Up through endless ranks of angels,
Songs of triumph in his ears,
To His Father's throne ascending
Having vanquished all their fears:
Christ looks down upon the faithful,
Leaving them in happy tears.
Death destroying, Life restoring,
Proven equal to our need,
Now for us before the Father
As our Brother intercede.
Flesh that for our flesh was wounded,
Living for the wounded plead.
--Jaroslav Vajda, tune by Henry Gerike
Actually, this text is by Jaroslav Vajda, tune by Henry Gerike. Carl Schalk wrote an earlier tune when the text was temporarily changed to "There through endless ranks of angels" by the LBW committee (some on the committee having problems with the so-called "three-tiered universe theory"), With Henry's tune, it went back to "Up . . ." and the rest, as they say, is history.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jon. The memory IS the first thing to go... ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd I can't remember what the second thing is . . . ; )
ReplyDelete