We sang “Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying” (by Philip Niccoli, written in the 16th century) in worship today, and the last verse really catches me. I like both of these translations of the verse:
Now let all the heavens adore thee, and saints and angels sing before thee, with harp and cymbal's clearest tone; of one pearl each shining portal, where we are with the choir immortal of angels round thy dazzling throne; nor eye hath seen, nor ear hath yet attained to hear what there is ours; but we rejoice and sing to thee our hymn of joy eternally.Now let all the heav'ns adore Thee, Let men and angels sing before Thee, With harp and cymbal's clearest tone. Of one pearl each shining portal, Where, dwelling with the choir immortal, We gather round Thy radiant throne. No vision ever brought, No ear hath ever caught, Such great glory; Therefore will we Eternally Sing hymns of praise and joy to Thee.Something about those words reminds me of how we ascend into the heavenlies on Sunday when we worship, and that it’s then that my family is complete, and where I get to worship with all my sons & daughters gathered around the radiant throne of God, and how someday I will get to hear the great and glorious praise, and join in it eternally with the saints. That thought is grand.
Also… the sermon was on Psalm 80. I call and cry out these words to God myself. Plus I really love the refrain from that song of Asaph:
Psalm 80:3, 7, 14
Restore us, O God;
let Your face shine, that we may be saved!
Restore us, O God of hosts;
let Your face shine, that we may be saved!
Restore us, O LORD God of hosts!
Let Your face shine, that we may be saved!We are doing our nightly (or close to it…) routine of reading (we’re in this book this year), singing, praying, and eating Lindt Lindor truffles. Gabriel loved it last year, and of course the passage of time has not changed a thing in that regard. 🙂
Lord Jesus, You are the light that shines in the darkness. Remind us to turn to You, to call out to You, when we feel we’re being swallowed by darkness, by doubts, by troubles and frustrations. Thank You for the very fact of our being.
~G.K.C~And just so you know… this is a must read from Mrs. Wilson, if you haven’t already done so.
Christmas is an emergency! Get a thousand bucks out of your savings and whoop it up with your kids.
~Mrs. W~
Wake Awake is one of my all-time favorites! The NSA choir is including it in their concert this week and even though it’s not the pinnacle of the concert (something much more difficult is) I am still looking forward to that part of it.
Oh, and those truffles sound like a perfect way to taste the sweetness of advent. I think we need to get some chocolate for our Advent Sundays…
We were just in St Paul 2 days ago and were able to worship with our CREC brothers there, for only the third time since we moved here. We sang that song and it brought me tears, missing everyone back home. We had a moment of silent prayer and supplication before the needs of the congregation were brought to the Lord aloud, and I felt I had only scratched the surface of praying for you when it was time to stop. I am ashamed to say that it took a mental effort, a tough heart-decision, to decide to pray WITH my children about the specifics of your situation…it was difficult to introduce to them such pain and suffering when they are so little. Parents want to shield their children as long as they can from the “real world”. But we took the plunge and in that way we have entered your grief as I watch my children wrestle with God’s goodness in the light of babies dying, over and over and over. I don’t know if I did the right thing, but all of reality is God’s reality, right? And He sends all circumstances. And if we do not open our eyes to all of His gifts, even the ones that tear our heart out, then we are somehow misunderstanding Him, right? Anyway, that was a long and derailed comment on a short post of yours, but as long as I’m writing, I might as well just keep going! 🙂 miss you all, especially this time of year.
love shelby