REJOICE YE PURE IN HEART

Thanksgiving should be a time of rejoicing and giving thanks as we consider all that God has done for us.  In Lamentations 3:22-23 we are reminded that His mercies to us are new every morning. So we have so much to be thankful about.  And so this week I've chosen a hymn that reminds us to rejoice and give thanks and sing.  The author, Edward Hayes Plumptre, was born in London in 1821 and was educated at King's College, London, and University College, Oxford.  He served for years as chaplain and professor at King's College, teaching biblical exegesis and theology. Plumptre wrote this week's hymn as a processional hymn for a choir festival at Peterborough Cathedral.  The festival gathered numerous choirs from churches throughout the diocese.  The choirs would process down the long center aisle of the cathedral, one after the other, with the cross and banner held aloft at the beginning of the processional.  When the first verse of the hymn says, "your glorious banner wave on high" and "the cross of Christ your king," it is that processional banner and cross that he had in mind. Such a processional could go on for as long as a half hour.  Plumptre wrote ten verses to this hymn for that reason, but most hymnals today include only four or five.  In the hymn he calls upon the pure in heart to rejoice.  Who are they?  Deitrich Bonhoeffer answered this in "The Cost of Discipleship" by saying, "Only those who have surrendered their hearts completely to Jesus that He may reign in them alone. Only those whose hearts are undefiled by their own evil, and by their own virtues too".  This is a joyous hymn from beginning to end, and so it lifts our spirits to sing it.  Our rejoicing brings just a bit of heaven into our lives here on earth.  If you are a child of God, sing along with the words of this hymn of praise and thanksgiving during this special season.

(1)     Rejoice ye pure in heart;

Rejoice, give thanks, and sing;

Your glorious banner wave on high,

The cross of Christ your King.

Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice,

Give thanks and sing.

(2)     With all the angel choirs,

With all the saints of earth,

Pour out the strains of joy and bliss,

True rapture, noblest mirth.

Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice,

Give thanks and sing.

(3)     Yes, on through life's long path,

Still chanting as ye go;

From youth to age, by night and day,

In gladness and in woe.

Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice,

Give thanks and sing.

(4)     Still lift your standard high,

Still march in firm array,

As warriors through the darkness toil,

Till dawns the golden day.

Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice,

Give thanks and sing.

(5)     Praise Him Who reigns on high,

The Lord Whom we adore,

The Father, Son and Holy Ghost,

One God forevermore.

Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice,

Give thanks and sing.

Listen to it here.     LISTEN