Patrick Comerford
Before this day begins, I am taking some time this morning to continue my reflections in this season of Easter, including my morning reflections drawing on the Psalms.
In my blog, I am reflecting each morning in this Prayer Diary in these ways:
1, Short reflections on a psalm or psalms;
2, reading the psalm or psalms;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
Psalm 100:
Psalm 100 is sometimes known by its Latin name Jubilate Deo, and is familiar by this name to many Anglicans as a Canticle. In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate, this psalm is counted as Psalm 99.
As the Canticle Jubilate Deo, Psalm 100 is one of the psalms said or sung as a Canticle at Morning Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer.
Psalm 100 is a psalm of thanksgiving that invites all people on earth to joyfully worship God. It accompanied the korban todah, a thanksgiving offering (see Leviticus 7: 11) brought to express gratitude for coming safely through a hazardous situation such as recovering from illness, completing a potentially dangerous journey, or being released from captivity. In Jewish tradition today, the HaGomel blessing, which is said after surviving illness, childbirth or danger, is made instead of the korban todah sacrifice.
Both the Temple and royal palaces had gates and courts, and in this Psalm God is portrayed as the king, present in the Temple and reigning from there.
All are to acknowledge that the Lord God is our creator, that all of us belong to him and that he cares for us. He is ultimate goodness, and his love for us is ever-lasting, for all generations, including to those who went before us, and to those who follow us.
Psalm 100 first appeared as part of Jewish daily prayer in Yemenite and French prayer books in the Middle Ages.
In mediaeval times, Jubilate was the second of the fixed psalms at Lauds on Sundays and holy days, and it was also sung at Prime. Thomas Cranmer did not include it in the first Book of Common Prayer (1549), but it was introduced in the 1552 Book of Common Prayer as an alternative to Benedictus. The 1662 Book of Common Prayer specifies that it should be used when Benedictus is ‘read in the Chapter for the Day, or for the Gospel on St John Baptist’s Day.’
This psalm is one of the fixed psalms and canticles in the older Anglican liturgy for the office of Lauds on Sundays, and as a part of Morning Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer as the canticle with the title Jubilate Deo.
It has been set to music by many composers, including Benjamin Britten, John Gardner, Herbert Howells, John Ireland, Henry Purcell, Richard Purvis, Charles Villiers Stanford, George Dyson, Kenneth Leighton, William Walton, Ralph Vaughan Williams and John Rutter.
Vaughan Williams wrote his triumphant setting for Psalm 100 in 1953 for SATB, congregation and full orchestra, organ with brass fanfare, and it was first performed on 2 June 1953 in Westminster Abbey at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The order of service that day directed just before the Holy Communion:
‘The organ shall play and the people with one voice sing this hymn: The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune. Text by W. Kethe (Daye’s Psalter, 1560-1), arrangement for choir, orchestra and organ by R Vaughan Williams.’ It was the first time at a coronation service that the congregation was permitted to join in the singing of a hymn.
Vaughan Williams’s arrangement of ‘The Old Hundredth’ was sung five years later in Westminster Abbey at his own funeral, with the Abbey Choir, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. His ashes are buried in the Musicians’ Aisle with his wife Ursula.
This setting by Vaughan Williams was sung again at a National Service of Thanksgiving to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee in Saint Paul’s Cathedral on 5 June 2012.
Ever since the coronation in 1953, the stirring grandeur of Vaughan Williams’s setting of ‘The Old Hundredth’ has been a familiar component of many large-scale state and national occasions. It was originally scored for Full Orchestra, Organ, Choir and Fanfare Trumpets, with Vaughan Williams setting the fanfares for “all available trumpets,” which ring out to introduce the first and last verses. It is without doubt the most thrilling setting of this much-loved hymn.
‘The Old Hundredth’ is a hymn tune in Long Metre from Pseaumes Octante Trois de David (1551), the second edition of the Genevan Psalter and is one of the best known melodies in the musical traditions of the Church. The tune is usually attributed to the French composer Loys Bourgeois (ca 1510-ca 1560).
Although the tune was first associated with Psalm 134 in the Genevan Psalter, the melody receives its current name from an association with the version of Psalm 100 translated by the puritan William Kethe as ‘All People that on Earth do Dwell.’
Kethe was a Scottish evangelical polemicist and satirist who went into self-imposed exile in the reign of Mary Tudor. Initially, Kethe was based in Frankfurt am Main. But his extreme Calvinism led him to be received into John Knox’s congregation in Geneva on 5 November 1556.
Kethe’s literary talents came to the fore in the 25 metrical Psalm settings he contributed to the 1561 Forme and Prayers and Ministration of the Sacraments approved by J[ohn] Calvyn. This version of Psalm 100 is the most famous, and was set to a pre-existing tune by Bourgeois.
The Genevan Psalter was compiled over a number of years in response to Calvin’s teaching that communal singing of psalms in the vernacular language is a foundational aspect of church life. This contrasted with the prevailing Catholic practice at the time in which sacred texts were chanted in Latin by the clergy only.
Calvinist musicians, including Bourgeois, supplied many new melodies and adapted others from sources both sacred and secular. The final version of the psalter was completed in 1562. Calvin intended the melodies to be sung in plainsong during church services, but harmonised versions were provided for singing at home.
Vaughan William’s arrangement incorporates the harmonisation of the tune by John Dowland (1563-1626) from Thomas Ravnescroft’s Psalter (1621).
Psalm 100 (NRSVA):
A Psalm of thanksgiving
1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come into his presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he that made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him, bless his name.
5 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
Today’s Prayer:
The theme in this week’s prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is ‘Global Day of Parents.’
The USPG Prayer Diary this morning (3 June 2022) invites us to pray:
Let us pray for the children and young adults who have grown up during the Covid-19 pandemic. May we help them to navigate this uncertain and difficult time.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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