Hymn of the Week: May 16
by David Sinden
Organist & Director of Music
St. Peter's, Ladue
Ascension Day, May 13, 2021
On Ascension Day in 1903, St. John's College, Cambridge, England began an annual tradition of singing a carol from the tower of the chapel. At 163 feet, this tower is the tallest point in Cambridge.
Just down the street, King's College, Cambridge started and popularized its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in 1918. Both of these institutions were caught up in the "carol craze" of the time that culminated in the publication of the Oxford Book of Carols in 1928.
The carols in the Oxford Book of Carols are not limited to Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. The book includes plenty of carols suitable for Lent, Passiontide, Easter, and Ascensiontide.
And the preface of the book extolls the merits of carols in the Christian life and worship throughout the year. In the preface to the Oxford Book of Carols, Percy Dearmer wrote: "We [the editors] think also that carols might be continuously sung in ordinary parish churches and chapels... On every Sunday, in the place of the anthem, or after the service, glorious carols can be sung by the choir, the people joining in the refrains..."
It is possible that the idea of singing carols every Sunday of the year takes the idea too far. But, then again, maybe not. Or better yet, perhaps we would do well to take stock of the post-Epiphany carols that we do have access to.
One such carol, for Ascension Day, is the very one sung from the tower at St. John's, Cambridge: "The Lord ascendeth up on high," Hymn 219 in the Hymnal 1982.
Strictly speaking, this is not a carol but a chorale by Michael Praetorius. But the distinction hardly matters when the tune is paired with Arthur T. Russell's words about the Ascension of Jesus and sung with a sense of fun.
And St. John's, Cambridge does model a hearty sense of fun with "The Lord ascendeth up on high" as they sing it from the highest point in town on Ascension Day. (This 118-year-old tradition first began to settle a bet that the choir would be inaudible from the ground; the audience heard them clearly.)
You can view the St. John's Choir singing the second stanza of this carol from the tower here:
So this Thursday, as the Episcopal Church celebrates Ascension Day, might take this sprightly hymn as an invitation to have a bit of fun? Where are the "high places" from which we could sing this? Could this hymn be included as part of Ascension Day carol sing?
Percy Dearmer saw carols like this as having an important place in the life of the church. In Preface to the Oxford Book of Carols, he wrote, "Perhaps nothing is just now of such importance as to increase the element of joy in religion."
Ascension Day is only forty days past Easter, yet in many places, it is not celebrated with the same fervor as Easter and Pentecost. I take Dearmer's words to see Ascension Day as another opportunity for "holy joy" and one in which carols like this one can play a part.
The Lord ascendeth up on high,the Lord hath triumphed gloriously,in power and might excelling;the grave and hell are captive led.Lo! he returns, our glorious Head,to his eternal dwelling.
The heavens with joy receive their Lord,by saints, by angel hosts adored;O day of exultation!O earth, adore thy glorious King!His rising, his ascension singwith grateful adoration!
Our great High Priest hath gone before,upon his Church his grace to pour;and still his love he giveth.O may our hearts to him ascend;may all within us upward tendto him who ever liveth!Arthur T. Russell (1806–1874), alt.
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