With the lighting of the second candle in the wreath comes another meditation on an hymn for the Advent season presented as an eloquently stated prayer. It also “hits the mark” with the opening word that defines the season: Come. The full text of the advent hymn follows.
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.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.
Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.
It squarely stands between the past and the future, which is where we stand; in the present. It looks at Israel’s history, recognizes the fact that Jesus was born, and presents a plea for the present time. That plea is composed of three requests; for the promised one to bring freedom from fear and sin, to rule in the hearts of believers, and to raise us, whether figuratively or literally, to God’s dwelling place. What about you? Is this your plea or are you asking for something else more material in orientation?
A Closer Look
This well-known hymn comes from Charles Wesley who was later called “the Bard of Methodism.” And rightly so. Charles, the more poetic of the sons of Samuel Wesley, wrote well over 600 hymns (poems meant for religious purposes such as singing or inspiration reflection) though less than two dozen survive today. This particular one was written in 1744.
It contains 16 short lines with a very common 8, 7, 8, 7 meter (keep in mind that this means a line of eight syllables followed by a line of seven syllables). As a result, it could be associated with a number of tunes. However, tradition has provided us with two.
Most commonly the poem was sung to STUTTGART, a tune written earlier in 1715. However, this short tune may not fit well thematically. Read the text again while noticing how my presentation of the stanzas, being composed of four lines, should really be presented in eight-line groupings. Lines one through eight make sense when viewed that way. Lines nine through 16, by contrast, may be viewed as containing two thoughts and, thus, could be separated.
This is the issue when choosing a tune for a hymn text, matching thought with the artistic rendering (singing).
This advent hymn also appears in some hymnals to the tune of HYFRYDOL, a tune that first appeared in the 1906 edition of The English Hymnal. As you may recall, this hymnal was edited by Ralph Vaughn Williams and the tune’s composer, Rowland H. Pritchard, was known by him. The meter of the tune is considered as “doubled” so that there are eight phrases to the entire stanza.
It begs the issue almost like which came first, the chicken or the egg. Do you sing a text to a tune written earlier or sing a tune to a text written earlier. Since neither was written for the other, the choice is left to you.
It begs the issue almost like which came first, the chicken or the egg. Do you sing a text to a tune written earlier or sing a tune to a text written earlier. Since neither was written for the other, the choice is left to you.
Conclusion
Regardless of your preference, the important thing is to sing the text with an understanding of it’s complete meaning — a longing for Jesus to come into the hearts of minds of all humankind. After all, Advent is the time we celebrate and yearn for “the Coming of Jesus.”
Byron Songer
December 5, 2015
Byron Songer
December 5, 2015
