"Sing with All the Saints in Glory"

On Worship Anew a couple weeks ago (18 November, Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost), the Gospel reading was from Luke 21.  In his sermon, Pastor Jonker alluded to verse 28 a couple times:  "'Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.'"  This seems to be referenced in the line "Child of God, lift up your head!" in the third verse of "Sing with All the Saints in Glory."

(Here's a link to my post about the Biblical sources.)

LSB #671 "Sing with All the Saints in Glory"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Revelation 7:9-17; 21:1-5; 1 Corinthians 2:9; John 14:1-3

Revelation 7:9-17:  "9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'  11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, 'Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.'

"13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, 'Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?'  14 I said to him, 'Sir, you know.'  And he said to me, 'These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.  They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

"15 'Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.  16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.  17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.'"

Revelation 21:1-5:  "1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.'

"5 And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'  Also he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'"

1 Corinthians 2:9:  "But, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him'"

John 14:1-3:  "1 'Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me.  2 In my Father's house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.'"

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The text is public domain:

Sing with all the saints in glory,

Sing the resurrection song!

Death and sorrow, earth's dark story,

To the former days belong.

All around the clouds are breaking;

Soon the storms of time shall cease;

In God's likeness we awaken,

Knowing everlasting peace.

Oh, what glory, far exceeding

All that eye has yet perceived!

Holiest hearts for ages pleading

Never that full joy conceived.

God has promised, Christ prepares it;

There on high our welcome waits.

Ev'ry humble spirit shares it,

Christ has passed the eternal gates.

Life eternal! Heav'n rejoices:

Jesus lives who once was dead.

Shout with joy, O deathless voices!

Child of God, lift up your head!

Life eternal! Oh, what wonders

Crowd on faith; what joy unknown,

When, amid earth's closing thunders,

Saints shall stand before the throne!

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Most of the hymn is drawn from the passages from Revelation.

The first half of the second verse comes from 1 Corinthians 2:9, and the following lines ("God has promised, Christ prepares it; / There on high our welcome waits") are from the passage from John 14.

"Sing with All the Saints in Glory"

A little over a year ago, I wrote a post about some features in "Sing with All the Saints in Glory," but since then, I found a couple more.

Both are within the first two phrases (the tune is "Mississippi"):

In the first verse, the text here is "Sing with all the saints in glory, / Sing the resurrection song!"  "Resurrection" is sung to an ascending group of notes (F G A Bb), musically giving a sense of its meaning.

In the third verse, the text is "Life eternal! Heav'n rejoices: / Jesus lives who one was dead."  Here, "eternal" is sung with a melisma (F C F E), and since the word is drawn out, there's a sense of that duration.

"Sing with All the Saints in Glory"

While watching Worship for Shut-Ins a few months ago (when it was still called Worship for Shut-Ins), I noticed a couple things about the hymn "Sing with All the Saints in Glory," sung to the tune "Mississippi."

The fourth line of the third verse is "Child of God, lift up your head."  This is sung to an ascending musical phrase (diatonically ascending, even), so there's a musical representation of that "lift[ing]":

The third line of the first verse is "Death and sorrow, earth's dark story," which is sung to a descending musical phrase:

While not as straightforward as the ascent for "lift," I'd argue that this descent musically illustrates the "sorrow."