's libretto is based on the deuterocanonical 1 Maccabees (2-8), with motives added from the Antiquitates Judaicae by Flavius Josephus. Handel's music depicts the changing moods of the Jewish people as their fortunes vary from dejection to jubilation.

(As a Celt I may have a problem with Handel’s motive in writing this oratorio, but as a Musician I can only be thankful he did.)

The events depicted in the oratorio are from the period 170-160 BC when Judea was ruled by the Seleucid Empire which undertook to destroy the Jewish religion. Being ordered to worship Zeus, many Jews obeyed under the threat of persecution; however, some did not. One who defied was the elderly priest Mattathias who killed a fellow Jew who was about to offer a pagan sacrifice. After tearing down a pagan altar, Mattathias retreated to the hills gathering others who were willing to fight for their faith. Although a Jewish guerrilla leader ,Judas Maccabeus (son of Mattathias) was a hero of the people and considered to have succeeded in preserving the Jewish religion.

The usual words now sung  are by Edmond Budry (1854-1932). Budry was a Swiss hymn writer best known  for writing the lyrics to the hymn "Thine Be the Glory" ("À toi la gloire") to music from Judas Maccabaeus by Handel.

Budry studied theology in Lausanne and was pastor at Cully and Sainte-Croix between 1881 and 1889. He then became pastor of the Free Church in Vevey for a further 35 years. Besides writing original hymns, he translated German, English, and Latin lyrics into French.  Budry wrote "A Toi la Gloire,"  in 1884, reportedly after the death of his first wife, Marie de Vayenborg. It was first published in Switzerland, 1885, being later translated into English in 1925 by Richard B. Hoyle, for the Cantate Domino Hymnal (hymnal of the World Student Christian Federation).

It is possible that an Advent hymn by Friedrich-Heinrich Ranke (1798-1876), using the same tune by Handel, and published in Evangelisches Gesangbuch fur Elsass-Lothringern, could have been the basis for "Thine Be the Glory."

 

Thine Be The Glory

 

Thine be the glory, risen, conqu’ring Son;

Endless is the victory, Thou o’er death hast won;

Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,

Kept the folded grave clothes where Thy body lay.

Thine is the glory, risen conqu’ring Son,

Endless is the vict’ry, Thou o’er death hast won. 

Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;

Lovingly He greets us, scatters fear and gloom;

Let the church with gladness, hymns of triumph sing;

For her Lord now liveth, death hath lost its sting.

Thine is the glory, risen conqu’ring Son,

Endless is the vict’ry, Thou o’er death hast won.

No more we doubt Thee, glorious Prince of life;

Life is naught without Thee; aid us in our strife;

Make us more than conqu’rors, through Thy deathless love:

Bring us safe through Jordan to Thy home above.

Thine is the glory, risen conqu’ring Son,

Endless is the vict’ry, Thou o’er death hast won.

Sources:

http://songsandhymns.org/hymns/detail/thine-be-the-glory

Wikipedia

Encyclopaedia Britannica

I, the Lord of Sea and Sky

 

Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night.
I will go Lord, if You lead me.
I will hold Your people in my heart.

Dan Schutte (born 1947, Neenah, Wisconsin) is an American composer of Catholic liturgical music and a contemporary Christian songwriter best known for composing the hymn Here I Am, Lord, also known as I, the Lord of Sea and Sky, (1981).

Although this hymn began as Catholic liturgical music it has progressed into mainstream Protestant worship; surely a sign that the sentiments expressed in the words and music are universal.

I first came across this hymn when the new Church of Ireland Hymnal came out in mid 2000, by which time it was well known here. When I introduced it to the children at school they took to it immediately and their rendering of it in school Assemblies is enough to send my heart flying to the heavens....and the hairs stand up on the back of my neck- two hundred children singing with enjoyment and sincerity will do that!

In fact, this week when all the teachers, children and local clergy came together for the very first Assembly in our band new school, this was the hymn I chose for us to sing; partly because it is one of the children's favourites, but also because of the words. We want our school community to be a light in the town and it just seemed an appropriate choice.

For me each time I hear the words they are a renewal of the Great Commission, in the same way that  Isaiah's story, 'In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne...' excite and inspire the listener.

The full lyrics are:

I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard My people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin,
My hand will save.
 I who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear My light to them?
Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night.
I will go Lord, if You lead me.
I will hold Your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have born my peoples pain.
I have wept for love of them, They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone,
Give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak My word to them,
Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night.
I will go Lord, if You lead me.
I will hold Your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of wind and flame,
I will tend the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them,
My hand will save
Finest bread I will provide,
Till their hearts be satisfied.
I will give My life to them,
Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night.
I will go Lord, if You lead me.
I will hold Your people in my heart.

For The Beauty Of The Earth

For the beauty of the earth,
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

These words were written by Folliott Sandford Pierpoint (1835-1917).

Folliot Sandford Pierpoint was born in 1835 in Bath, England. He graduated from Queen's College, Cambridge University in 1857 and thereafter spent many years at Somersetshire College as a classics master. After retiring he lived in various places in the West Country. He died in 1917 in Monmouthshire, England.

The story goes that Pierpoint was taking a walk one late Spring day, in the lovely area surrounding his home in Bath, England. Overwhelmed with the beauty he saw, he sat down and wrote "For the Beauty of the Earth." Not only does Pierpoint thank God for His beautiful creation, but also for family, friends and other gifts God has bestowed upon us.

This hymn was originally written to be a communion hymn in the Anglican Church. It was first published in Rev. Orvy Shipley’s Lyra Eucharistica, 1864. The last two lines of each verse, which constitute the chorus, have been changed and adapted several times over the years as has the length of the hymn since Pierpoints' version had eight verses. It remains his best known hymn as he appeared to be primarily a writer of poetry.

It is both lovely and inspiring to think that for nearly 150 years people have been singing these same words and giving thanks to the Lord for His beautiful Earth. We sang them ourselves in St. John's Cathedral this morning to the Melody 'St. Hughs'. I counted three different known tunes for this hymn last night!

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The remainder of the hymn is as follows:

For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above,
Pleasures pure and undefiled,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For each perfect gift of thine,
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flowers of earth and buds of heaven,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For thy Church which evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.