Christ, Whose glory fills the skies,
Christ, the true, the only Light,
Sun of Righteousness, arise,
Triumph o’er the shades of night;
Dayspring from on high be near;
Day-star, in my heart appear.
Dark and cheerless is the morn
Unaccompanied by Thee;
Joyless is the day’s return
Till Thy mercy’s beams I see;
Till they inward light impart,
Glad my eyes, and warm my heart.
Visit then this soul of mine,
Pierce the gloom of sin and grief;
Fill me, Radiancy divine,
Scatter all my unbelief;
More and more Thyself display,
Shining to the perfect day.
Words by Charles Wesley (have I ever told you what a crush I have on Charles Wesley? Probably not....). Sung at SMV to the tune Ratisbon. Per usual, if you don't know the tune, you can jump over to www.cyberhymnal.org and hear it!
Lovely, just lovely.
I am a member of the Charles Wesley fanclub, too! It's my Nazarene upbringing and Episcopalian 20's, I'm sure. We sang a Charles Wesley hymn in our parish yesterday, too, and boy, did I belt it out! I just love that our music director embraces wonderful hymns.
Lovely, is right!
I am personally really fond of music from Ralph Vaughan Williams - he had a knack for setting wonderful hymn lyrics to singable beauty. Kingsfold, Sine Nomine, etc
Of course, OCP totally messes up the lyrics and flattens out the harmonies! I need to find a source for the oxford press musical arrangements,,,
By Heaven, that Wesley could write a hymn!!