I was sitting in the family minivan yesterday, waiting for Pastor Buetow to return from a meeting so we could do our Greek Study on the pericope for the observation of the Feast of All Saints this coming Sunday. While I was waiting, I thought about Setting Four of the Divine Service in Lutheran Service Book and how the canticles have been made into hymns. I thought about the Matins service and how the Te Deum has been hymnified more than once (my favorite is "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name", Hymn 940 in LSB). But I've not seen the Venite written as a hymn. It exists, I'm sure, since it's Psalm 95, and every Psalm has been hymnified by someone or other. But I don't remember ever singing one.
Since I'm supposed to be working on my novel for National Novel Writing Month, of course a hymn idea popped into my head. Take this for what it's worth, since it took about, oh, twenty minutes to write. But here it is, anyway.
Oh, and yes, I do know that "hymnified" isn't a real word. I made it up myself, and I like it. Sue me.
O, Come and Let Us Sing
1. O, come and let us sing
Unto the Lord Most High,
And praises to the Rock we bring
Who brings salvation nigh.
2. O, come before His throne
To thank Him for His grace.
O, shout to God, for He alone
Is worthy of our praise.
3. The Lord our God is great—
Above all gods the King.
The deepest depths He did create.
The hills His wonders sing.
4. His are the earth and sea—
He formed them by His Word.
O, let us bow and bend the knee
Before our holy Lord.
5. O sheep, with heav’nly host,
Let us our voices raise.
To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Forevermore be praise.
© Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr.
SM (66 86)
Tune: ST. THOMAS (LSB 651)
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
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2 comments:
I realize that I'm coming to this a decade late, but there are metrical versions of Psalm 95 (Venite exultemus) in English metrical psalmody. The metrical paraphrase with which I am most familiar is "O come, loud anthems let us sing," which first appeared in Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady's New Version of the Psalms of David (1696). The text can be sung to any L.M. (Long Meter) tune.
O come, loud anthems let us sing,
Loud thanks to our almighty King;
For we our voices high should raise,
When our salvation's Rock we praise.
Into His presence let us haste,
To thank Him for His favors past;
To Him address, in joyful songs,
The praise that to His Name belongs.
The depths of earth are in His hand,
Her secret wealth at His command;
The strength of hills that reach the skies,
Subjected to His empire lies.
O let us to His courts repair,
And bow with adoration there;
Down on our knees, devoutly all,
Before the Lord, our Maker, fall.
There are plenty of paraphrases for all the Psalms. If I stick to writing texts for subjects that have never been covered, I’ll never write another text. But I appreciate you sharing.
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