Carol: “O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright” – Words & Music by Philip Nicolai (1556-1608)
Tune: WIE SCHON LEUCHET (Harmonized by J. S. Bach)
Now that Christmas Day has moved past us, as move into Epiphany, this old German carol seems an appropriate text to land on. Cherished by Lutherans, this may be one with which you are not all that familiar… as has been true with many things during the Advent/Christmas seasons – because there’s such a vast amount of hymnody attached to these times of the Christian calendar.
The first lines of this carol read as follows:
"O Morning Star, how fair and bright!
You shine with God’s own truth and light,
Aglow with grace and mercy."
Sometimes used as one of the anticipation songs of Advent, this one often looks back at the fair and bright Christ child, calling on us to look at the visage of the newborn King. If we approach today’s hymnline (from the second stanza) in that way – as looking into the Baby’s face – we may “see” him from a different angle.
From the second stanza:
"Come heavenly brightness, Light divine
And deep within our hearts now shine.
There light a flame undying."
[or "There make yourself an altar."]
After all the hoopla of Christmas, this hymnline is also a great prayer to face the new year. If indeed Christ shone brightly at the center of who we are – that part that controls us – becoming in us an undying flame, we SHOULD be better people for it, shouldn’t we?
The flame is already aglow. Perhaps it needs some fanning!
A men’s group sings only the first stanza
A Paul Manz organ setting
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