HYMN FOR TRANSFIGURATION SUNDAY 'Tis good, Lord, to be here
- Gracia Grindal
- 7 hours ago
- 4 min read
Text: J. Armitage Robinson (1858-1933) Tune: POTSDAM by Johann Schop (1590-1667).
1 'Tis good, Lord, to be here!
Your glory fills the night;
Your face and garments, like the sun,
Shine with unborrowed light.
2 'Tis good, Lord, to be here,
Your beauty to behold,
Where Moses and Elijah stand,
Your messengers of old.
3 Fulfiller of the past!
Promise of things to be!
We hail your body glorified,
And our redemption see.
4 Before we taste of death,
We see your kingdom come;
We long to hold the vision bright,
And make this hill our home.
5 'Tis good, Lord, to be here!
Yet we may not remain;
But since you bid us leave the mount,
Come with us to the plain.
REFLECTION
The Transfiguration comes at the end of Epiphany, the brighter and brghter shining of the light and divinity of Jesus. We all know the themes about it: like Bible Camp, we can’t stay on the mountain top and must go to the valley, which the disciples will do as they follow Jesus to the cross. Or that Moses and Elijah represent the Law and Prophets, that Peter wants the moment to stay and asks to build three booths. While not wrong, those insights are a mere glimpse of what is going on in this important event in the life of the disciples and Jesus.
I have been most edified by the book Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration by my friend and colleague Sarah Hinlicky Wilson. Her detailed trip through Scripture and the many ways it illuminates this event begins with the Jewish festival of Succoth. This is the harvest festival some days after Yom Kippur. Her book is a revelation to me in my dotage.
A booth is what Jacob builds for his livestock, and can be translated as tent or tabernacle. And Sukkot is the festival of the booths, or Tabernacles. Christians have understood Pentecost as the giving of the Holy Spirit, but the people were thronging Jerusalem at that time for the Jewish festival Pentecost, the Feast of the Tabernacles. That was the celebration of the success of the Exodus when people did dwell in booths on their journey. The Transfiguration shows us a Jesus we will not see again until we see him in glory. What we see in the resurrection of Jesus is a body raised and still quite ordinary and recognizable but not glorified. To make her argument brief and miss much of the richness of the book, in the Transfiguration the disciples glimpse the glorified Christ which they cannot see until after his Ascension when he is seated at the right hand of his Father. Peter picks the right festival with his talk of Booths, but it cannot be seen again until after his ascension.
Interestingly enough, the one place in Scripture other than the gospels where the transfiguration is mentioned is II Peter 1:16-18. There it says, in Sarah’s translation “And we heard this voice having been borne from heaven, being with him in the holy mountain.”
Sarah ends her book with this hymn for Transfiguration Sunday, “Tis good, Lord, to be here.” Peter has for the rest of his life the memory of that day when he woke up to a shining glorified Savior whom he would never see in that mode until later, but the hope it engendered in him drew him on even to martyrdom and suffering, even maybe his terrified denial of Jesus. So should it be with us. We cannot remain there in that light, but we do ask Jesus to come with us because we have glimpsed something of his glory during our lives. Look up! For we have seen our redemption, the hymn says.
HYMN INFO
Joseph Armitage Robinson, the writer of this text, grew up in poverty. He had thirteen brothers and sisters. He was English and served as Dean of Westminster from 1902-1911 where he was said to have improved the services. He left there to become Dean of Wells where he worked until his death in 1933. He was regarded as an erudite, but somewhat eccentric New Testament scholar. He translated works from the early church as well, especially a work by Ireneus. He held many positions associated with Westminster and Cambridge. This is his one hymn. He wrote it in 1890 to fill out the poor selection of hymns for Transfiguration Sunday. The 1904 version of Hymns Ancient and Modern included it and it was picked up there by many traditions to add to their hymns for the Transfiguration. This is a 1905 caricature of Robinson from Vanity Fair. The most popular tune is Potsdam by Johann Schop. A native of lower Saxony, he was a well known musician, a composer and virtuoso on the violin. In 1615 he became musician for the court of King Christian IV of Denmark. His tunes are still highly regarded.
LINKS
Potsdam tune
Concordia Publishing House
Jazzy version
Carlisle/more popular in England
Chris Brunelle singing with guitar
Organ version of Carlisle
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The Link for Sarah's book
