Advent Reflection 14 December
A great and mighty wonder
Pause for a moment
What makes you wonder?
Listen to the music
A great and mighty wonder,
A full and holy cure:
The Virgin bears the Infant
With virgin honour pure!
Repeat the hymn again:
To God on high be glory
And peace on earth to men!
The Word becomes incarnate
And yet remains on high,
And cherubim sing anthems
To shepherds from the sky.
Repeat the hymn again….
While thus they sing your Monarch,
Those bright angelic bands,
Rejoice, ye vales and mountains,
Ye oceans, clap your hands.
Repeat the hymn again….
Since all He comes to ransom.
By all be He adored,
The Infant born in Bethl’em,
The Saviour and the Lord.
Repeat the hymn again….
And idol forms shall perish,
and error shall decay,
And Christ shall wield His sceptre,
our Lord and God for aye.
Repeat the hymn again….
Learn about the carol
A Great and Mighty Wonder is an ancient carol based around the words of St Germanus (c. 634 - 732) St Germanus was born at Constantinople; was ordained there; and became subsequently bishop of Cyzicus. He was made patriarch of Constantinople in 715. In 730 he was driven from the see, not without blows, for refusing to yield to the Iconoclastic Emperor Leo the Isaurian. He died shortly afterwards, at the age of one hundred years.
The hymn is traditionally sung to a 16th Century tune, and the words of St Germanus were translated by JM Neale (1818 - 1866),
Time for reflection
I was once reading a bedtime book to the son of a friend. Unfortunately, I read the words—and so was occasionally corrected. His dad was a canoeist—so at the point where the animal at the heart of the story was stranded in boat watching the oars float away downstream, I was corrected—they were paddles Obviously, dad wouldn’t have a boat with oars.
It’s one of those things with children, repetition. Even as adults, we like to hear the words we know. Pantomime works with that (‘Oh no it doesn’t!). In our church services, the carefully crafted liturgy that brings us to an awareness of God’s presence with us has a comforting familiarity—and will come to mind in times of need. And here is teh Christmas refrain: ‘Repeat the hymn again: To God on high be glory and peace on earth to men!’
Time for Action
Learn a new poem or prayer to say to yourself sometimes.
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