Hymns and Hymnwriting     •     Echoes of Creation

Text

The hymns in the Revelation, the only explicit examples of Christian praise, surely ought to be at the center of our own praise. And yet they are elusive: each one is firmly set in a specific context, and takes its meaning from that context. As a result, they are compact ("too short for a whole song") and compressed ("information density too high for easy comprehension"). In form they are irregular ("defying ordinary metrification techniques").

The typical approach (exemplified by Worthy of Praise, perhaps the most successful hymn written by a member of the church) involves lots of repetition² and very little uncompression of the meaning. I started in the other way: by writing a poetic elaboration of the song in prose to uncompress the meaning in its context, something like:

Nobody else was able to unroll the scroll. But for Christ, who made the universe ("unrolled the heavens like a tent, suspended planets from it, and inscribed its author's name in light across the starry sky."), it would be a condescension to stoop to unroll it. Again, nobody else could break the seals. But for Christ, who knew all things from the beginning, this was also trivial.

And, rather than merely (vainly?) repeating the list of attributes, I tried to give each attribute some thought: why was this said of Christ at that moment? Eventually, each attribute fit neatly into the divine activity mentioned in the text.

Rather than trying to fit standard poetic form, I abandoned rhyme and symmetric meter altogether, something hardly ever seen in our strophic hymns. But the first stanza introduces a structure, with as many constraints as the typical rhymed stanza, to which the other stanzas rigidly conform. This is repetition, with a difference--and a purpose. And the structure gave me an aesthetic satisfaction comparable to what symmetric rhyme schemes offer.

The song might serve as an introduction to any part of a service that focuses on revelation as revelation. It is perhaps too intense to serve as prelude to a prosaic scripture reading: but perhaps it might fit a sermon emphasizing the prophetic work of the incarnate messiah.

Music

"Sapphic" meter is known from Greek and Latin poets and Medieval hymnody. It doesn't fit English very well; early English classical writers experimented with it, with less than usual success. But there are several widely used hymn tunes from the French Breviaries³ with this meter; one of them, "Christe Sanctorum" helped me put the second stanza into metric form (and would work as a setting for this text). "Iste Confessor" is more intense: it's a good example of the emotional power (as opposed to mere sadness) that can be obtained from the minor keys.

Notes

¹The nativity songs of Luke are Jewish in form and substance. It is generally recognized that several passages in the New Testament letters are quotations from hymns: but none of them have explicit attributions, and more possible quotations have been suggested than have received scholarly consensus.

²The popular fads reinforce this unfortunate approach: pop "scripture songs" seem to be comprised of more and more repetition of shorter and shorter phrases, down to the "hallelujah" and "name above all names" songs. The next step -- the only step left -- is the absolutely vicious habit of repeating syllables -- as the vapid baby song goes, "Abra-abra-ham-ham-ham." There is no natural barrier: hymn traditions even in protestantism have at times descended so far. The only thing that will reverse this trend is for Christians to demand coherency in the songs that are presented for them to sing -- and go to someone who is willing to provide them.

³In the early eighteenth century, French liturgists broke away from the Roman-Catholic tradition of Gregorian chant and vulgar-Latin texts, writing new cycles of polished Latin poetry and tonal tunes. The movement faded and eventually French catholics returned to the older traditionss. But in the nineteenth century, the Oxford Movement liturgists in England borrowed extensively from the (supposedly ancient) Latin rites for both words and music; it's not always clear that they knew how much of the Latin material was no older than their despised evangelical, Isaac Watts. But whether old or new, some of these tunes, praised by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Erik Routley, supplied with four-part harmonies, have retained their place in modern protestant hymnals because of their innate qualities. Compare also O Quantia Qualia.

This text, © Stephen Hutcheson, 2005, and offered freely for use under a Creative Commons License. These studies are created by members of the West Allen Church of Christ in Allen, Texas