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HYMN FOR EPIPHANY 3 Sometimes a Light Surprises

Text: William Cowper (1731-1800) Tune: John Hullah (1812-1884)   Jesus reading in the synagogue. James Tissot 1.Sometimes a light surprises a Christian while he sings; it is the Lord who rises with healing in his wings; when comforts are declining, he grants the soul again a season of clear shining to cheer it after rain. 2 In holy contemplation we sweetly then pursuet he theme of God’s salvation, and find it ever new: set free from present sorrow, we cheerfully can say, 'E'en let the unknown morrow bring with it what it may, 3 'it can bring with it nothing but he will bear us through; who gives the lilies clothing will clothe His people too: beneath the spreading heavens no creature but is fed; and he who feeds the ravens will give his children bread.'4 Though vine nor fig-tree neither their wonted fruit should bear, though all the field should wither, nor flocks nor herds be there; yet God the same abiding, his praise shall tune my voice; for while in him confiding, I cannot but rejoice.   REFLECTIONS Jesus in the Nazareth synagogue is with his family and friends from way back. He is reading the prophet Isaiah as was his custom, Luke reports. All eyes are on him. He has just returned from his battle with the tempter, although they don’t know that. Apparently they sense something is going to happen. It does. Jesus announces that he is the fulfillment of the Scripture from Isaiah 61:1-2. They are shocked. They think they know who he is and, suddenly before their eyes, he tells them he is more than they could have ever imagined. More than Joseph's son, for sure! At first they marvel, but then as the story goes on, he says more about who he is and it fills them with wrath, so much so they attempt to kill him!   The Christian faith is filled with the surprises Cowper describes in this much loved hymn. The Christian life is filled with what have been called epiphanies, a sudden revalation of something more. Many times we cannot see to see, as the poet has it. We pray for sight and suddenly what was humdrum and ordinary dances with new light and surprises. Or something we thought to be remarkable turns out to be mere façade. Seeing is not believing in the Christian faith. Hearing is.   The assembled in Nazareth see the old home town boy; they hear the voice of God. At first it charms them; then they become angry. Have their senses betrayed them? Not really. They just have not been attuned to the possibility that in the physical scene they are part of, they are also glimpsing something of the spiritual world upon which all of their lives are built. It upsets them, as well it might. Like the man stepping on the back of a whale thinking it dry land and discovering to his horror it is not.   All of life is filled with numinous presences and gifts that God has sent us. And this is what the Christian life brings us—insight into the heavenly world around us, and in us. As Luther says, God comes to us in the sacrament In, with an under the physical. That is also true of his lovely world. I have a friend who said that when she came to faith, it was like the world turned instantly from a black and white photo into technicolor. As Cowper says, “E’en let the unknown morrow bring with it what it may.”   HYMN INFO William Cowper William Cowper, one of the more gifted English hymn writers, lived a sad life, haunted by mental illness and difficulties. His mother died when he was six, he developed something like agoraphobia and lost many opportunities to work as the lawyer he had been trained to be. At one time he believed God was telling him to commit suicide, something he almost did, but failed. Something of a minor English poet whose works attracted attention, it is as a hymn writer that he has achieved a reputation. He moved to Olney England where John Newton was rector and began writing hymns with him. Their collected works, the Olney Hymns of 1779 remains one of the treasures of English hymnody—including "Amazing Grace" by Newton, and "God moves in a Mysterious Way" by Cowper. While Cowper’s hymns are considered dark, for obvious reasons, they still speak powerfully to many who are looking for hymns that express their faith in the midst of great sorrow and difficulty.    LINKS Martin de Groot https://youtu.be/PtdkrQcbijU?si=s1JzW8ntE63ket2i   Remission Choir https://youtu.be/JkTnZbtuyjE?si=b0iudFW5nOGKw6pR   Saint Michael’s Singers https://youtu.be/0mDez8OPmeM?si=3-MpCqwgpdBl-CNO   Chopin Hymn Episodes. From Lagos https://youtu.be/AG5cT2Ci-i8?si=4uv4adNLFCwmAmup

HYMN FOR EPIPHANY 3 Sometimes a Light Surprises

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