A nice text from the oft-neglected genre of mission hymns, here is is beautifully sung by St. Mark’s Episcopal in Philadelphia. Stay tuned for the improvised postlude on the ST. JOAN hymn tune.
Christ Is the World’s True Light
Christ is the world’s true Light,
Its Captain of salvation,
The Daystar clear and bright
Of every man and nation;
New life, new hope awakes,
Where’er men own his sway:
Freedom her bondage breaks,
And night is turned to day.
In Christ all races meet,
Their ancient feuds forgetting,
The whole round world complete,
From sunrise to its setting:
When Christ is throned as Lord,
Men shall forsake their fear,
To ploughshare beat the sword,
To pruninghook the spear.
One Lord, in one great Name
Unite us all who own thee;
Cast out our pride and shame
That hinder to enthrone thee;
The world has waited long,
Has travailed long in pain;
To heal its ancient wrong,
Come, Prince of Peace, and reign. Amen.
-George Wallace Briggs, 1933
ST. JOAN by Percy E.B. Coller, 1941
Photo: Adoration of the Magi by Claude Vignon, c. 1619, creative commons 2.0
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