Yes! Today is the 15th birthday of The Cross and The Cosmos celebrated here in several ways. First by overlaying one of my acrylic paintings of several years ago, entitled Stellar Flares, with a marker for the day.
Next, I’m celebrating with one of those things that any hymn author hopes for. My hymn, The Glorious Stars of Night’s Dark Sky was written with the tune Puer Nobis Nascitur in mind, used for Come Thou Redeemer of the Earth in the hymnals I’m familiar with (Hymns A&M/ English Hymnal/ Hymns Old and New). This is the tune that I posted in October 2015. Then recently the Choir Director of Stroudburgh United Methodist Church in Pennsylvania, Aram Tchobanian, spotted the hymn and asked permission to set it to a lovely old American hymn tune, Kedron which I had never encountered. It gives the hymn a delightfully ethereal feeling, which was made even more so by the use of chime bars rung by members of the congregation. This tune is shown below and should be able to be manipulated on a desktop to provide a full-size version.
And here is the words only versionThe Glorious Stars of Night’s Dark Sky
Tune: Kedron
(Originally set to Puer Nobis Nascitur/Come Thou Redeemer of the Earth)
The glorious stars of night’s dark sky
invite us to conjecture why
the universe took shape and form,
before the life we know was born.
From nothing, it would seem, began
a cosmic moment when there sprang
a plasma that gave matter, space
and time, as particles embraced.
Whilst elements from these emerged,
formations grew and atoms surged
to coalesce, through gravity,
as planets, stars and galaxies.
On earth, in time, life found its form
when cells in complex ways transformed.
Maybe some other planets rare
are also homes to creatures fair.
But humans, as we grew to age,
succumbed to lies and hate and rage,
so God whose Word this all began
redeemed us by Christ, God and Man.
* * * * * * *
Third, on this day of celebration, I’m wondering if anyone in the Cambridge (UK) area would be interested in helping to improve this blog. With fifteen years history, and 700 items, the administrative and promotional aspects of the blog have had to take a back seat to the creative input. If there is anyone who would be interested in helping to improve either or both of these elements as a volunteer (the blog raises no income), please contact me at crossandcosmos@gmail.com Trevor Thorn.
Trailer: I will be looking at the nature of AI on Saturday (21st June) and the struggle to come to terms with it.
