Weekly beauty: All Praise to Thee...

The evening hymnody of the church is unparalleled in beauty, in my humble opinion, and we don't have much opportunity to sing it unless we pray vespers (evening prayer) or compline (prayer at the close of the day). I was blessed to do some of that during my internship, so I got to discover this rich treasury of hymns with which I was not very familiar.

My favorite is this one, "All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night," written by Thomas Ken to a lovely tune by Thomas Tallis. It is the standard suggested hymn for opening compline in the LBW and ELW.

Both morning and evening hymns often draw parallels between the cycle of the day and the cycle of our lives, so evening hymns connect our sleeping with our eventual deaths, in very peaceful and hopeful ways, trusting in Christ's promise of eternal life. It makes them excellent for bedside pastoral care for the dying and their families, if you happen to make evening visits.

So here's a video of the hymn. I've included words below for two reasons: 1) The video skips my favorite verse, and 2) some of it is sung in canon (the tune is called Tallis' Canon) so it could be difficult to understand if you don't already know the words.





All praise to thee, my God, this night
For all the blessings of the light.
Keep me, oh, keep me, King of kings,
Beneath thine own almighty wings.

Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son,
The ill that I this day have done;
That with the world, myself, and thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.

Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed.
Teach me to die, that so I may
Rise glorious at the awesome day.

Oh, may my soul in thee repose,
And may sweet sleep mine eyelids close,
Sleep that shall me more vig'rous make
To serve my God when I awake!

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heav'nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.