Liturgical poetry cycle complete

With my last post, the series of poems beginning with "Kyrie Eleison" is complete. These poems are built around the text of the Ordinary of the Mass in English translation. The translation used is that found in the Order of Communion in the Book of Common Prayer. The poems were written and posted in the order in which they are found in the Anglican Prayerbook, with the Great Doxology at the end rather than before the Credo as it stands in Roman Catholic liturgy. The construction of the poems and the manner in which the liturgical text is incorporated varies. In some the liturgical words are made part of the regular meter and rhyme pattern. In others they were placed as extra-metrical refrains between stanzas of the poems. In the last, the Latin text of the first two lines is also included at the end.

Here are direct links to each poem in the cycle in their order:

Kyrie Eleison: http://thronealtarliberty.blogspot.com/2010/12/kyrie-eliason.html
Credo: http://thronealtarliberty.blogspot.com/2010/12/credo.html
Sanctus: http://thronealtarliberty.blogspot.com/2010/12/sanctus.html
Benedictus: http://thronealtarliberty.blogspot.com/2010/12/benedictus.html
Agnus Dei: http://thronealtarliberty.blogspot.com/2010/12/agnus-dei.html
Gloria in Excelsis: http://thronealtarliberty.blogspot.com/2010/12/gloria-in-excelsis.html

My inspiration for this project is musical. After attending the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's marvelous performance of Beethoven's Mass in C-Major on December 4th I spent much of early December listening to recordings of other masses - the Missa Solemnis, Hadyn's "Nelson" Mass, Mozart's "Coronation" Mass, and especially J. S. Bach's Mass in B Minor. The latter is rapidly approaching the great oratarios - Haydn's "Creation", Bach's "St. Matthew's Passion" and Handel's "Messiah" at the top of my list of favorite sacred music. At any rate, listening to these hymns which the Christian Church has been singing for centuries set to the accompaniment of music by the greatest composers the world has ever known (or ever will know), inspired me to take these hymns, in the form in which I knew them the best, and set them in poetic verse with whatever little talent in so doing I may possess.

Gloria in Excelsis

When Christ the Son of God Most High was born
His Angel to the shepherds did appear
And in the night before the light of morn
Proclaimed to them Good News the King is near.

Glory be to God on High,
And in earth peace, good will towards men.

These words of praise to God and peace to man
The Angel and heavenly choir did sing.
Since then throughout the world in every land
Where Christ’s Church is found, on tongues they still ring.

We praise Thee, we bless Thee
We worship Thee, we glorify Thee.

In praise to God saved men with angels join
And earth and heaven become as if one
And share that which cannot be bought with coin
The favour of God and His Only Son.

We give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory,
O Lord God, Heavenly King, God the Father Almighty.

In Christ, the Son, the Father is revealed,
In human flesh to man God is made known
By Him Who was worthy to take the sealed
Scroll from Him who sits on th’heavenly throne.

O Lord, the Only-Begotten Son, Jesu Christ
O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father
That takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us.

Why was Christ the only One found worthy
Of all in heaven, on earth or below?
With His blood for God He purchased earthy
People back from sin and death, hell and woe.

Thou that takest away the sin of the world
Receive our prayer.

The huge breach made by sin when Adam fell
Between the grievéd God and fallen man
Christ’s death removed – and removed it so well
Howe’er hard they search, find it no one can.

Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father
Have mercy upon us.

The glory of the Father the Son shares
With no one else except the Holy Ghost;
He takes upon Himself the world’s cares
And saves from sin unto the uttermost.

For Thou only art holy,
Thou only art the Lord;

The Church of Christ established on the earth
Against it, hell’s gates never shall prevail
Thee, O Christ, Who art of infinite worth
Thy Father and the Spirit, we do hail.

Thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost,
Art most high in the glory of God the Father.

And so to Thee O holy Three-in-One
We lift our voices and sing out Thy praise
And worship Thee whose light outshines the sun
Whose reign will last beyond the end of days.

Gloria in excelsis Deo
et in terra pax hoiínibus bonae voluntatis

Amen.

Agnus Dei

Thou offered up Thyself a sacrifice
And with Thy blood made propitiation
So that all who believe might be born twice
Who are called to Thee from every nation.

O Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world,
Have mercy upon us.

The sin that separated man from God
Thou took upon Thyself Who knew no sin
Enduring on Thy back the divine rod
Over Satan the victory to win.

O Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world,
Have mercy upon us.

O mediator between God and man
Thou accomplished reconciliation
An age of grace and forgiveness began
And made both warring sides become as one.

O Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world,
Grant us Thy peace.

Benedictus

Blessed is He Who comes in humility
Though Lord over all from all eternity
On the back of a donkey He makes His seat
As the people cast palm leaves before His feet
And open their mouths in a glorious shout
Let the stones and the rocks with one voice cry out:

Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the Highest!

Sanctus

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts
Let men and angels praise Thy Holy name
Almighty Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Throughout the ages evermore the same.

Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory
The sun, moon, and all the stars speak of Thee
Mountains, seas, and rivers tell Thy story
Thy handiwork proclaims Thy Deity.

