Songs of Thankfulness & Praise

 

Happy New Year!  This is being posted in recognition of the upcoming Festival of Epiphany, the coming of the Wise Men, on January 6th.  Epiphany is a full season, and this hymn has many verses to reflect this.  I am only posting some more pertinent to the Wise Men and to things in nature.

Songs of thankfulness and praise,

Jesus, Lord, to Thee we raise:

Manifested by the star

To the sages from afar.

Branch of royal David's stem  

In Thy birth at Bethlehem:

Anthems be to Thee addressed, 

God in man made manifest.

Sun and moon shall darkened be,

Stars shall fall, the heav'ns shall flee;

Christ will then like lightning shine:

All will see His glorious sign.

All will then the trumpet hear,

All will see the Judge appear;

Thou by all wilt be confessed, 

God in man made manifest.

Grant us grace to see Thee, Lord,

Present in They holy Word--

Grace to imitate Thee now

And be pure, as pure art Thou,

That we might become like Thee

At Thy great epiphany

And may praise Thee, ever blest,

God in man made manifest.

--Christopher Wordsworth, 1862

The "Christmas Star" --Then & Now

     In December 2020, there has been much talk of a “Christmas Star.”  It is actually a close planetary conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn.  The closest pass happened last night, December 21st, the Winter Solstice.  I have added pcitures below.

     In early evenings of June 2015, there was a fairly close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter (the  second and third brightest objects in the night sky, after the moon.)  They didn’t get as close as this conjunction.

    What might that original “Christmas star” have been?  Paul Meier is a Christian pastor and former history professor at Western Michigan University.  [First, an “aside.”  For trivia buffs, Western Michigan is the school that the real Tim Allen and his fictional counterpart, Tim Taylor (on Home Improvement) attended.]  Meier's thoughts are the basis for a lot of what is contained here.  

     The idea of a star twinkles throughout Hebrew history.   Numbers 24:17, written by Moses, was a bit of Hebrew poetry, spoken by a false prophet who was trying to “profit” off of cursing Israel.  (His name was Balaam.)  Instead of a curse, part of what Balaam said was:

   I see Him, but not now:

   I look upon Him, but not near;

   A star shall come out of Jacob [the ancestor of Israel];

   A scepter shall rise out of Israel…”

     As Jews over the centuries hoped for their Messiah, their Anointed One [which is what “Christ” means], many expected a star to accompany Him.  The six-pointed Star of David [King David] has symbolized the People of Israel from Old Testament times to today’s Israeli flag. The five-pointed Star of Solomon, David’s son, and David’s six pointed star, show up in stone at archaeology sites.

     Scientists and Bible scholars have offered explanations for the “Star of Bethlehem.” The “Star” could have been a miracle sign, a miracle star, a supernova, a comet, or a conjunction of planets.  If it was a one or more observable astronomical events, ancient records can supply some insight.  Ancient Chinese astronomy records are the best. But the appearance of something miraculous cannot be tested—or discounted, for that matter.

     Magi was the technical term for the Wise Men, a term with shadings of “magicians.”  They probably came from Persia (modern-day Iran) to Bethlehem. Why would they do this? One possibility is that God used the Magis’ fascination with astrology to draw them to Judea. In ancient astrology, the giant planet Jupiter was considered the “King’s Planet,” for it represented to the Romans the highest god and ruler of the universe: Marduk to the Babylonians and Zeus to the Greeks.  In Hebrew Jupiter is called "Sedeq", meaning "righteousness", a term also used for the Messiah. 

     The ringed planet Saturn was seen as the shield or defender of Palestine, while the constellation of Pisces, which was also associated with Syria and Palestine, represented epochal events and crises. So Jupiter encountering Saturn in the sign of the Fishes would have meant that a divine and cosmic ruler was to appear in Palestine at a culmination of history.

