Advent 1 year C Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
Welcome to volume 2 of Parson Paul on
the Hymns, I am Paul Lathum. I have a love of music and church music in particular.
I want to help busy church professionals, church musicians and people in
general to have a greater appreciation and understanding of the hymns and church
music today. I want to help give you some background on the hymns and how they
came to us as well as share some great music. I believe the hymns can speak
into our lives as well today as in the day when they were first written.
Today’s selection goes along with the
season of the church as we are entering into Advent, the looking forward to the
coming of the Messiah. Come, Thou Long
Expected Jesus, is a short hymn written by Charles Wesley that first
appeared in print in 1744 in his “Hymns for the Nativity of our Lord.” This was
a small collection of hymns and was so popular that it was reprinted 20 times during
Wesley’s lifetime. The pamphlet this was published and circulated among the
Methodist societies at a price at 2 pence.
This and other such pamphlets were
inexpensive and were priced so that almost anyone could afford these collections
and they could be used during Class Meetings and other meetings of the
Methodist Societies.
This hymn first appeared in print in
America in 1847, 30 years before it was ever printed in a British Methodist
hymnal. Today it can be found in almost all hymnals in North America.
Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus is a prayer of petition imploring Christ to
be among us. As Dr. Michael Hawn,
Professor of Sacred Music at Perkins School of Theology, SMU
points out imperative verbs are used 6 times in the two stanzas. Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus; from
our fears and sins release us; let us find our rest in thee;
now by gracious Kingdom bring rule in all our hearts alone; raise
us to that glorious throne.
The culmination of these petitions adds
weight as Wesley was conveying our deep longing for the Messiah, the promised
one. He also draws on another technique in the repetition of a single word for
effect in this case the word is born which appears 4 times. Born
to set thy people free; born thy people to deliver; born a child
an yet a King; born to reign in us forever.
It’s been said that for every sermon
that John Wesley’s brother wrote Charles Wesley wrote a hymn to go along with
it. I don't know if that's true or not, but we do know that Charles wrote over
6500 hymns. Several of those are in use yet today which speaks about the powerful
concepts and words that Charles wrote giving voice to and reinforcing our faith.
The words of Charles’ poem can most
often be found set to the tune Hyfrydol
by the Welsh composer Rowland Huw Prichard 1811-1887. Up until the time of printing
press most people were illiterate and could neither read or afford books. Hymn tunes
would be learned by rote and passed down through the generations. Different
poems would be set to the tunes that people already knew. With the invention of
the printing press musical notation became standardized. At the same time hymnal
editors and theologians began pairing together poems such as this one by Charles
Wesley with tunes such as this by Rowland Prichard combining facets of metrical
phrasing and poetic contents.
The words of Wesley and the lyrical
setting of this tune together make a well loved and a very sing able prayer,
expressing our longing for the coming Messiah who comes to set us all free. Christ
is the hope of all the earth, and it is through His merit that we are raised to
God’s glorious throne.
Brentwood Baptist Church Choir and
Orchestra. It is a traditional rendering with modern orchestra reinforcement. Live
setting.
Modern Orchestra setting with soloist Laura Story is from her album 'God
With Us. I dare you to listen to this rendition without tapping your foot
and joining in song. Studio recording 2016, 4:38.
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus - Northland Church,
starts with soloist with Worship Team then adds the congregation, recorded
live, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D3dz1YoBmw
Songbird & Strings - Come Thou Long Expected Jesus (via
Jill Phillips)
2017
ill Phillips (and Andy
Gullahorn) reimagined "Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus" with creativity
and care.
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With the Tune Stuttgart attributed to CF Witt 1715
Come Thou Long-expected Jesus on full organ
Or here is a setting with piano and
children’s choir
Join us again next week for Advent
week 2 as we delve into a another of my favorite Advent hymns Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming. Until then
God bless you in your study and in your worship.
Paul Lathum 2019
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