God Sent Forth His Son
SATB (some divisi) and Organ with reader. This Christmas/Epiphany anthem is a striking paean of praise with a spoken prayer (collect) in the middle over sung "Alleluias." Not difficult. Your choir and congregation will love this.
Texts from Gal. 4:4, Titus 2:11, Luke 1:78, Matt. 1:23, II Cor. 9:15, and The Book of Worship (1944).
God sent forth his Son.
The grace of God that bringeth salvation
hath appeared to all men.
The dayspring from on high hath visited us.
Let us with the wise men,
and all the heavenly host worship
the Holy Babe. Alleluia.
[Spoken Prayer] O Lord our God,
fill our hearts with joy and our tongues with praise
as we keep the festival of our Saviour's birth.
Let the Holy Spirit come upon us
as we approach the mystery of his appearing
in the flesh of a little child.
Stir up in our hearts the precious gift of faith,
that he may be born anew in us,
and that his presence may shed abroad
in our hearts the light of heavenly joy and peace.
Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.
Emmanuel, God with us.