Pr. Starke's paraphrase of the Te Deum set to Gustav Holst' Thaxted. That's at LSB 941. The match of text and tune is powerful. If you've got an LSB, sit down and play this and sing through it. You will be blessed:
From stanza 3:
You, Christ, are King of glory, the everlasting Son,
Yet You with boundless love, sought to rescue everyone:
You laid aside Your glory, were born of virgin's womb,
Were crucified for us and were placed into a tomb;
Then by Your resurrection You won for us reprieve -
You opened heaven's kingdom to all who would believe.
(Copyright 1999 Stephen P. Starke, administered by Concordia Publishing House)
I think it is a far stronger paraphrase of the Te Deum than LSB 940, "Holy God, We Praise Your Name."
The CTS Fort Wayne Kantorei has recorded a nice rendition of this hymn - the CD is available from the seminary website www.ctsfw.edu. It's the CD entitled "Te Deum." I highly recommend this CD.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time, some of us suggested that this phrase confessed something not in accord with Cyrilian Christology:
ReplyDelete"You laid aside Your glory, were born of virgin's womb."
John,
ReplyDeleteIf they are taken in apposition then it is certainly wrong; but if it is stating two separate things, then it is fine. "Laid aside your glory" then is paraphrase for "Laid aside the complete exercise of your glory." The humiliation is NOT the incarnation - but you know Stephen and you know that that would never have even entered his mind to understand it as if the laying aside of his glory WERE the becoming man.
You want a "Praise Song!" this is it!
ReplyDeleteYou want to rock God's house? This is it!
You want a song to set you Ablaze!? This is it.
William,
ReplyDeleteYou're right; it does matter how one reads the grammar.
There's also the difficulty of building a paraphrase off a poor translation. "Thou didst humble Thyself to be born of a virgin" does not translate "non horruísti Vírginis uterum."
John,
ReplyDeleteI suspect Starke was not building off the TLH paraphrase (which in turn is built on the AMERICAN BCP - the English one always translated it correctly: Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb!) because he does use the word "womb" that the paraphrase was studiously trying to avoid!
Te Deum has always been one of my favorites. For the longest time it has been a part of my morning prayer ritual.
ReplyDelete