[Magdalen] Brightest and Best - The Epiphany, January 6, 2016.

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

The concept of the Epiphany was a complete unknown to me when I  entered
TEC in the Diocese of Milwaukee in 1958 (though I'd been attending an
Episcopal church sporadically for a couple years before that).   Therefore
this hymn was a total unknown, and though it is a bit schmaltzy, it  still
speaks to me of the Epiphany Feast.
 
It's time also for my annual rant about why churches of the Western  
Liturgy,
Anglican, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic do not chose the Three Kings  as
a dedication of churches more than they do.
 
I think back on the wonderful Lutheran Vespers at the
Three Kings Church in the Saxenhausen section of Frankfurt/M which I  had
the privilege of attending for more than three years living in that  City.
 
I think also of the Shrine of the Three Kings down the River Rhein  just
behind the high altar at the Kolnerdom.
 
(David Strang)
 
 
Brightest and Best:
 
 
 
Full  Text
 
 
1  Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness, and  lend us thine aid;
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our  infant Redeemer is laid.
2  Cold on His cradle the dew-drops are shining,
Low lies His head with the  beasts of the stall;
Angels adore Him in slumber reclining,
Maker and  Monarch and Saviour of all.
3  Say, shall we yield Him, in costly devotion,
Odours of Edom, and offerings  divine?
Gems of the mountain, and pearls of the ocean,
Myrrh from the  forest, and gold from the mine?
4  Vainly we offer each ample oblation,
Vainly with gifts would His favour  secure;
Richer by far is the heart's adoration,
Dearer to God are the  prayers of the poor.
5  Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend  us thine aid;
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our  infant Redeemer is laid.
Hymnal: according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the  
United States of America, 1871