Justin Appel
Dear Friends,
Today’s collect calls upon God, “the protector of all who trust in you,” invoking him to “multiply on us your mercy,” so that we may “pass through things temporal” and “not lose the things eternal.”
This collect relates to Charles Wesley’s fine hymn text, “O Mercy Divine,” which connects God’s mercy to the physical reality of incarnation, that merging of the divine and the human in Jesus Christ, that penetration of the eternal into the temporal.
This text of Wesley’s was set by the English composer Judith Weir for choir and cello for the Lessons and Carols service at King’s College Chapel in 2018. The words of the anthem, which were selected from Wesley's longer text, are included below.
Yours in Christ,
—Justin
O mercy divine,
how couldst thou incline,
my God, to become such an infant as mine?
What a wonder of grace,
the Ancient of Days
is found in the likeness of Adam’s frail race!
He comes from on high,
who fashioned the sky,
and meekly vouchsafes in a manger to lie.
The angels, she knew,
had worshipped him too,
and still they confess adoration his due.
Their newly born king,
transported they sing,
and heaven and earth with the triumph doth ring.
The wise men adore,
and bring him their store,
the rich are permitted to follow the poor.
To the inn they repair,
to see the young heir;
the inn is a palace, for Jesus is there.
Who now would be great,
and not rather wait
on Jesus their Lord in his humble estate?
Like him would I be,
my master I see
in a stable; a stable shall satisfy me.
—Charles Wesley (1745)