Singing Songs in the Fiery Furnace
13 A Song of Praise Benedictus es, Domine
Song of the Three Young Men, 29-34
Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers; *
you are worthy of praise; glory to you.
Glory to you for the radiance of you holy Name; *
we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.
you are worthy of praise; glory to you.
Glory to you for the radiance of you holy Name; *
we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.
Glory to you in the splendor of you temple; *
on the throne of your majesty, glory to you.
Glory to you, seated between the Cherubim; *
we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.
on the throne of your majesty, glory to you.
Glory to you, seated between the Cherubim; *
we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.
Glory to you, beholding the depths; *
in the high vault of heaven, glory to you.
Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; *
we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.
in the high vault of heaven, glory to you.
Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; *
we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.
In some churches this season after Christmas is called “Ordinary Time.” Our custom in the Episcopal Church is to call it the Epiphany Season (BCP 31). Taking it to heart, we might be alert for epiphanies not only in the Bible readings of the Sunday lectionary, but in our lives as well. Speaking for myself, a life-changing epiphany, more a theophany actually, came to me the evening of February 13, 1984. Not for blog posting, it’s been the subject of sermons from time to time over the past nearly thirty years, and comes to mind each Epiphany Season.
What is in mind for posting this morning is yesterday’s Sunday School class discussion. During this Epiphany Season we are exploring the Apocrypha, that odd collection of writings tucked away in the Bible, either between the Old Testament and the New Testament or way in the back just before the maps. Most people don’t seem to have a clue what it’s about, so our epiphanic (there’s a great word) undertaking for Adult Sunday School during Epiphany Season this year is explore the Apocrypha. Which means something like “secreted away.”
Yesterday we found out that the Apocrypha is commonly used in the Episcopal Church, noticeably at HNES in the Praise Song we often sing at 10:30 worship. Canticle 13, the Benedictus es, Domine. Blessed art thou, Lord. We sing the contemporary language version. It is from the Apocrypha, verses 29-34 of The Song of the Three Young Men.
In the Septuagint, the 2nd or 3rd century BCE Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, that writing is actually inserted between verses 23 and 24 in Chapter 3 of the Book of Daniel, which is a great Sunday School story that most of us learned as children. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has had a wonderful golden statue made for everyone to worship, and decreed that anyone who refuses to bow down and worship it will be thrown into a furnace of fire. True to the Lord only, God’s faithful servants Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse. The king is so enraged that he has the furnace super-heated and has them thrown in to be burned to death.
As everyone knows, the Lord protects them such that they sing songs as the fire roars around them. Benedictus es, Domine is one of the songs they sing.
Oh, I didn’t know that.
Well then, there’s your epiphany for today. It's cool, man.
TW+