Septuagesima

One of the hymns this morning:

God of grace and God of glory,
On thy people pour thy power;
Crown thine ancient Church's story:
Bring her bud to glorious flower.
  Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
  For the living of these days.
  For the living of these days. 

Lo! the hosts of evil round us
Scorn thy Christ, assail his ways!
From the fears that long have bound us
Free our hearts to faith and praise:
  Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
  For the living of these days.
  For the living of these days. 

Cure thy children's warring madness,
Bend our pride to thy control;
Shame our wanton, selfish gladness,
Rich in things and poor in soul.
  Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
  Lest we miss thy kingdom's goal.
  Lest we miss thy kingdom's goal.

It didn't really have much to do with Septuagesima but those seemed like particularly worthy aspirations for the year of Our Lord 2016.  And it didn't hurt at all that it's sung to the tune Cym Rhondda, one of my very favourite hymn tunes.  You can find a knock-out version of the tune here at the 22.30 mark.  It's sung in Welsh and, FWIW, the Welsh lyrics don't have anything whatsoever to do with the lyrics given above.

If you're annoyed about the misleading headline and really want to read about Septuagesima, try Fr Hunwicke's article here.  As always, well-worth a read.