ARE YOU PROUD TO BE HUMBLE?

Pentecost 20, October 30, 2011

Joshua 3:7-17

Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37 from BCP

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

Matthew 23:1-12

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Are you proud to be humble?

It really is hard to be humble, isn’t it? We are so filled with pride to be called the sons and daughters of God. Our best hope is to stop trying so hard to be humble and strive rather for consistency—our actions consistent with our thoughts, our words consistent with our deeds, our lives consistent with the example of Christ. With this kind of humility we need never worry that we will start to take pride in ourselves.

Bianco da Siena prayed for this humility in the early 15th century in the sequence hymn for Sunday:

Let holy charity mine outward vesture be,

And lowliness become my inner clothing –

True lowliness of heart, which takes the humbler part,

And o’er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.

                           “Come Down, O Love Divine”

Our Hymnal ’82 does not have the above verse, however it was one of the four stanzas that R.F. Littledale included in The People’s Hymnal (London 1867), prepared for Anglicans who felt, as he did, that they might benefit from many Roman Catholic teachings and practices without quitting their own church.

Richard Frederick Littledale, born September 14, 1833, in Dublin, Ireland, was virtually at the top of his class all the way through his education. He received a B.A., M.A., LL.B and LL.D and if that were not enough, the Doctor of Civil Law from Oxford. Along the way he became a University Scholar First Class, gold medalist in classics and gold medalist in Greek. After ill health forced him to retire from two parishes, he distinguished himself by writing 50 books on theology, history, the liturgy, and hymnology. The hymn tune DOWN AMPNEY, is named after its composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams, place of birth, near Cirenchester, Gloucester, England. He wrote it especially for this text and it was included in the English Hymnal, 1906.

Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah, our processional hymn, has been chosen to amplify our Old Testament reading of how Joshua is receiving from God the message that he is going to take over leading the children of Israel from Moses. He will be the authority figure, but must remain humble.

The text, written by William Williams, first appeared in the Hymnal 1826, and is one of the truly great Welsh hymns to come into use in English. It is universally popular and has been further translated into some seventy-five languages and here matched with the vigorous and widely used Welsh tune CWM RHONDDA.

Williams, son of a wealthy farmer, graduated from the university as a physician, intending to become a medical doctor. But hearing a sermon that Howell Harris preached while standing on a gravestone in Talgarth churchyard, he was converted. Soon thereafter, he changed professions to become a physician of the soul—a preacher. He is best remembered, however, for his hymns. He has been called the “Sweet Singer of Wales,” and the “Watts of Wales.” As an itinerate evangelist, he lived as a pilgrim, pressing through the snow of winter, the rains of springtime, and the heat of summer. He was both beaten by mobs (once nearly dying) and cheered by crowds, but in all his travels he sought only to do the will of God until his death at age 74.



Tell Out, My Soul the Greatness of the Lord, our recessional hymn is paired with the day’s Gospel reading. We will sing in v 3:

Tell out my Soul, the greatness of His might!

Powers and dominions lay their glory by.

Proud hearts and stubborn wills are put to flight,

the hungry fed, the humble lifted high.

Since its first publication in 1965, this text has found such extensive acceptance and use that it is now found in almost every major English-language hymnal around the world. The text “Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord” was composed by Timothy Dudley-Smith while he was serving in the Church Pastoral Aid Society, a home missionary society of the Church of England. He describes his inspiration was based on the Song of Mary, Luke 1:46-55: “I was reading a review copy of The New English Bible, New Testament, in which the line, ‘Tell out my soul the greatness of the Lord’ appears…I saw in it the first line of a poem, and speedily wrote the rest.”

Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37 will be chanted in Anglican chant by the singers in the Lofty Pews.

During communion, Non, nobis Domine is the anthem that will be sung from the loft .

The Latin words translate to:

Not to us, not to us, o Lord,

But to your glory.

Link to hear it: http://youtu.be/3Q8B43TcXwY

The 'Non nobis Domine' text to which the canon is sung today was apparently taken from the first collect from the thanksgiving service added to the Book of Common Prayer to celebrate the thwarting of the Gunpowder Plot on 5 November 1605. The earliest source of the canon dates from 1620 to 1625 and is preserved in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, in the "Bull" manuscript, MS 782, f.122v, where it is anonymous, unbarred and untexted. It is however clear from the repeated notes and the contour of the melody that this version was already designed to fit the 'Non nobis Domine' text, which was evidently sung in a spirit of thanksgiving for deliverance. The canon was published anonymously in three 17th century collections, yet the earliest attribution to a specific composer was made as late as 1715 by Thomas Tudway, who ascribed it to Morley; the woefully inaccurate Dr Pepusch ascribes it to Byrd in his 1731 Treatise on Harmony; and in 1739 the theme is quoted in a concerto by Count Unico Willem van Wassenaer (formerly attributed to Pergolesi) as Canone di Palestrina! The canon is known to have been admired by Mozart and Beethoven, whomever its composer was.

The theme of the Word on Sunday is cautionary. We must be proud of the gospel in our lives—we are restored to full glory in God’s view. We must be proud of our message to a bewildered world—our mission. But we must remain humble to be effective and true servants to our mission and eternally grateful for God’s grace in our lives

Sources:

Hymnal ’82 Companion

Companion to the SDA Hymnal

Deacon Ron Jutzy

Then Sings My Soul

A Treasury of Hymns

Tune My Heart to Sing

YouTube.com

Web : http://www.cpdl.org