Music of Advent: “Comfort, Comfort Ye My People”

[WORLD Radio Advent 2023 Spotify playlist]

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday December 8th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. This Sunday marks the second Sunday of Advent. Last week’s musical offering focused on Advent’s main theme—waiting.

EICHER: But what should we do, in the waiting? Isaiah prayed for God’s people and implored God’s kingdom come. Today, WORLD Correspondent Bonnie Pritchett introduces us to songs drawn from the prophet’s words.

MUSIC: COMFORT, COMFORT YE MY PEOPLE

BONNIE PRITCHETT, REPORTER: In 1741, George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah gave voice to the cries of Isaiah 40. In Comfort Ye My People, gifted tenors sing the prophet's plea for God to comfort, forgive sins, and show his glory.

MUSIC: COMFORT, COMFORT YE MY PEOPLE

Handel’s opus came 70 years after fellow German Johann Olearius penned the hymn “Comfort, Comfort ye My People.”

American composer Don Locklair arranged an a cappella version in this 2022 album called Requiem.

Voices resonate in the stone-walled 1300-year-old priory of Christ Church in Dorset, England.

Verse 1 says: Comfort, Comfort ye my people. Speak ye peace, thus saith our God; Comfort those who sit in darkness mourning ‘neath their sorrow’s load.

LYRIC: Speak ye, speak ye to Jerusalem of the peace that waits for them! Tell her that her sins I cover, and her warfare now is over.

MUSIC: THY KINGDOM COME, OH GOD

In 1867 vicar Lewis Henry published Thy Kingdom Come, Oh God, another musical adaptation of Isaiah 40.

LYRIC: Thy kingdom come, oh God thy rule begin. Break with thine iron rod the chains of sin…

Providence is a gospel-centered church in Austin, Texas. Its musicians provide their interpretation of the 19th century hymn.

Thy Kingdom Come, Oh God pleads for God’s reign of peace while recognizing that the source of hatred and war is our own sin.

LYRIC: We pray thee, Lord, arise and come in might; revive our [TK] eyes, longing for sight. Over the lands of far where darkness hovers yet: arise, O Morning Star, arise and never set! 

MUSIC: DAWNING LIGHT OF OUR SALVATION

Wendell Kimbrough also drew inspiration from Isaiah 40 in his 2014 release Dawning Light of Our Salvation.

LYRIC: Every valley be exalted! Every mountain be made plain! Crooked ways repent and straighten. All creation bend in praise!

The singer-songwriter doesn’t leave worshipers in the distant past, still waiting for God’s Messiah. Kimbrough also draws from the gospel writers Matthew and Luke who testified that Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled. In verse three, Kimbrough gives a name and praise to the one Isaiah longed for, the one whose return Christians await.

LYRIC: Jesus, Lord, and mighty Savior, David’s Son and yet his King. Dawning light of our salvation of your saving power we sing! Stand, oh lame, and dance ye broken, know the Savior’s healing grace. Come, oh deaf, and hear him singing. Turn, oh blind, behold his face.

Every valley be exalted! Every mountain be made plane! Crooked ways repent and straighten. All creation bend in praise! Every valley be exalted! Every mountain be made plain! Crooked ways repent and straighten. All creation bend in praise!

For WORLD, I’m Bonnie Pritchett.

BROWN: We’ll update our Spotify Playlist with these new pieces, so you can enjoy them at home. We’ve included the link in today’s transcript at wng.org/podcasts.

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