     Jupiter and Saturn traveled very close to each other in the night sky, and in May, September, and December of that year, they appeared almost joined.  Mars joined the configuration in February of 6 B.C.  In 6 BC, there were eclipses of Jupiter by the Moon in Aries. Jupiter’s status as a kingly star was amplified when Jupiter was in close conjunctions with the Moon. The second occluding on April 17 coincided precisely when Jupiter was 'in the east', a condition mentioned twice in the biblical account about the Star of Bethlehem.

     Jesus was born sometime between 6 and 4 B.C., with B.C. numbers running opposite our AD numbers. This confusion arose because the man who developed this timeline miscalculated on the date of the founding of Rome.  We know that Jesus had to have been born this soon because King Herod the Great died in March or April of 4 B.C.  He could have been born as much as two years before, though, because rotten Herod, according to the Bible, ordered all the baby boys in Bethlehem under the age of two to be killed.  Herod had found out about the matter of another King being born and wanted Him killed.

     In 1871, the English astronomer John Williams published a list of comets taken from Chinese records. Comet No. 52 on the Williams list appeared for some seventy days in March-April of 5 B.C. near the constellation Capricorn and would have been visible in both the Far and Near East. As each night wore on, the comet would seem to have moved westward across the southern sky.  [Did you track the movements of the comet from spring 2020?  Did any of you see the much brighter Hale-Bopp Comet in the late 1990s?]

     The time is also very appropriate. This could indeed have been the Wise Men‘s marker. Comet No. 53 on the Williams list is a tailless comet, which could have been a nova, an exploding star. No. 53 appeared in March-April of 4 B.C. — a year after the comet with the tail.  It was visible all over the Far and Middle East.  

     Dr. Meier thinks it happened this way:  The conjunctions from 7-6 B.C. altered the Wisemen to look for important developments in Palestine.  Maybe some Jews living near the alerted them to Old Testament interpretations.  The comet of 5 B.C. really emphasized this idea and set them on their way.  The supernova of 4 BC appeared after they had stopped in Jerusalem and spoken to suspicious King Herod.  Dr. Meier believes that Jesus might have been born in the winter of 5-4 B.C.  He has been to the Holy Land many times and has asserted that shepherds do, indeed, stay out "watching their flocks by night", even in Judean winters.

     On the other hand, maybe the planetary conjunctions came closer to Jesus' actual birth in 6 B.C., and the Wise Men simply got there later.  The story in Matthew speaks of the Holy Family being in a house and refers to Jesus as a Child, not a Baby.  Maybe the family had planned to stay on in Bethlehem, to get away from Nazarene gossip about the parents getting married and Mary being pregnant before a full year of betrothal.

     On December 21, 2020,  Jupiter and Saturn appeared closer in Earth’s night sky than they have since 1226 A.D.  They were not fully joined, though.  Jupiter and Saturn sat just 0.1 degrees apart, or a mere one-fifth the width of the Moon, as the Moon appears to us.  They did look quite close, though, to the naked eye.

     December 21^st was also the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.  This was the first day of winter and the longest night of the year.  The Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun at this time.  This has nothing to do with how close or far we are from the Sun.  In fact, we’re slightly closer to the Sun in January than at any other time of the year!  

Telescope image

My image

 

November, 1851

[Autumn as death, the death of dreams and doubt]

What dost thou here, O soul,
Beyond thy own control,
Under the strange wild sky?
O stars, reach down your hands,
And clasp me in your silver bands,
I tremble with this mystery!-
Flung hither by a chance
Of restless circumstance,
Thou art but here, and wast not sent;
Yet once more mayest thou draw
By thy own mystic law
To the centre of thy wonderment.

Why wilt thou stop and start?
Draw nearer, oh my heart,
And I will question thee most wistfully;
Gather thy last clear resolution
To look upon thy dissolution.

The great God's life throbs far and free,
And thou art but a spark
Known only in thy dark,
Or a foam-fleck upon the awful ocean,
Thyself thy slender dignity,
Thy own thy vexing mystery,
In the vast change that is not change but motion.

