Hymn of the Day: Prepare the Royal Highway ELW 264
Text: Frans Mikael Franzén, 1772-1847; tr. Lutheran Book of Worship
Tune: BEREDEN VÄG FÖR HERRAN, Swedish folk tune, 17th cent.

The hymn begins with allusions to Isaiah 40:3-5, where a highway for the King of kings is made straight. By the third stanza the King is welcomed with gates flung open as in Psalm 24:7-10. Palms strew the way with hosannas as at Christ's entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-9, Mark 11:1-10, and Luke 19:28-38), and peace, freedom, justice, truth, and love with sounding praise reflect Isaiah 40 and the following chapters. We encounter here a jubilant Scandinavian contribution to the church's hymnic heritage by Frans Mikael Franzén. This translation was prepared for Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) by the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship.

Franzén was a Swede born in Finland. In 1785 he was admitted to the Abo Academy. His father died two years later, and Frans followed his profession as a salesman. He returned to Abo, earned a master's degree, and then went to Uppsala to study. In 1794 he became the librarian at Abo, edited the newspaper Abo Tidnin-gar, and in 1798 became professor of the history of literature. Ordained in 1803, he became a pastor at Pemars and in 1810 at the rural parish of Kumla. There his skill as a hymn writer developed. He worked with Archbishop Johan Olof Wallin on the Svenska Psalm-Boken (1819), to which he contributed twenty-nine hymns. In 1825 he became pastor of the Klara Church in Stockholm, and from 1834 until his death he was bishop of the diocese of Härnosand, which included part of Lapland.

Offertory Anthem:: “Advent Hymn” Martin Jean (1960)

This is an elegant yet simple short motet on a text written by the composer.
Dr. Jean is Professor of Organ and Church Music and Director of the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University.

Oh, come, Lord Jesus, quickly come, and loose the chains of guilt and fear.
Our souls are bound by sins so great and yearn your drawing near.
We look for hope. We pray for peace of mind and troubled heart.
Salvation comes from you alone, and we deserving not.
Through ancient prophets God revealed the promise of salvation near
From heaven’s throne our Lord bent down, his love our gift so dear.
Come with me now to see the throne, the manger where our Savior lies.
Kneel down in awe before his crib and kiss the feet of God.
Our hope is here. The peace he brings will draw us to that place,
where we shall sing in perfect praise and dwell in endless day.

Opening Voluntary: “Gottes Sohn ist kommen (Once He Came in Blessing)” Earnst Pepping (1901-1981)

Michael Weiss (1480-1534), a pastor among the Bohemian Brethren and a contemporary with Luther, composed the tune GOTTES SOHN IST KOMMEN (Once He Came in Blessing) and also wrote the text. A well-known hymn tune, in this setting by Earnst Pepping GOTTES SOHN IST KOMMEN is played by the pedals while the hands are kept busy creating a weave based on melodic fragments that complement the tune. Though the pedals often play the lowest sounding pitches, here the pedal chorale tune emerges from the texture of the music played on the manuels.

Ernst Pepping was a German composer of classical music and academic teacher. He is regarded as an important composer of Protestant sacred music in the 20th century. Pepping taught at the Spandauer Kirchenmusikschule and the Berliner Hochschule für Musik. His music includes works for instruments, the church, and collections including the Spandauer Chorbuch and the three volume Großes Orgelbuch, which provides pieces for the entire liturgical year.

Closing Voluntary: “Consolation” (The King Shall Come) David N. Johnson (1922-1987)

CONSOLATION is a folk tune that has some resemblance to the traditional English tune for "Old King Cole." The tune appeared anonymously as MORNING SONG in Part II of John Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music (1813). In 1816 it was credited to "Mr. Dean," which some scholars believe was a misprinted reference to Elkanah K. Dare, a composer who contributed more than a dozen tunes to Wyeth's Repository. In the original harmonization the melody was in the tenor. To keep everyone on their toes, the tune is also known as KENTUCKY HARMONY, its title in Ananias Davisson's Kentucky Harmony (1816), where it was paired with the text "Once More, My Soul, the Rising Day."

David N. Johnson was an American organist, composer, educator, choral clinician, and lecturer. He studied organ and composition at Curtis Institute of Music. Johnson's Trumpet Tune in D (1962) is the opening and closing theme for the weekly radio show “With Heart and Voice”. Johnson's Trumpet Tune in D was also the first of two processionals used for the 1971 wedding of Tricia Nixon.