Sunday, November 28, 2010

Daughter Zion*

Daughter Zion, O rejoice;
Shout aloud with cheer, O Jerusalem.
See, your King now comes**, riding unto you***,
Royal Prince of Peace, He comes in God's own time.
Daughter Zion, O rejoice;
Shout aloud with cheer, O Jerusalem.

Hosanna, David's Son;
Blessed be Your people, O blessed One!
Your eternal Kingdom establish, LORD!
Hosanna, "Save us!", Eternal Word.
Hosanna, David's Son;
Blessed be Your people, O blessed One! 

 Hosanna, David's Son;
Be with joy now greeted, O King most mild! 
Forever stands in peace Your royal Throne: 
You, Eternal Father's Eternal Child
Hosanna, David's Son;
Be with joy now greeted, O King most mild! 

---German Adventslied; translated C. Marie Byars (c) 2004 

*A German folk carol for Advent, set to music from G.F. Handel's Judas Maccabeus **The first Sunday in Advent traditionally has a reading from Palm Sunday, which this song reflects. The "hope" that people had all those centuries before Christ came was to be fulfilled soon after Christ's entry into Jerusalem; He suffered, died on the cross and rose from the dead in that next week. ***The fact that Jesus was able to ride the "unbroken colt" of a donkey which had never been ridden before shows that He IS the Lord of Nature.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

O, Blessed Spring*

O, Blessed Spring where Word and Sign 
Embrace us into Christ the Vine: 
Here Christ enjoins each one to be 
A branch of this life-giving Tree. 

Through summer heat of youthful tears,
Uncertain faith, rebellious tears, 
Sustained by Christ's infusing rain, 
The boughs will shout for joy again. 

When autumn cools and youth is cold, 
When limbs their heavy harvest hold, 
Then through us, warm, the Christ will move 
With gifts of beauty, wisdom love. 

As winter comes, as winters must, 
We breathe our last, return to dust; 
Still held in Christ, our souls take wing
And trust the promise of the spring. 

Christ, Holy Vine, Christ, Living Tree, 
Be praised for this blest mystery: 
That Word and water thus revive 
And join us to Your Tree of Life. 
---Susan Palo Cherwien; (c) 1993 

*(A hymn to be sung to the old English folk song, "The Water is Wide [I can't get o'er]"