Day Twelve — Wednesday 5 January 2022 (Evening before the Epiphany)
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise.
Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874-1951) Three Kings.
Published as the cover of Success magazine, December 1900.
1 John 3.11-12
For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We must not be like Cain who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.
Psalm 100
1. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
2. Worship the Lord with gladness;
come into his presence with singing.
3. Know that the Lord is God.
It is he that made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4. Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him, bless his name.
5. For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
John 1.43-51
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’
Tomorrow is the Epiphany, when we celebrate the light of Christ revealed.
O God
Who by a star
guided the wise men to the worship of your Son
we pray you to lead to yourself
the wise and great of every land
that unto you every knee may bow,
and every thought be brought into captivity
to Jesus Christ our Lord.
Epiphany Poem
George Mackay Brown
The red king
Came to a great water. He said,
Here the journey ends.
No keel or skipper on this shore.
The yellow king
Halted under a hill. He said,
Turn the camels round.
Beyond, ice summits only.
The black king
Knocked on a city gate. He said,
All roads stop here.
These are gravestones, no inn.
The three kings
Met under a dry star.
There, at midnight,
The star began its singing.
The three kings
Suffered salt, snow, skulls.
They suffered the silence
Before the first word.
Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen. BWV 65 (Leipzig, Epiphany 1724). Netherlands Bach Society, cond. Hans-Christoph Rademann. Daniel Johannsen, tenor Matthew Brook, bass. Grote Kerk, Harlingen.
1. Chor (Concerto)
Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen,
Gold und Weihrauch bringen,
und des Herren Lob verkündigen.
2. Choral
Die Kön’ge aus Saba kamen dar,
Gold, Weihrauch, Myrrhen brachten sie dar,
Halleluja!
3. Rezitativ (Bass)
Was dort Jesaias vorhergesehn,
das ist zu Bethlehem geschehn.
Hier stellen sich die Weisen
bei Jesu Krippe ein
und wollen ihn als ihren König preisen.
Gold, Weihrauch, Myrrhen sind
die köstlichen Geschenke,
womit sie dieses Jesuskind
zu Bethlehem im Stall beehren.
Mein Jesu, wenn ich jetzt
an meine Pflicht gedenke,
muss ich mich auch zu deiner Krippe kehren
und gleichfalls dankbar sein:
Denn dieser Tag ist mir ein Tag der Freuden,
da du, o Lebensfürst,
das Licht der Heiden
und ihr Erlöser wirst.
Was aber bring ich wohl, du Himmelskönig?
Ist dir mein Herze nicht zu wenig,
so nimm es gnädig an,
weil ich nichts Edlers bringen kann.
4. Arie (Bass)
Gold aus Ophir ist zu schlecht,
weg, nur weg mit eitlen Gaben,
die ihr aus der Erde brecht!
Jesus will das Herze haben.
Schenke dies, o Christenschar,
Jesu zu dem neuen Jahr!
5. Rezitativ (Tenor)
Verschmähe nicht,
du, meiner Seele Licht,
mein Herz, das ich in Demut zu dir bringe;
es schliesst ja
solche Dinge
in sich zugleich mit ein,
die deines Geistes Früchte sein.
Des Glaubens Gold, der Weihrauch des Gebets,
die Myrrhen der Geduld sind meine Gaben,
die sollst du, Jesu, für und für
zum Eigentum und zum Geschenke haben.
Gib aber dich auch selber mir,
so machst du mich zum Reichsten auf der Erden;
denn, hab ich dich, so muss
des größten Reichtums Überfluss
mir dermaleinst im Himmel werden.
6. Arie (Tenor)
Nimm mich dir zu eigen hin,
nimm mein Herze zum Geschenke.
Alles, alles, was ich bin,
was ich rede, tu und denke,
soll, mein Heiland, nur allein
dir zum Dienst gewidmet sein.
7. Choral
Ei nun, mein Gott, so fall ich dir
getrost in deine Hände.
Nimm mich und mach es so mit mir
bis an mein letztes Ende,
wie du wohl weisst, dass meinem Geist
dadurch sein Nutz entstehe,
und deine Ehr je mehr und mehr
sich in ihr selbst erhöhe.
1. Chorus
All they from Sheba shall come:
they shall bring gold and incense;
and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord.
2. Chorale
The Kings from Sheba came forth,
gold, frankincense, myrrh they brought,
Alleluia!
3. Recitative
What Isaiah there foretold,
at Bethlehem it came to pass.
Here the Wise Men gather
around the crib of Jesus,
and wish to proclaim Him as their king.
Gold, frankincense, myrrh
are the most precious gifts
with which they honour the little Jesus
in the stable at Bethlehem.
My Jesus,
if I now recall my duty,
I too must come to Thy crib
and likewise show my thanks:
because this day, for me, is a day of joy,
when Thou, O Prince of Life,
become the heathen’s light
and their Redeemer.
But what shall I bring Thee, King of Heaven?
If Thou dost not deem my heart too little,
accept it with grace,
for I have nothing more noble to bring.
4. Aria
Gold from Ophir is too base,
away, away with vain gifts,
that you tear from the bowels of the earth!
Jesus would have your heart.
Offer this, O Christian throng,
to Jesus at the New Year!
5. Recitative
Do not despise,
O Thou, the light of my soul,
my heart that I humbly bring Thee;
for it contains
such things within it
which are the fruits
of Thy spirit.
The gold of faith, the frankincense of prayer,
the myrrh of patience, these are my gifts,
which Thou shalt, Jesus, evermore
have as Thine own, and as a gift from me.
But give Thyself to me as well,
Thou shalt make me the richest man on earth;
for, having Thee, I must inherit
the most abundant wealth
one day in Heaven.
6. Aria
Take me to Thyself as Thine own,
take my heart as a gift.
All and everything I am,
what I speak and do and think,
shall, my Saviour, be offered
to Thy service alone.
7. Chorale
Ah now, my God, I come to Thee
consoled into Thy hands.
Take me and guide me
until my final moment,
as Thou knowest well, that my soul
thereby will be benefitted,
and Thine own honour
be evermore exalted.