Angel Voices Ever Singing
Sep. 6th, 2010 07:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ancientandmodernAngel voices ever singing
round thy throne of light,
angel-harps for ever ringing,
rest not day nor night;
thousands only live to bless thee
and confess thee
Lord of might.
Thou who art beyond the farthest
mortal eye can scan,
can it be that thou regardest
songs of sinful man?
can we know that thou art near us,
and wilt hear us?
yea, we can.
Yea, we know that thou rejoicest
o'er each work of thine;
thou didst ears and hands and voices
for thy praise design;
craftsman's art and music's measure
for thy pleasure
all combine.
In thy house, great God, we offer
of thine own to thee;
and for thine acceptance proffer
all unworthily
hearts and minds and hands and voices
in our choicest
psalmody.
Honour, glory, might, and merit
thine shall ever be,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
blessed Trinity.
Of the best that thou hast given
earth and heaven
render thee.
I present a choice of two videos for this hymn. The first opens with this rather worrying exchange:
Organist: This is a different tune to what I'm used to, so...
Member of the congregation: Oh!
Organist: Don't mutter, it should be [mumbles]... bear with me:
The second is rather flashier; it is an excerpt from Songs of Praise, complete with all bells and whistles:
Which are the closest to the angel voices? I'm not going to answer that one. I will, however, note that the BBC version misses the second verse, and, with it, the point.
Angel voices and angel harps never rest. We might say, so what? They would keep on singing and ringing whether the rest of us bothered or not; it's in their job description. The really interesting part comes in the second verse: faced with all this perfection, what is the point of our trying? Compared with the song of the angels, what could be the appeal of the song of sinful mankind?
Can we know that thou art near us, and wilt hear us? There it is: a joyful note of faith, of acceptance and assurance - yes, we can. Our best efforts may come out way below what we would wish, our highest aspirations fall far short of the ideal that we cannot even imagine - and yet they please the divine. Remarkable, but true. Those two videos are exactly the same: they are - I trust - the best that there was to give.
So far, so good. There is a surprise in verse 3. The work of our hands, the sounds of our voices, fair enough - but what about the ears? You could say that listening to one's own efforts is an integral part of making music - and so it is, because if you don't know what you sound like you'll never know what to do to make it better - but equally important is listening to others. If we are working with them to make music, we must listen to what they are doing, or the result is not pleasing. Worship is useless when it is without consideration for those with whom we are worshipping.
I would go further. I would say that we are permitted - more, encouraged - to listen to and to enjoy the works that others produce in their worship. To give what we can give, and to receive what we are given. To work together, to rejoice in each others' company and each others' gifts, and to share what we have been given with the one who gave it to us - our choicest psalmody.
round thy throne of light,
angel-harps for ever ringing,
rest not day nor night;
thousands only live to bless thee
and confess thee
Lord of might.
Thou who art beyond the farthest
mortal eye can scan,
can it be that thou regardest
songs of sinful man?
can we know that thou art near us,
and wilt hear us?
yea, we can.
Yea, we know that thou rejoicest
o'er each work of thine;
thou didst ears and hands and voices
for thy praise design;
craftsman's art and music's measure
for thy pleasure
all combine.
In thy house, great God, we offer
of thine own to thee;
and for thine acceptance proffer
all unworthily
hearts and minds and hands and voices
in our choicest
psalmody.
Honour, glory, might, and merit
thine shall ever be,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
blessed Trinity.
Of the best that thou hast given
earth and heaven
render thee.
I present a choice of two videos for this hymn. The first opens with this rather worrying exchange:
Organist: This is a different tune to what I'm used to, so...
Member of the congregation: Oh!
Organist: Don't mutter, it should be [mumbles]... bear with me:
The second is rather flashier; it is an excerpt from Songs of Praise, complete with all bells and whistles:
Which are the closest to the angel voices? I'm not going to answer that one. I will, however, note that the BBC version misses the second verse, and, with it, the point.
Angel voices and angel harps never rest. We might say, so what? They would keep on singing and ringing whether the rest of us bothered or not; it's in their job description. The really interesting part comes in the second verse: faced with all this perfection, what is the point of our trying? Compared with the song of the angels, what could be the appeal of the song of sinful mankind?
Can we know that thou art near us, and wilt hear us? There it is: a joyful note of faith, of acceptance and assurance - yes, we can. Our best efforts may come out way below what we would wish, our highest aspirations fall far short of the ideal that we cannot even imagine - and yet they please the divine. Remarkable, but true. Those two videos are exactly the same: they are - I trust - the best that there was to give.
So far, so good. There is a surprise in verse 3. The work of our hands, the sounds of our voices, fair enough - but what about the ears? You could say that listening to one's own efforts is an integral part of making music - and so it is, because if you don't know what you sound like you'll never know what to do to make it better - but equally important is listening to others. If we are working with them to make music, we must listen to what they are doing, or the result is not pleasing. Worship is useless when it is without consideration for those with whom we are worshipping.
I would go further. I would say that we are permitted - more, encouraged - to listen to and to enjoy the works that others produce in their worship. To give what we can give, and to receive what we are given. To work together, to rejoice in each others' company and each others' gifts, and to share what we have been given with the one who gave it to us - our choicest psalmody.