July 27, 2015 (Monday)
I’m having another one of those days when I woke up with a song. It kept repeating in my head over and over and over…This time it’s a hymn, but only certain words in the hymn. It’s “Holy, Holy, Holy” but I keep hearing the part that goes, “which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.” We don’t talk that way these days, giving us a strong hint that the song is very old indeed. And it is. The composer, Reginald Heber, died at age 43 in 1826, almost 200 years ago. (Music by John D. Dykes, 1823-1876, writer of over 300 hymn tunes).
The word, “Holy,” is recited three times in the hymn as a tribute to the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The phrase, “Holy, Holy,Holy” is sung or spoken in a Catholic mass just before a prayer of thanks for the Eucharist. The hymn has become standard for worship in churches of all denominations today. The writing of the hymn was inspired by the liturgy, and the words by Isaiah 6:3 (“and one cried to another, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts”).
We love the hymn so much we sing all the words as if we were familiar with them in our daily conversations, but “wert,” “art,” and “shalt” are rarely heard around the water cooler at work these days. We sing them with great enthusiasm because we know what they mean. We never fail to be inspired by this hymn:
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.
Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see,
only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
perfect in power, in love and purity.
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity.
Click on words of hymn to hear it.