Of the Father’s Love Begotten
Lyrics by Aurelius Clemens Prudentius
Even though it is one of the oldest hymns in Christianity, “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” is still as relevant as ever in our worship today. Written in the 4th century, it perfectly encapsulates the life of Christ in 8 verses, something Handel takes almost 4 hours to do in his famous Messiah. Of interest to this poem is the historical nature of using the word “begotten.” Prior to Prudentius writing this text, the First Council of Nicaea declared that Christ did not have a “beginning” but instead was “begotten” of the Father. God came down to his people at Christmas in the form of a baby. In the translation of Prudentius’ 3rd verse it is written:
He assumed this mortal body,
Frail and feeble, doomed to die,
That the race from dust created
Might not perish utterly,
Which the dreadful Law had sentenced
In the depths of hell to lie,
Evermore and evermore.
And what is a great poem without a great melody? The melody we sing in church is based on “Divinium Mysterium”, a plainchant from the 16th century. Having gone through many versions of “how can we make this chant more singable and playable for our hymnal”, the version found in our blue book is a “metered” version of the chant. Singing the original chant melody unaccompanied, as was the intention, is a powerful exercise. During your quiet time this advent season, I hope you can find some time to reflect on each of these verses, and maybe even do some chant singing yourselves!
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