CCC Gainesville | Blog
Singing as Prayer: The Trisagion Hymn
Congregational singing can take on a number of forms and purposes in the corporate worship service. Raising our voices can be declaration of our love for God, expression of our faith, articulation of our understanding about God and his work in the world, or as a form of prayer. Actually, any form our singing takes probably ought to be seen as prayer in some way. But sometimes, the song or hymn ends up feeling like a prayer before it is anything else. Such is the case for me and the “new” confessional hymn that was introduced to us over the last two weeks – Trisagion. As Chris Hiatt has noted, Trisagion means thrice holy and that may be all we really need to know in order to be drawn into this prayer-hymn. Having never heard it before, I resonated so much with that song that I looked it up online (Fernando Ortega’s version), and for two days I could not stop playing it. Every time I listen, it draws me in, focuses my thoughts on the holy God, and gets turned into prayer in my mind.
When I looked further into The Trisagion, though, I learned that this is not a “new” song at all. In fact, some date it all the way back to the apostles. More consistently, though, it is dated to the 5th Century – around 435 during the office of Patriarch Proculus in Constantinople. While there are various traditions about the history and origin of this hymn, it has been a significant regular component of the eastern church liturgy (sometimes chanted) and figures into Roman Catholic liturgy for Good Friday. The simple, yet profound lyrics speak of the awe of a triply holy Trinitarian God, and they acknowledge the humble place of us the singers: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, Have Mercy on Us”. Furthermore, I appreciate the way it is plural in it’s perspective of the singer(s), expressing our collective looking to this holy God as well as our collective need for his mercy. Personally, I really need this reminder of where I stand before God. I think too frequently we boast of our righteous standing before God if we are in Christ without realizing that we are still the creature and he, the Holy Creator. A good dose of awe before this God always causes me to pause before boldly asserting my being justified with God. There was and still is a very real sense that even as we stand clothed in Christ’s righteousness, we are still human and he is still God. I can think of no better confessional prayer than one that acknowledges this.
Todd Best
for more on The Trisagion:
http://stanford.edu/~buhler/
http://www.newadvent.org/
In beautiful downtown Alachua.
Monday Isaiah 40:9-11
Theme: The Lord Himself Will Come with Power
Did you ever try to talk about happy things when people around you are sad or grumpy? That’s what happened to Isaiah. Things were looking very bad for the people of Judah; they were go- ing to be carried away from their homes by their enemies to live in another land. This made them very sad. But at this low point, Isaiah told them “glad tidings.” He said, “shout from the mountaintops that God is going to gather all his people together someday. He is going to be our shepherd, come to us, and gather us into his arms.” This tells us that when Jesus came, he came to draw us close to his heart, to care for us and take care of us forever. Thank God for sending Jesus as our good shepherd, and for all the ways he takes care of you.
Lord Jesus, help me to believe in your Kingdom, where healing and freedom are a reality. Let me not succumb to cynicism, and give me a sense of hope in what you can do in my life and the world.
Sunday Isaiah 9:6-7 Theme: A Son is Given
These verses help us understand just how glorious Jesus is. He is a “Wonderful-Counselor.” People who heard Jesus teach often marveled because he was so wise and understood every- thing. He is also called “Mighty God” – even though Jesus was fully human, was born and grew up just like you and me, he was also fully God! So Jesus is greater than we can ever even imagine! He is also called the “Prince of Peace.” Peace is a word in the Bible that refers to everything being the way it is supposed to be. Jesus makes things right between God and us by dying for our sins and rising again from the dead, and he promises to make everything right when he comes again a second time – to bring peace. Can you think of some things that are not good in the world, or in your life, or in the lives of people you know (e.g. people who are suffering, grieving, sick, or who do not believe in Jesus)? Pray to Jesus and ask him to work to change those things, and remember: he is the Wonderful-Counselor, Mighty God, Ev- erlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.
