Category: Other People’s Words

Much brighter than a thousand suns – a Transfiguration hymn

I have always thought that the gospel accounts that point to the identity of Jesus as Christ, God’s anointed person, God with us, lay down three markers. As Jesus comes with the crowds of people to the River Jordan, to identify with them in Baptism by John, he is saying by his action that he is son of a man, human like us. In unison with this the writers gospel record God’s words, this is my Son, my beloved. Finally, Resurrection and Ascension confirm all that has gone before. Midway in the whole narrative of Jesus life, between these other events, is placed an account of the Transfiguration. Jesus has gone up a mountain with some of his disciples. Matthew 17: 2 says, ‘he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white’. This hymn starts at this point:

1	Much brighter than a thousand suns, 
	the source of life, eternal grace; 
	light of the cosmos and this world 
	now shining from a saviour's face.
	Upon the mountain's towering height
	they saw transfiguration's light.
	
2	This man, this Jesus, they had known, 
	who called them once by Galilee, 
	now stood upon the mountaintop, 
	he seemed exalted, shining, free. 
	Disciples caught in stark surprise 
	had shielded dazzled, blinded eyes.
	
3	Free of the bonds of human life 
	and distanced by some greater power, 
	a strange yet mystic harmony 
	joined earth and heaven in this hour.
	It seemed that God was very near,
	inspiring awe, dispelling fear.
	
4	The height of love, the depth of grace,
	the dazzling birth of something new,
	a supernova magnified, 
	a stunning, startling, shining view, 
	for God affirmed Christ's human worth
	illuminating all the earth. 

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2012 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk . Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd
Metre: 8 8 8 8 8 8
Tunes: ABINGDON; SAGINA

An old hymn, that many may know: ‘Stay, Master, stay upon this heavenly hill’, concludes the event, for the story goes on and after this height of exaltation as we return to what was normal. A message for us all perhaps…

	No, saith the Lord, the hour is past, we go;
	Our home, our life, our duties lie below.
	While here we kneel upon the mount of prayer,
	The plough lies waiting in the furrow there.
	Here we sought God that we might know his will;
	There we must do it, serve him, seek him still.
                                        
(Samuel Greg, 1804-1876)

Rich and poor – So sad that this poem is still pertinent after 174 years?

"How little can the rich man know
Of what the poor man feels,
When Want, like some dark dæmon foe,
Nearer and nearer steals!

He never tramp'd the weary round,
A stroke of work to gain,
And sicken'd at the dreaded sound
Telling him 'twas in vain.

Foot-sore, heart-sore, he never came
Back through the winter's wind,
To a dark cellar, there no flame,
No light, no food, to find.

He never saw his darlings lie
Shivering, the flags their bed;
He never heard that maddening cry,
'Daddy, a bit of bread!'"

William Gaskell (in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton, 1848)

David Hockney from – ‘Spring cannot be cancelled‘ – worth pondering…

‘This will in time be over and then what? What have we learned? I am almost 83 years old, I will die. The cause of death is birth. The only real things in life are food and love, in that order, just like our little dog Ruby, I really believe this and the source of art is love. I love life.’

Bookends, 
birth and death, 
what’s between keeps the boards apart. 
That’s what matters, 
how we fill life’s sandwich. (AP)

Short Sessions about hymns – on line from the Hymn Society

We are looking forward to “seeing” you all at our first Virtual Conference which will run on Tuesday 16th, Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th November. Please join us from 11.00 – 12.00 on all three days – or even for just one or two! Each session will consist of our usual Short Metre presentations of 10 minutes (familiar to those who attend our annual Conferences), with plenty of time for you all to contribute to the discussion via the chat.

For more information click here

Tuesday 16th, Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th November