The following lyrics and unattached music received an honorable mention in a carol writing competition for the Amadeus Choir near Toronto, Canada. (If someone wants the music, please email FD to let me know where to email the .pdf. If performed, I request that you let me know the performance date and location.)
This Christmas Joy
In swaddling clothes to us arrive,
This Jesus Christ, our hopes revive!
In Mary’s arms, her little boy:
This tiny babe, death to destroy.Was not in clouds, come down to reign
But from a girl in labor pain;
Not in a throne was he to lay
But in a manger full of hay.Welcome to Him from us today,
This Christmas joy, in us to stay.From foreign lands their homage paid:
"To Bethlehem", the star did say.
Fall prostrate where did shepherds come;
Laid out their gifts a costly sum.Then in a dream: from Herod’s gaze,
Another path to home was made.
A furious king proclaimed forthright
That innocents shall loose their life.Though in a world with evil known,
This Christmas joy, Love has outshone.Give glory to the Father’s Son:
Begotten of the Holy One.
Though ev’ry part is from the same,
The Word to us in flesh he came.A preview of the coming years,
A final act to wipe all tears:
From nursling small to mature man,
Fulfillment of the Godhead’s plan.All praise and laud and glorious pow’r,
This Christmas joy, ’tis Jesse’s flow’r.– 2005 Musique de McClain
8-19-05
My wife called me Yoda after reading this (I prefer Yogurt, just plain Yogurt).
What I did with this was to highlight yet another paradox of Christianity: the almighty Godhead decides to humble himself and become a man. In this act, the incarnate Word shows what real kingship is about: humbly serving for the good of his kingdom, being obedient to Our Father in heaven.
Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
One of the things I was wondering about for a while was why we’re supposed to bow our head during The Nicene Creed at:
"by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the the Virgin Mary, and became man."
Writing this hymn helped me in this quest. Anymore thoughts about why we are to bow our head for this passage?
(Since I received an honorable mention, I get 2 free tickets for the Toronto concert where the winning compositions and other works are performed (Saturday December 17, 2005 at 7:30 p.m). Does anyone want these tickets? I have to be at the Handel Choir of Baltimore’s performance the next day. Email FD for a request and I’ll let you have them. See the concert details here.
I like the hymn very much — I hope someone picks it up and performs it at some point.
Regarding the reverence during the recitation of the Creed, first off, it’s technically a profound bow (from the waist). My smartass answer as to why we make a bow is that the people who came up with GIRM thought genuflexion was too hard for people to do (genuflexion used to be the norm for reverencing the Incarnation in the Creed and in all prayers that mentioned it specifically, including the Angelus and in the reading of the beginning of John’s Gospel). But anyway, as near as I can tell, the reason that we make a reverence at the mention of the Incarnation is because we are giving a gesture of our adoration of the Word made flesh, as the Incarnation was the act by which the sacrifice of the Cross and ultimately, salvation, were made possible. Perhaps the genuflexion at the mention of the Incarnation in the Creed began as a reaction to early Christological heresies which either denied Christ’s divinity or held that His human nature was, somehow, more prominent than His divine nature, but this last bit is all conjecture.
I’ve been meaning to email you to let you know I’ve printed the music and played it through on the ol’ piano a few times – the whole family likes it a lot. I’m trying to get our little schola to sing it; if it happens I’ll let you know. Thanks for passing it along!!
So lemme get this straight gbm… you wrote this?! It’s pretty good. You’re asking for music for it? I could take as stab at it, tho’ I’m more of a folk/country/rock musician, and this has celtic hymn written all over it. My initial guess was to use the tune of “As the Hart Longs for Flowing Streams” (a “Hart” for you younguns is a deer), same tune as “Tho’ I May Speak with Bravest Fire”. Either should be in any good, old hymnal. The tune would work perfectly for the stanzas, not sure what I’d do about the refrains (well whatever you call the two-line thingies.
My $0.02
“You’re asking for music for it?” -Steve Nicoloso
No.
The carol contest from which I received honorable mention was primarily for the music. I happened to write the lyrics too.
I also entered another contest with the same lyrics in a SATB/cello arrangement (to no avail). Let me know if someone would like this also.
I would be interested in your interpretation though. If you do arrange something with the lyrics, please forward the music to me c/o FD.
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