A Hymn for the Ages: Past, Present and Future

This Sunday the LBC Choir is singing a hymn of the Church that is partly ancient and partly brand new.   The hymn is "Of the Father's Love Begotten".  I wrote an accapella arrangement of this hymn that begins with a text that was a Latin poem by the Roman poet Aurelius Prudentius, born in the year 348 AD.  250 years ago it was translated in English and set to a plainchant melody called Divinum Mysterium which first appeared in print in 1582.  It is one of the most beautiful melodies ever sung in worship of our God, and it actually first appeared in a manuscript form as early as the 10th century.  

Here is where the brand new part comes in.   I re-wrote the 2nd and 3rd verses.  Prudentius' first verse is about the origin of the love of God which existed before the creation of this world!  He states that God is the beginning and the end.  And in his words, penned about 1,635 years ago, Prudentius spoke how all the things that are, have ever been, or would be seen by future years forevermore was all the result of the handiwork of our great God--there is no other Creator.  Little could he imagine that we would be that future generation proclaiming this same truth 17 centuries later!

But I believe we are that generation about to witness the answer to the prayer we were instructed to pray by our Savior, Jesus the Christ nearly 2,000 years ago, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaen."  So I re-wrote verses 2 -3 to encourage us in the incredible and uncertain days ahead in which we must be strong in our belief and totally dependant upon God's great mercy and grace.  Satan will seek to decieve, lead astray and destroy the Bride of Christ, but in Him that loves us we are more than conquerers! (Romans 8:37)

A.P:

Of the Father’s love begotten,
Ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega,
He the source, the ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see,
Evermore and evermore!

D.W:

Ancient prophecies revealing
Our Messiah soon will come.
He shall reign and make His dwelling
In the heart of everyone.
So we seek Your mercy and Your grace;
Father, Spirit and the Son,
Evermore and evermore.

In this world of tribulation
May we ever faithful be.
We shall follow where You lead us
Even through the stormy seas.
In this truth we’ll not be shaken,
El Shaddai we do believe!
Evermore and evermore.