'Tis not so hard as it would seem;
Thy life is but a dream-
And yet thou hast some thoughts about the past;
Let go, let go thy memories,
They are not things but wandering cries-
Wave them each one a long farewell at last:
I hear thee say-'Take them, O tide,
And I will turn aside,
Gazing with heedlessness, nay, even with laughter!
Bind me, ye winds and storms,
Among the things that once had forms,
And carry me clean out of sight thereafter!'

Thou hast lived long enough
To know thy own weak stuff,
Laughing thy fondest joys to utter scorn;
Give up the idle strife-
It is but mockery of life;
The fates had need of thee and thou wast born!
They are, in sooth, but thou shalt die.
O wandering spark! O homeless cry!
O empty will, still lacking self-intent!
Look up among the autumn trees:
The ripened fruits fall through the breeze,
And they will shake thee even like these
Into the lap of an Accomplishment!

Thou hadst a faith, and voices said:-
'Doubt not that truth, but bend thy head
Unto the God who drew thee from the night:'
Thou liftedst up thy eyes-and, lo!
A host of voices answered-'No;
A thousand things as good have seen the light!'
Look how the swarms arise
From every clod before thy eyes!
Are thine the only hopes that fade and fall
When to the centre of its action
One purpose draws each separate fraction,
And nothing but effects are left at all?
Aha, thy faith! what is thy faith?
The sleep that waits on coming death-
A blind delirious swoon that follows pain.
'True to thy nature!'-well! right well!
But what that nature is thou canst not tell-
It has a thousand voices in thy brain.
Danced all the leaflets to and fro?
-Thy feet have trod them long ago!
Sprung the glad music up the blue?
-The hawk hath cut the song in two.
All the mountains crumble,
All the forests fall,
All thy brethren stumble,
And rise no more at all!
In the dim woods there is a sound
When the winds begin to moan;
It is not of joy or yet of mirth,
But the mournful cry of our mother Earth,
As she calleth back her own.
Through the rosy air to-night
The living creatures play
Up and down through the rich faint light-
None so happy as they!
But the blast is here, and noises fall
Like the sound of steps in a ruined hall,
An icy touch is upon them all,
And they sicken and fade away.

The child awoke with an eye of gladness,
With a light on his head and a matchless grace,
And laughed at the passing shades of sadness
That chased the smiles on his mother's face;
And life with its lightsome load of youth
Swam like a boat on a shining lake-
Freighted with hopes enough, in sooth,
But he lived to trample on joy and truth,
And change his crown for a murder-stake!

Oh, a ruddy light went through the room,
Till the dark ran out to his mother Night!
And that little chamber showed through the gloom
Like a Noah's ark with its nest of light!
Right glad was the maiden there, I wis,
With the youth that held her hand in his!
Oh, sweet were the words that went and came
Through the light and shade of the leaping flame
That glowed on the cheerful faces!
So human the speech, so sunny and kind,
That the darkness danced on the wall behind,
And even the wail of the winter wind
Sang sweet through the window-cases!

But a mournful wail crept round and round,
And a voice cried:-'Come!' with a dreary sound,
And the circle wider grew;
The light flame sank, and sorrow fell
On the faces of those that loved so well;
Darker and wilder grew the tone;
Fainter and fainter the faces shone;
The wild night clasped them, and they were gone-
And thou art passing too!

Lo, the morning slowly springs
Like a meek white babe from the womb of night!
One golden planet sits and stings
The shifting gloom with his point of light!
Lo, the sun on its throne of flame!
-Wouldst thou climb and win a crown?*
Oh, many a heart that pants for the same
Falls to the earth ere he goes down!
Thy heart is a flower with an open cup-
Sit and watch, if it pleaseth thee,
Till the melting twilight fill it up
With a crystal of tender sympathy;
So, gently will it tremble
The silent midnight through,
And flocks of stars assemble
By turns in its depths of dew;-
But look! oh, look again!
After the driving wind and rain!
When the day is up and the sun is strong,
And the voices of men are loud and long,
When the flower hath slunk to its rest again,
And love is lost in the strife of men!

