HYMN FOR ADVENT 3 The Great Forerunner of the Morn
- Gracia Grindal
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Text: The Venerable Bede (673-735) Tune: Winchester New
1 The great forerunner of the morn,
The herald of the Word, is born;
And faithful hearts shall never fail
With thanks and praise his light to hail.
2 With heav'nly message Gabriel came,T
hat John should be that herald's name,
And with prophetic utt'rance told
His actions great and manifold.
3 Though not yet born, John gave aright
His witness to the coming Light;
And Christ, the Sun of all the earth,
Fulfilled that witness at his birth.
4 John's mighty deeds exalt his fame
To greater than a prophet's name;
Of woman born shall never be
A greater prophet than was he.
REFLECTION
I have a quibble with the lectionary on this selection of Bible passages. Most people will be expecting Christmas kinds of lessons, not a message from John the Baptist from prison. This somewhat unknown hymn text by the Venerable Bede is worth pondering, however, for its reference to the Visitation, Mary’s visit to Elisabeth, John’s mother. As you may remember, Elisabeth tells Mary that when Mary came near, now pregnant with Jesus, the baby John kicked out in recognition of his Savior or as per the hymn, “John gave aright His witness to the coming Light.” He will spend his life pointing to the Light, even in his wondering while in prison awaiting his martyrdom, whether Jesus is really who he said.
When the two women, one young, the other old, meet, echoes of other such meetings sound quite loudly in the Luke account. The most obvious are the echoes from David’s bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. Remember the account in 2 Samuel 6. David has been named king of Judah and Israel and has gone to fetch the Ark of the Covenant and bring it to Jerusalem. On the way Uzzah touches the Ark and is struck down by God. David complains and asks “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” He leaves the ark with Obed-edom the Gittite. After some months, he returns to take the ark the rest of the way. As he does, he dances before the Lord with all his might to the shame of Michel, his wife, Saul’s daughter.
Elisabeth asks the same question when Mary approaches, “And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” She then tells how her baby “leaped for joy” on hearing Mary’s voice.
The Ark, remember, carries the Torah, the rod of Aaron, an almond branch, which reminds us of a shepherd’s staff, and some manna. Mary is carrying the word made flesh, the staff of a priestly good shepherd, and the bread of life.
While the story Luke tells so simply does not seem to need much of an explanation, digging a bit deeper into his language, shows how the entire Old Testament prophecies are coming true in Jesus. He has been a gleam in the eye of God ever since he told Eve that her seed would bruise the head of Satan. Now we see it it taking flesh.
THE VISITATION
Like the ark holding the words of God,
Manna from heaven, safe from corruption’s worm,
A flowering almond staff, old Aaron’s rod,
She carries divinity; the seed takes form
Inside her flesh. The God who created all
Incarnate in a tiny human child,
One who fills the universe goes small,
Helpless, a little baby, without any guile.
John, his cousin, will recognize his Lord
Dancing inside his mother with David’s joy
When Mary, bearing him, comes to the door
To visit his aged mother. The two rejoice.
Infinity confined within a human space,
Magnificats of beauty in her face.
Luke 1:39– 56; 1 Samuel 2:1– 10; 2 Samuel 6:1– 15 from Jesus the Harmony by Gracia Grindal
HYMN INFO
The Venerable Bede is considered the Father of English history for writing the first account of the English church, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People 731, which is still an interesting read. He was born near Tyne and Wear in Northumbria and was sent to a monastery as a young boy. He wrote other books and tried to figure out the date of Easter, but failed. He is the most important churchman between 600-800 AD. He survived the plagues of his youth and is said to have written over 60 books of which we have a good many. He wrote poetry in Latin and Anglo-Saxon. Scholars say he loved to used all of Scripture especially quoting it in his hymns, as we see here. This was in Latin, Precusor altus luminis. The translator John Mason Neale spent his life recovering the treasury of early church hymnody.
LINKS
OCP Session Choir
Hymns Instrumental
Jovita Manrique V
Christmas Gift
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"With these 366 sonnets, remarkable in artistry and number, Gracia Grindal has made literary history. The scriptural and theological knowledge that supports these poems is vast, but it is the imagination infused with the holy in poem after poem that reveals the poet's grace and skill and the astonishing work of the Spirit." --Jill Baumgartner, Poetry Editor, Christian Century, and professor of English emerita, Wheaton College