All things which breathe obtain their life from Thee
And every blessing underneath Thy sky.
Let our voices sing throughout land and sea
Glory be to Thee, O Lord Most High.

Credo

Part I

I believe in One God Sovereign o’er all
Who has neither beginning nor an end
Beyond the farthest star from this world’s ball
His realms and vast dominions do extend.

The Father Almighty is this One God
Jehovah, Elohim and Adonai
Whose name all the heavenly angels laud
And all creatures beneath the clear blue sky.

The heavens declare His glory above
But who can take the measure of His worth?
All knowing, All powerful, God is love
Who is the maker of heaven and earth.

Yes, heaven and earth and what is more
The spiritual and the physical.
The source of being and existence for
All things visible and invisible.

Part II

And I believe in One Lord, Jesus Christ
Through Whom and in Whom the Father is known
God’s true Sacred Prophet, and Priest and King,
Who rules and reigns from God’s Holy throne.

He’s the Only-Begotten Son of God
Although by faith we His children become.
He breaks the nations with an iron rod
But with a shepherd’s He comforts His own.

Begotten of the Father Almighty
In the eternity before all worlds
Alpha and Omega, First and Last, He
Is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Jesus is God being sired of God,
The Light of Light which lighteth every man
And Very God, He is, of Very God
Since before this world’s history began.

He was begotten but He was not made
Not a beginning - a relationship
Which is and was and which shall never fade
Is the nature of His divine Sonship.

“I and My Father are One” Jesus said,
Being of one substance with the Father.
In Him all the fullness of Godhead dwelled
In humanity born of His Mother.

There with the Father in the beginning
The foundation of Creation He laid.
In Him and of Him the world has it’s being
Even in Him through Whom all things were made.

Who for us men and for our salvation
Came down from heaven to this sinful earth
And become One of the Jewish nation
Through the miracle of the Virgin Birth.

He laid His heavenly glory aside
And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost
In flesh His divinity He did hide
And let the world He fashioned be His host.

In Judean Bethlehem He was born
Of the Virgin Mary and was made man
He Who one day would wear a crown of thorns
And die to pay for all of mankind’s sin.

He was betrayed by a disciple and
Friend, and was crucified also for us
Under Pontius Pilate who o’er the land
Roman deputy and governor was.

He suffered and was buried in a tomb
Which was not His except by loan. He made
Atonement for sin by bearing its doom
By His death our debt to God’s Law He paid.

The spotless Lamb of God and Sacrifice
Sinless Himself, for us it was He died
And the third day He rose again to life
According to the Scriptures bona fide.

To’s (1) disciples did Christ Risen appear
And He fellowshipped with the Eleven
Them, to preach His Gospel both far and near
He sent, and Ascended into Heaven.

In Heaven’s glory He yet remains, and
Sitteth on the right hand of the Father
There always praised by the angel band
He reigns on High for ever and ever.

He is preparing mansions there for His
Redeemed and shall come again with glory
To judge both the quick and the dead, for ‘tis
Prophesied in God’s inspired story.

He is the Messiah Who was foretold
By the Holy Ghost through prophetic men
Whose goings forth, He (2) says, have been of old
And Whose kingdom shall have no end. Amen!

Part III

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, The (3)
Counsellor and Comforter Christ promised
Would be sent down to dwell in us when He
Returned to that, of His realms, the calmest.

He is the Lord, the Giver of Life Who
Convicts of sin and quickens with the Word
He lives in the heart of the Christian to
Give him strength to live godly in this world.

He was present at Creation too
A member of the Godhead three-in-one
He is fully God and personal Who
Proceedeth from the Father and the Son.

He is Almighty and Eternal Who
With the Father and the Son together
Is worshipped and glorified, and He too
Rules over all things upper and nether

It is from Him that we have the Bible
Who spake by the Prophets in days of old
And by Apostles whom He made able
To preach the holy Gospel clear and bold.

And I believe One Holy Catholic (4)
And Apostolic Church, consisting of
Believers, both the sleeping and the quick,
Commissioned by the Christ to share His love.

And I acknowledge one Baptism in the
Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Which for the remission of sins in he
Who trusts in Christ is the outward signpost.

And I look for the Resurrection of
The dead, which will happen on that great day
When Christ Who first came down to earth in love
Will come back again in Judgment to stay.

And with all of Christ’s redeemed Church and
With God’s Creation do I look for the (3)
Life of the world to come in which firsthand
We shall witness Him and His glory see.

Glory be to God the Father on High
And to the Son of God and Son of Man
And let all praise to the Holy Ghost fly
And let us shout a loud Amen. AMEN!


(1) i.e., “To his”
(2) The Holy Ghost
(3) Pronounced like “thee”.
(4) Universal

Kyrie Eleison

For the rebellion deep within our heart
Which darkens our deeds and corrupts our thoughts
And turns our words into poisonous darts -
Lord, have mercy upon us.

For the fleshly lust which defiles us all
And the lust of the eyes which deceives us
And that pride of life from which we all fall -
Christ, have mercy upon us.

We have strayed from Thy path like wayward sheep
And righteousness dwells not within us.
We look to Thy grace and fall at Thy feet
Crying:

Lord, have mercy upon us.