Christmas Day proper is over but may its soul mood continue “evermore”. Let us be “unwearied” in praising God throughout the next year. May we sing with “hymn and chant and high thanksgiving”. Presenting “Of the Father’s Love Begotten”, a Plainsong chant appropriate for the Christmas Season. Let us never be far from the realization, as this text corroborates, that God is the Alpha and Omega, “the source and ending”.
Think of a ring. On a ring, every single point of it is both its beginning and ending. Yet in another real sense, it also has no beginning or end. This is but one of a plethora of metaphors that describe one of the infinite qualities of the Father. I sincerely hope this music opens your heart to the wonders of God.This spark of God is waiting inside of you; waiting to be kindled. These have been since the beginning, are now and ever shall be in the “world without end” just like the “ring without end”.
God enters through the narrow gate of the “now” cradled between endless subdivisions of what we know as “time”. The gate is encased in an instant for “behold, now is the day of salvation”. Now I will not profess to know the Father because he is to me a limitless mystery; an inexhaustible wellspring of joyful exploration that fans the desires of worship. To me he is not an answer but a question which provokes in the soul a sense of wonder and awe. These are precisely the reasons why I worship the Father joyfully; Because he is never an arrival but a thrilling journey to the ever blossoming depths of the heart. Merry Christmas my friends!
Text
Of the Father’s Love Begotten – Text
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.
O that birth forever blessed
when the virgin full of grace
by the holy ghost conceiving
bore the Savior of our race
and the Babe, the worlds Redeemer,
first revealed his sacred face,
evermore and evermore.
Let the heights of heaven adore him
angel hosts, his praises sing;
powers, dominions, bow before him,
and extol our God and King;
let no tongue on earth be silent,
every voice on concert ring,
evermore and evermore
Christ, to thee with God the Father,
and, O holy Ghost, to thee,
hymn and chant and high thanksgiving,
and unwearied praises be;
honor, glory an dominion,
and eternal victory
evermore and evermore.
