Had me flashing back--remembering every detail of what it was like to stand on the cool stone floors of the church I grew up in, next to my mother and younger brother, singing this hymn. We must have sung it 12 times a year--obviously a favorite of our priest!
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessèd, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.
To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish—but naught changeth Thee.
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
All laud we would render; O help us to see
’Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee.
Sung in our parish to the tune St. Denio.
We also sang "Morning Has Broken" at mass. It is probably my least favorite thing we ever sing since, being a child of my times, I always associate it more strongly with Cat Stevens than I do with church. My fault, but it just is. And with him recently being in the news--well, it was distracting. I was sitting with a friend, since PapaC was serving and Zteen was serving at the 6 p.m. mass. She leaned over to me and laughed: "This reminds me of Cat Stevens. BEFORE he wanted to blow us all up."
Enjoyed you blog ladies... I have a Morning Has Broken story. I couldnt deal with the song after I became a Christian cause it seemed so phoney to me that muslim Cat Stevens sang as a folksong. Uggh! Until I met Rick Wakeman, former keyboardist with YES and a Born Again Believer. He is thought to be one of the great keyboard men of our time and was playing at a gathering I went to and begain to play his song "Catherine Howard", then stopped and told us that he was recording next door to the studio where Cat Stevens was recording Morning Has Broken, and Stevens heard him play and asked him to cover the keyboards on the song, so for about 100.00 US and a chance to witness to Stevens, he gave Stevens the lovely piano intro one on take that you hear on the song today. A Christian made that recording into the lovely thing that it truly is. The piece "Catherine Howard" has the same theme that you hear in "Morning" I had always wondered about that. Too bad Stevens didnt take more than the piano message that day.
I love that hymn, too!
# 301 in my 1940 hymnal.
Y'all might appreciate that I still keep on my headboard, next to my Magnificat, the prayer book with hymnal I was given when I was confirmed in the anglican rite March 1, 1964. The white leatherette is yellowed and creaky, and the gilt is rubbing off the edges, but I do so love the traditional hymns and the collects and psalms.
I wish that we could move to an Anglican rite parish. The older I get, the more I miss the beauty I took for granted as a child. Hey, I will tolerate all kinds of malarkey for the real presence, but why can't the table not only have real food but also all the china and crystal?
Alicia, I have my white leatherette BCP/Hymnal on the shelf above my desk. It alternates between being there and being with my Magnificat.
I use it to sing (in my head, at least) almost every single day.