Music Ministry Musings from Mary
Music Ministry Musings from Mary
Greetings, everyone! This Sunday we celebrate Trinity Sunday, which launches the lengthy season that follows Pentecost and continues until the First Sunday of Advent on November 29th.
Our two hymns for Sunday focus on the Trinity. You can hear a portion of both hymns being sung by our choir by clicking on the video link above. The first, Hymn #370, “I bind unto myself today” (tune name: St. Patrick’s Breastplate), traces through its seven verses the wonders of God in creation, and salvation through Christ’s incarnation, ministry, suffering and death. This ancient text has been attributed to St. Patrick since the year 690, and comes with the legend that Patrick sang this as protection from the pagan Irish king and Druid worshipers as he was trying to preach Christianity to the Irish. This ancient text is known as an example of a lorica, or ‘breastplate prayer’, to be prayed when arming oneself for battle.
The text we have in the hymnal is a metrical setting by Mrs. Cecil Frances Alexander, who gave us “All things bright and beautiful”. The music comes from George Petrie’s Complete Collection of Irish Melodies, ed. by C.V. Stanford, and the music for verse 6 comes from Edward Bunting’s The Ancient Music of Ireland. Woven throughout this hymn is the Celtic sensibility of God present in all around and within us. In the center of this hymn at verse 6 we have a change in music for the text “Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me” etc. There is similarity here with the hymn WLP 791 “Peace before us”, which I featured in my meditation back in April and so beautifully sung by our tenor, Darrius Pugh. While we won’t be singing all the verses of Hymn 370 on Sunday, I invite you to meditate on them here.
I bind unto myself today the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
I bind this day to me for ever, by power of faith, Christ’s Incarnation;
his baptism in the Jordan river; his death on cross for my salvation;
his bursting from the spiced tomb; his riding up the heavenly way;
his coming at the day of doom: I bind unto myself today.
I bind unto myself the power of the great love of cherubim;
the sweet “Well done” in judgment hour; the service of the seraphim;
confessors’ faith, apostles’ word, the patriarchs’ prayers, the prophet’s scrolls;
all good deeds done unto the Lord, and purity of virgin souls.
I bind unto myself today the virtues of the starlit heaven
the glorious sun’s life-giving ray, the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free, the whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea, around the old eternal rocks.
I bind until myself today the power of God to hold and lead,
his eye to watch, his might to stay, his ear to hearken, to my need;
the wisdom of my God to teach, his hand to guide, his shield to ward;
the word of God to give me speech, his heavenly host to be my guard.
Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
I bind unto myself the Name, the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same, the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature hath creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation, salvation is of Christ the Lord.
Our closing hymn, #362 “Holy, Holy, Holy” probably needs no introduction here, as it has been in Anglican and Episcopal hymnals since 1861. A textual revision was made for the Hymnal 1980, replacing “though the eye of sinful man” with the more inclusive “though the sinful human eye”. Anglican priest and musician John Bacchus Dykes has given us the text, along with eleven other hymn tunes in our hymnal, including “Eternal Father, strong to save”, affectionately referred to as the Navy Hymn, whose tune name is actually Melita.
