Tag: stained glass

O Clavis David: The Lord’s my Shepherd

Good Shepherd window, Whalley parish church
Artist: Edward Burne-Jones. Photo (C) Stephen Craven

Today’s Antiphon is ‘O clavis David’ (clavis=key).  One English translation of the full text is ‘O key of David and sceptre of Israel, you who open and nobody then can close, who close and nobody then can open: come and lead the captive from prison; free those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death’. There are many people in literal prison cells, or in ‘prisons’ of their other circumstances, for whom we could pray as we read this.

The ‘O antiphons’ are usually rendered as plainsong, but today’s hymn from Sing Praise is the well known worship song ‘The Lord’s my shepherd (I will trust in you alone)’ by Stuart Townend.  The connections with the antiphon are that David was a shepherd before he became King, and Psalm 23 of which it is a setting also talks of the ‘shadow of death’.

This modern setting of the psalm has achieved great popularity, although it takes the verses of the psalm in a different order from the original, and oddly doesn’t seem to include the last verse – ‘I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever’.  Perhaps that’s because of its refrain ‘I will trust in you alone’ which has a pleasant descant line.

By coincidence I’ve been able to illustrate two posts this week with stained glass from the same church. Whalley has a real treasure in these windows by Burne-Jones and Whall, two of the masters of their craft.

O Adonai: How shall I sing that majesty?

Nativity window, Whalley St Mary & All Saints (detail)
Artist Christopher Whall, photo (c) Stephen Craven

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is ‘How shall I sing that majesty?’ by John Mason. I have heard or sung this often, and assumed it was modern (probably because the usual tune, as printed in the book, is). But in fact it seems the words date from the 17th century, though surprisingly they are nearly all words and phrases still in use today.  The exceptions are the archaic pronoun ‘thy’ and the reference to sounding depths with a [plumb] line. John used a different tune in his video, but personally I prefer ‘Coe Fen’ as provided.

This is the day of the second ‘O antiphon’, this time ‘O Adonai’, that being one of the Jewish names for God, the one usually rendered as ‘Lord’ in English Bibles  (or sometimes by the letters YHYW – see an explanation here) and referring to the one beyond our sight and knowing.   So I picked this hymn which addresses God in his majesty in heaven.

The hymn picks up imagery from the book of Revelation, as well as other parts of the BIble, to imagine God’s angels constantly singing his praises around his throne, as they see his face, behold his brightness and understand his whole being.  We on earth, by contrast, for all our natural and artificial light cannot see the light of God and are spiritually cold and dark, unable to praise God properly.  We ask him to enlighten us with faith and love, the only things that can stir us up into praise. 

These same ideas lie behind the Christmas story with the angels dazzling the shepherds and the heavenly light guiding the magi. Illustrations of the manger in Bethlehem often portray a warm glowing light around the child, or around the whole stable, while it is night outside.  Our God comes to us in ways that show us the right way and warm our hearts to respond to him in song like the angels.

The illustration is a detail of a stained glass window in the south aisle of Whalley parish church, Lancashire, by the arts-and-crafts designer Christopher Whall. It depicts Mary with the infant Jesus and two angels.