Hymn of the Week: September 6, 2024
As a Chalice Cast of Gold
Glory To God: 429
Text: Thomas H. Troeger, 1984
Music: Carol Doran, 1984
As a chalice cast of gold, burnished bright and brimmed with wine,
Make me Lord, as fit to hold grace and truth and love divine.
Let my praise and worship start with the cleansing of my heart.
Save me from the soothing sin of the empty cultic deed
and the pious, babbling din of the claimed but unlived creed.
Let my actions, Lord, express what my tongue and lips profess.
When I bend upon my knees, clasp my hands, or bow my head,
Let my spoken, public pleas be directly simply said,
Free of tangled words that mask what my soul would plainly ask.
When I dance or chant your praise, when I sing a psalm or hymn,
When I Preach your loving ways, let my heart add its Amen.
Let each cherished outward rite thus reflect your inward light.
Enjoy this lovely hymn and spend time with the text reflecting on the images Troeger evokes.
Some biographical information is included about the hymn writer.
Thomas Troeger (1945-2022),
professor of Christian communication at Yale Divinity School, was a well-known preacher, poet, and musician. He was a fellow of Silliman College, and held a B.A. from Yale University; B.D. Colgate Rochester Divinity School; S.T. D. Dickinson College, and was awarded an honorary D.D. from Virginia Theological Seminary. He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church in 1970 and the Episcopal Church in 1999, and remained dually aligned with both traditions. Troerger led conferences and lectures in worship and preaching throughout North America, as well as in Denmark, Holland, Australia, Japan, and Africa. He served as national chaplain to the American Guild of Organists, and for at least three years he hosted the Season of Worship broadcast for Cokesbury. He was president of the Academy of Homiletics as well as Societas Homiletica. He had, as of 2009, written 22 books in the areas of preaching, poetry, hymnody, and worship. Many of his hymn texts are found in New Hymns for the Lectionary(Oxford, 1992), and God, You Made All Things for Singing (Oxford, 2009).
