The unfolding Epiphany (that is, the appearance or manifestation) of Christ continues liturgically this week with John’s retrospective testimony of Our Lord’s baptism.
Two hymns to be sung this Sunday recount these events: the baptism itself, the descent of the Spirit like a dove, and the voice from heaven confirming Christ’s identity as God’s ‘beloved Son.’ Both the modern ‘Christ, when for us you were baptized’ [121] and Luther’s catechism hymn ‘When Jesus went to Jordan’s stream’ (‘Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam’ [139]) go on, however, to tell of Christ’s faithfulness in carrying out the rest of his earthly ministry that began on this occasion, and to pray for, or urge us to embrace, its results: ‘that, likewise in God’s service we may perfect freedom find’; ‘that we may life inherit.’ Both ‘Christ, when for us you were baptized’ and the paraphrase of Luther’s text are the work of 20th-century Episcopal priest-poet Bland Tucker; the former, short and simple, text is set to an equally short and simple tune, ‘Caithness,’ from the 1635 Scottish Psalter, while the latter, written in the slightly longer, more complex verse-form common to several early Lutheran hymns (rhyme scheme abab cdcdd) is set to a characteristically vigorous tune contemporary with it. This latter is sung by the choir in unison; in a two-part setting in which the melody is traded off between high and low voices, with the other voice often following in imitation of the tune; and then in a four-part harmonization.
This Gospel passage is also the source of the liturgical text Agnus Dei (‘Lamb of God’): upon seeing Jesus, John exclaims, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’. Various versions of this text have had various liturgical uses: as part of the Gloria in excelsis first used at Morning Prayer and then later at the Eucharist (BCP 52, 95, 324, 356); as part of litanies (BCP 152, 463); and at the Breaking of the Bread at the Eucharist (BCP 337, 407), among others. The congregation will indeed sing an Agnus Dei (from the ‘New Plainsong’ Mass by living American composer David Hurd) at the Breaking of the Bread throughout this season, but this Sunday the choir also sings a fine Agnus Dei by English Renaissance composer Thomas Morley.
The Gospel portion from John continues with the calling of Andrew and Simon, the first disciples; our dismissal hymn, ‘Jesus calls us, o’er the tumult’ [550], reflects this episode – again calling on the singer-listener to follow suit, putting discipleship above everything else – while pointing the way to next Sunday, when this theme is taken up again as we return to Matthew’s Gospel. The hymn’s author, Cecil Frances Alexander, is known for a number of other hymns, including ‘Once in royal David’s city’ [102], ‘There is a green hill far away’ [167], ‘He is risen, he is risen!’ [180], and ‘All things bright and beautiful’ [405].
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