Let the morning break with thoughts of love,
And the evening fall with dreams of bliss-
So vainly panteth the prisoned dove
For the depths of her sweet wilderness;
So stoops the eagle in his pride
From his rocky nest ere the bow is bent;
So sleeps the deer on the mountain-side
Ere the howling pack hath caught the scent!

The fire climbs high till its work is done;
The stalk falls down when the flower is gone;
And the stars of heaven when their course is run
Melt silently away!
There was a footfall on the snow,
A line of light on the ocean-flow,
And a billow's dash on the rocks below
That stand by the wintry bay:-
The snow was gone on the coming night;
Another wave arose in his might,
Uplifted his foaming breast of white,
And died like the rest for aye!

Oh, the stars were bright! and thyself in thee
Yearned for an immortality!
And the thoughts that drew from thy busy brain
Clasped the worlds like an endless chain-
When a moon arose, and her moving chime
Smote on thy soul, like a word in time,
Or a breathless wish, or a thought in rime,
And the truth that looked so gloomy and high
Leapt to thy arms with a joyful cry!
But what wert thou when a soulless Cause
Opened the book of its barren laws,
And thy spirit that was so glad and free
Was caught in the gin of necessity,
And a howl arose from the strife of things
Vexing each other with scorpion stings?
What wert thou but an orphan child
Thrust from the door when the night was wild?
Or a sailor on the toiling main
Looking blindly up through the wind and rain
As the hull of the vessel fell in twain!

Seals are on the book of fate,
Hands may not unbind it;
Eyes may search for truth till late,
But will never find it-!
Rising on the brow of night
Like a portent of dismay,
As the worlds in wild affright
Track it on its direful way;
Resting like a rainbow bar
Where the curve and level meet,
As the children chase it far
O'er the sands with blistered feet;
Sadly through the mist of ages
Gazing on this life of fear,
Doubtful shining on its pages,
Only seen to disappear!
Sit thee by the sounding shore
-Winds and waves of human breath!-
Learn a lesson from their roar,
Swelling, bursting evermore:
Live thy life and die thy death!
Die not like the writhing worm,
Rise and win thy highest stake;
Better perish in the storm
Than sit rotting on the lake!
Triumph in thy present youth,
Pulse of fire and heart of glee;
Leap at once into the truth,
If there is a truth for thee.

Shapeless thoughts and dull opinions,
Slow distinctions and degrees,-
Vex not thou thy weary pinions**
With such leaden weights as these-
Through this mystic jurisdiction
Reaching out a hand by chance,
Resting on a dull conviction
Whetted but by ignorance;
Living ever to behold
Mournful eyes that watch and weep;
Spirit suns that flashed in gold
Failing from the vasty deep;
Starry lights that glowed like Truth
Gazing with unnumbered eyes,
Melting from the skies of youth,
Swallowed up of mysteries;
Cords of love that sweetly bound thee;
Faded writing on thy brow;
Presences that came around thee;
Hands of faith that fail thee now!

Groping hands will ever find thee
In the night with loads of chains!
Lift thy fetters and unbind thee,
Cast thee on the midnight plains:
Shapes of vision all-providing-
Famished cheeks and hungry cries!
Sound of crystal waters sliding-
Thirsty lips and bloodshot eyes!
Empty forms that send no gleaming
Through the mystery of this strife!-
Oh, in such a life of seeming,
Death were worth an endless life!

Hark the trumpet of the ocean
Where glad lands were wont to be!
Many voices of commotion
Break in tumult over thee!
Lo, they climb the frowning ages,
Marching o'er their level lands!
Far behind the strife that rages
Silence sits with clasped hands;
Undivided Purpose, freeing
His own steps from hindrances,
Sending out great floods of being,
Bathes thy steps in silentness.
Sit thee down in mirth and laughter-
One there is that waits for thee;
If there is a true hereafter***
He will lend thee eyes to see.

