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October 1, 2007
Jesus Shall Reign...
...where'er the sun, does his successive journeys run. I love this hymn, even if verse three and a few others (FYI, the link has sound) do suffer a bit from the taint of colonialism.
I think the version we sang today in church changed the second line of verse 8 to "Grateful honors to their king," but I like the original much better:
Let every creature rise and bring
Peculiar honors to our King;
Angels descend with songs again,
And earth repeat the loud amen!
"Peculiar honors." It makes me think of Narnian beasts bringing praise to Aslan or Gerard Manley Hopkins' "Pied Beauty."
Other favorite verses from "Jesus Shall Reign":
People and realms of every tongue
Dwell on His love with sweetest song;
And infant voices shall proclaim
Their early blessings on His Name.
"Early blessings on His Name." Lovely.
Where He displays His healing power,
Death and the curse are known no more:
In Him the tribes of Adam boast
More blessings than their father lost.
"Death and the curse are known no more." I cannot wait to sing "Joy to the World" (sound), which is also coincidently, or perhaps not so coincidently, by Isaac Watts. There are not many things I hate, but that curse is surely one of them. Why can't we sing Christmas songs at times other than Christmas, at least one here and there? Some of them have got killer theology.
As rain on meadows newly mown,
So shall He send his influence down:
His grace on fainting souls distills,
Like heav’nly dew on thirsty hills.
Now that is truly a dew worth doing.
Church Life and Theology | By jackdas | 1:21 AM
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Comments
I'm not sure where I got "grateful" from that replaced "peculiar". I also prefer the line in it's original form because of the way it describes the diversity of sounds and actions that are use to worship the King. However, in our church, I feel like "peculiar" would be misunderstood. Today, it's used more often as a synonym for "strange" "bizarre" or "odd" which I don't think was Watts intended meaning. A better substitution might be "particular" but that has too many syllables.
Posted by: kirk at October 1, 2007 10:30 AM
Kirk, I agree that it may be misunderstood and hence should be substituted. There is no need to be snobbish about it. Like you, I like the implications of all those diverse sounds, though. Also, I think I mentioned in a previous previous post (http://dassler.stlouisblogs.org/archives/002244.html) that I really like the refrain you added that highlights the unworking of the curse.
Sigh, looking over that post indicates that I am rather likely to be repetitive with my posts, with which I am totally fine if the subject matter is good.
Posted by: Neil E. Das at October 1, 2007 10:48 AM
That is funny... I thought what Kirk had said... I didn't realize peculiar had a meaning other than "strange".... yay for hymns... so powerful
I didn't know there were so many verses!! I really like how globally minded the song is. (which I'm sure you thought I would say)
I like this verse:
As rain on meadows newly mown,
So shall He send his influence down:
His grace on fainting souls distills,
Like heav’nly dew on thirsty hills.
As far as Joy to the World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeGROPw8Pdg
Posted by: Tanya at October 2, 2007 12:30 AM
Thank you, Tanya, the "Joy to the World" clip did my heart good.
Posted by: Neil E. Das at October 2, 2007 12:50 AM
