Listen to this hymn chanted.

Jesus, the Father’s only Son,
Whose death for all redemption won;
Before the worlds, of God most high
Begotten all ineffably.

The Father’s light and splendor Thou,
Their endless hope to Thee that bow;
Accept the prayers and praise today
That through the world Thy servants pay.

Salvation’s Author, call to mind
How, taking form of humankind,
Born of a Virgin undefiled,
Thou in man’s flesh becam’st a child.

Thus testifies the present day,
Through every year in long array,
That Thou, salvation’s source alone,
Proceedest from the Father’s throne.

Whence sky, and stars, and sea’s abyss,
And earth, and all that therein is,
Shall still, with laud and carol meet,
The Author of Thine advent greet.

And we who, by Thy precious blood
From sin redeemed, are marked for God,
On this the day that saw Thy birth,
Sing the new song of ransomed earth:

For that Thine advent glory be,
O Jesus, Virgin-born, to Thee;
with Father, and with Holy Ghost,
From men and from the heavenly host. Amen.

__________

Christe, Redemptor omnium, 6th century, trans. by J.M. Neale
*An excerpt from The Brotherhood Prayer Book