Musical Monday
May 16, 2022
Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain
(The Hymnal, 199)
Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
of triumphant gladness!
God hath brought his Israel
into joy from sadness:
loosed from Pharaoh’s bitter yoke
Jacob’s sons and daughters,
led them with unmoistened foot
through the Red Sea waters.
Tis the spring of souls today:
Christ hath burst his prison,
and from three days’ sleep in death
as a sun hath risen;
all the winter of our sins,
long and dark, is flying
from his light, to whom we give
laud and praise undying.
Now the queen of seasons, bright
with the day of splendor,
with the royal feast of feasts,
comes its joy to render;
comes to glad Jerusalem,
who with true affection
welcomes in unwearied strains
Jesus’ resurrection.
Neither might the gates of death,
nor the tomb’s dark portal,
nor the watchers, nor the seal
hold thee as a mortal:
but today amidst thine own
thou didst stand, bestowing
that thy peace which evermore
passeth human knowing.
At our church, I have a friend in the choir who is a hymn nerd like me. On one of the Sundays of Easter, she processed out with the choir, turned around and whispered in my ear, “‘led them with unmoistened foot,’ don’t you love it?” This was years ago when our kiddos were little, and we sat in the back.
I do love the turns of phrase in hymns that hook our imagination. In this one we can see in the people of Israel’s enslavement to pharaoh humanity’s enslavement to sin. The parting of the Red Sea is a foreshadowing of God’s deliverance through Jesus.
Their story becomes our story. We then can see our own stories in the light of God.
When I was in labor with my dear Samantha, her heart rate would go down every time I had a contraction. I was told that if she didn’t make an appearance with the next contraction, I would be taken to the operating room for a C-section.
She didn’t.
On the way, to the rhythm of the gas and air I was breathing in, I silently sang,
Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us.
Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us.
Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us.
Samantha was born unresponsive. She had to be resuscitated. We were in the hospital for two weeks.
God did truly have mercy on us. She is now a strong-willed 13-year-old. Samantha’s story, like that of the people of Israel crossing the Red Sea, points to the resurrection of Jesus.
Nothing. Not “the gates of death, nor the tomb’s dark portal, nor the watchers, nor
the seal” could keep Jesus from redeeming us.
When have you experienced God’s mercy? When has God led you through “with unmoistened foot” from slavery into freedom? What has God brought you through that serves as a sign of the resurrection?
What in your life has caused you to become one “who with true affection welcomes in unwearied strains Jesus’s resurrection”?
For further singing and listening: s102 Trisagion or this version.
Listen to the Musical Mondays/Season of Easter playlist: Spotify and YouTube.