Like a snowflake gently falling
On a quiet fountain,
Or a weary echo calling
From a distant mountain,
Drop thy hands in peace,-
Fail-falter-cease.      

--George MacDonald  


*Christ wins the crown of salvation for us; we don't climb for it
**A type of feather for flight; a bird cannot fly if weighed down
***more doubt about the afterlife than I would entertain

Good Friday

(Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday arrive on the same day this year. This poem is an early preview for both.  It deals with the "heart" in the most important way.  It is a nice Lenten reflection, of course.)

Am I a stone, and not a sheep*,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss,
And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter, weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved**;

Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon –
I, only I.**

Yet give not o’er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses***, turn and look once more
And smite a rock*.   --Christina Rossetti, 1866

*She's saying her heart is like a stone because she's not moved to tears over Christ's crucifixion like a "sheep", a "true follower" (John 10) would be.  She picks up the idea again at the end, asking Christ to break her heart of stone.

**The women at the cross, the repentant Peter, even one of the thieves crucified with Jesus were moved to sorrow.  Even the Sun was somehow darkened from about noon to 3 pm, at a time when it could NOT have been a solar eclipse (full Moon).  Nature itself expresses sadness, but the poetess indicates she feels strangely unmoved.

***Deuteronomy 18:  Christ was prophesied as the New Prophet, greater than Moses.  He is also the Shepherd (John 10; Psalm 23).   Moses broke open a rock to get water out of it (Numbers 20), but Christ does a greater thing by breaking open hearts of stone.

Song of the Three Young Men

 

Blessed are You, O Lord God of our fathers: and to be praised and exalted above all for ever.

And blessed is Your glorious and holy Name: and to be praised and exalted above all for ever.

Blessed are You in the Temple of Your holy glory: and to be praised and glorified above all for ever.

Blessed are You who looks upon the depths, and sits upon the Cherubim [fiery angels; statues of these were atop the Ark of the Covenant in the Jewish Temple]: and to be praised and exalted above all for ever.

Blessed are You on the glorious Throne of Your kingdom: and to be praised and glorified above all for ever.

Blessed are You in the vaults of heaven: and above all to be praised and glorified for ever.

O all you works of the Lord, bless  the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you heavens, bless  the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O all you waters above the heavens, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O all you powers of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you Sun and Moon, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you stars of heaven, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O every shower and dew, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O all you winds, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you fire and heat, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you dews and storms of snow, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you nights and days, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you light and darkness, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you ice and cold, bless  the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you frost and snow, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you lightning and clouds, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O let the earth bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you mountains and little hills, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O all you things that grow on the earth, bless  the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you fountains, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you seas and rivers, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you whales and all that move in the waters, bless  the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O all you birds of the air, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O all you beasts and cattle, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever...

O you servants of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you spirits and souls of the righteous, bless ye the Lord, praise and exalt Him above all for ever.

O you holy and humble men of heart, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all for ever...

O give thanks unto the Lord, because He is gracious: for His loving-kindness lasts forever.

 

--the alleged song of the men who sang while in the fiery furnace.  From an apocryphal section inserted after Daniel 3:23.

Huron Carol

['Twas in the Moon of Wintertime]

'Twas in the moon of wintertime
When all the birds had fled,
That God the Lord of all the earth
Sent angel choirs instead.
Before their light the stars grew dim
And wond'ring hunters heard the hymn:

Jesus, your King, is born;
Jesus is born!
In excelsis gloria!

Within a lodge of broken bark,
The tender Babe was found
A ragged robe of rabbit skin
Enwrapped His beauty round
And as the hunter braves drew nigh,
The angel song rang loud and high:

Jesus, your King, is born;
Jesus is born!
In excelsis gloria!

