Gabriel's Appearance to Mary: Song #7 "The Angel Gabriel" aka "Gabriel's Message

Gabriel's Appearance to Mary

Song #7 "The Angel Gabriel" or "Gabriel's Message"

Here we move on to the next part of the Christmas story - Gabriel's appearance to Mary revealing she would one day become the mother of Jesus. This song summarizes the event nicely. Here are the lyrics as I sing them. Normally there is the same refrain after each verse ("most highly favored lady"), but I don't particularly care for it. I sing it on the first verse then make my own modifications to the refrain based on the verse it follows. I also modify the 2nd line of the first verse to match my own religious tradition (original words are "his wings" as drifted snow). 

The angel Gabriel from heaven came
His robes as drifted snow, his eyes aflame
All hail said he thou lowly maiden Mary
Most highly favoured lady. Gloria!

For lo a blessed mother thou shalt be
All generations laud and honour thee
Thy son shall be Emmanuel, by seers foretold
The Prince of Peace, Gloria!

Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head
Be it me as it pleaseth God she said
My soul shall laud and magnify his holy name
My spirit hath rejoiced, Gloria!

To her, Emmanuel, the Christ, was born
In Bethlehem all on a Christmas morn
And Christian folk throughout the world will ever say
Oh Holy Child of Mary, Gloria!


Scripture - Luke 1:26-35, 38 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Comments

  1. Oscar HuntDecember 12, 2021 at 6:18 PM

    (P)eter at heavenly gates: Welcome to heaven! You've earned your robes!
    (N)ewly Dead: What? I was expecting to get wings.
    P: Nope. Sorry. No wings. Just robes. You can image them as super-hero capes.
    N: OK, well that's not so bad.
    P: And you GLOW.
    N: I glow? That seems weird.
    P: Not really. The earth is dark half the time, so it's good to shine. Also, those scriptures that say "Let your light so shine...?" Not metaphorical.
    N: OK, so I get robes and glowing skin, like the Olay commercials. What else do I take around with me while doing angel stuff?
    P: That's all. You travel light!
    --------
    Get it? Travel light?
    _____
    N: That wasn't funny.
    P: It was. You just wait. Dad jokes are pretty much all we have up here.

    ReplyDelete

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