O children of the forest free,
The angels' song is true.
The Holy Child of earth and heav'n
Is born today for you
Come kneel before the radiant Boy
Who brings you beauty, peace and joy:

Jesus, your King, is born;
Jesus is born! 

In excelsis gloria!   

---Jean de Brebeuf; 16th century; translated J.E. Middleton, 1926 (altered)

http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/twas_in_the_moon_of_wintertime.htm

Psalm 8

O Yahweh, our Lord,
How majestic is Your Name in all the earth!

When I consider your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The Moon and stars,
which You have set in place....

--- King David, from Psalm 8

(Crescent Moon, Venus [below left], Jupiter; February 25, 2012)

Great Is Thy Faithfulness*

1."Great is Thy faithfulness," O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

(Chorus) "Great is Thy faithfulness!" "Great is Thy faithfulness!"
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
"Great is Thy faithfulness," Lord, unto me!

2. Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

3.Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

---Thomas Obediah Chisholm, 1923

*Based on Lamentations 3:22-24: "Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." (NIV)

Deer's Cry

(St. Patrick's  Breastplate) 

I arise today 

Through the strength of heaven;

Light of sun, 

Radiance of moon, 

Splendour of fire, 

Speed of lightning, 

Swiftness of wind, 

Depth of sea, 

Stability of earth, 

Firmness of rock. 

 I arise today 

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, 

Through belief in the threeness, 

Through confession of the oneness 

Of the Creator of Creation. 

I arise today Through the strength of Christ's birth with His baptism, 

Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial, 

Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension, 

Through the strength of His descent for the judgement of Doom. 

 I arise today 

Through the strength of the love of the Cherubim, 

In the obedience of angels, 

In the service of archangels, 

In the hope of the resurrection to meet with reward, 

In the prayers of patriarchs, 

In prediction of prophets, 

In preaching of apostles, 

In faith of confessors, 

In innocence of holy virgins, 

In deeds of righteous men. 

 I arise today 

Through God's strength to pilot me: 

God's might to uphold me, 

God's wisdom to guide me, 

God's eye to look before me, 

God's ear to hear me, 

God's word to speak to me, 

God's hand to guard me, 

God's way to lie before me, 

God's shield to protect me, 

God's host to save me, 

 Christ to shield me today, 

Against poising, against burning, 

Against drowning, against wounding, 

So there come to me abundance of reward.

Christ with me, 

Christ before me, 

Christ behind me, 

Christ in me, 

Christ beneath me, 

Christ above me, 

Christ on my right, 

Christ on my left, 

Christ when I lie down, 

Christ when I sit down, 

Christ when I arise, 

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, 

Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks of me, 

Christ in the eye of every one who sees me, 

Christ in every ear that hears me. 

 I arise today 

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, 

Through belief in the threeness, 

Through confession of the oneness 

Of the Creator of Creation. 

---Attributed to St. Patrick, 385-461 (from a translation by Kuno Meyer;adapted from an earier translation by Cecil Francis Alexander)

Praise, Oh, Praise our God and King

A Paraphrase of Psalm 136
Praise, oh, praise, our God and King,
Hymns of adoration sing;
For His mercies still endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.

Praise Him that He made the sun
Day by day his course to run;
And the silver moon by night,
Shining with her gentle light;
For His mercies still endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.

Praise Him that He gave the rain
To mature the swelling grain;
And hath bid the fruitful field
Crops of precious increase yield;
For His mercies still endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.

Glory to our bounteous King,
"Glory", let creation sing:
Glory to the Father, Son,
And the Spirit, Three in One!
For His mercies still endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
---Rev. Henry Baker, 1861; reformatted c.m.b. 2007

The Moon

The Moon was but a chin of gold*
A night or two ago,
And now she turns her perfect face
Upon the world below.

Her forehead is of amplest blond*;
Her cheek like beryl* stone;
Her eye unto the summer dew
The likest I have known.

Her lips of amber* never part;
But what must be the smile
Upon her friend she could bestow
Were such her silver will.

And what a privilege to be
But the remotest star!
For certainly her way might pass
Beside your twinkling door.

Her bonnet is the firmament,
The universe her shoe,
The stars the trinkets at her belt,
Her dimities** of blue.
---Emily Dickinson

*Imagery for the moon is usually "silvery." This uses more of the "yellow", and sometimes the Moon (esp. when full) does have a yellowish cast
**Dimity: A sheer, crisp (double-threaded; "di") cotton fabric. It is woven with raised stripes or checks and was used mostly for dresses or curtains.

If Only...

[This prose is almost poetic.]

If only Adam hadn't sinned, humanity would have recognized God in all creatures and would have love and praised Him so that even in the smallest blossom they would have seen and pondered His power, grace, and wisdom. But who can fathom how from the barren earth God creates so many kinds of flowers of such lovely colors and sweet scent, as no painter or alchemist could make? Yet God can bring forth from the earth green, yellow, red, blue, brown, and every kind of color. All these things would have turned the mind of Adam and his kin to honor God and glorify and praise Him and to enjoy His creatures with gratitude. ---Martin Luther ("Table Talk" 4.198, Weimar)

But through sin and the fall we humans have become so weakened, so poisoned and corrupted in body, soul, eyes, ears and everywhere that our sense are not the 100th part as sharp as were Adam's before the fall. Our bodies are unclean, and all creatures have become subject to futility (Romans 8). The [16th century!] sun, moon, stars, clouds, air, earth and water are no longer so pure and beautiful and lovely as they were [before sin]. But on that [last] day, all things will be made new and will once more be beautiful, as St. Paul says, Romans 8: "Creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." ---Martin Luther (Weimar 44.231ff)

The Starlight Night

Look at the stars! look. look up at the skies!
O look at all the fire-folk sitting in the air!
The bright boroughs*, the circle-citadels* there!
Down in the dim woods the diamond delves**! the elves' eyes!
The grey lawns cold where gold, where quickgold*** lies!...
Ah, well! it is all a purchase, all is a prize.****
---from Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1877

*city images, as if the constellations were fortified cities
**the diamond-like stars dive down to the "land of elves"; (Hopkins nor I really believe in elves--it's just a fanciful & joyful flight of poetic symbolism)
***the light of the heavenly bodies is like "free gold" to anyone who takes the trouble to take it in, but it's gold in motion---it won't be there forever
****the prize comes from the purchase made by Jesus Christ; He died for your sins so all this, too, can be yours, along with the forgiveness and life you have in Him

Moonrise

I awoke in the Midsummer not-to-call night,
in the white and the walk of the morning*:
The moon, dwindled and thinned to the fringe
of a fingernail** held to the candle,
Or paring of paradisaical fruit,***
lovely in waning but lustreless. . .
This was the prized, the desirable sight,
unsought, presented so easily,
Parted me leaf and leaf****, divided me,
eyelid and eyelid of slumber.
---Gerard Manley Hopkins; June, 1876

*A moon just before the new moon will come up just before sun up
**Slim crescent moon, seeming as translucent as a fingernail held up in front of a candle in a dark room (a waning moon)
***Fruit parings also seem translucent; reminds one of the "waning" of the fruit of paradise after sin
****The "magic" of this night cut right through the poet, as if leaves of a book or of a tree parting from each other, then his eyelids were parted from his eyes as he could no longer sleep with such a "spell" on his room


Technorati Labels Gerard Manley Hopkins moon night summer change nature religion Catholic poetry literature poetry

The World is Too Much with Us

[Technically, the poet doesn't write this one in a Christian vein. He even borrows pagan mythology. But Wordsworth was Christian, and this is a great commentary on modern materialism.]

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune,
It moves us not. ---Great God! I'd rather be
A pagan suckled in a creed outworn.
So might I , standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn."
William Wordsworth