The poem below is from the collection Sonnets of the Sacred Year by Samuel John Stone (1839-1900), a minister in the Church of England. He is most famous for his hymn “The Church’s One Foundation.” This is the “Prefatory Sonnet,” introducing the entire work, which includes a sonnet for every Sunday of the Church Year inspired by various texts from the historic lectionary. While this first sonnet’s theme is the general praise of God, it made me think of the Fourth Sunday in Advent.

Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. Rom. X. 17, 18

There is a music flowing through the years—
The mystic time, and times, and half a time—
With cadence sweet and solemn, like a chime
Heard in a city’s roar. To hearing ears
‘Tis the authentic chanting of those spheres
That, round the single Day-star of the soul,
Through the set seasons in their courses roll,
With light and song for him who sees and hears.
Behold, these diverse Truths reflect One Lord:
And, like a bow of circling sound, they blend
In the full sweetness of their heptachord
All tones of the Beginning and the End.
I listen, Lord: O touch my lips with fire,
That singing in their tune I may not tire.

The Introit for Rorate Coeli is from Psalm 19, including verse 4, which is also quoted by St. Paul in Romans 10:18. This passage from the apostle is then taken up by the poet for this sonnet’s epigraph. The planetary spheres, those heavenly bodies that declare the glory of God (Ps. 19:1), serve St. Paul as an image for the proclamation of the Gospel. Just as the works of God are proclaimed by His creation, so also God has sent out His Gospel to all the world. Stone plays with the image of the celestial spheres orbiting the sun to illustrate the Sundays and seasons of the Church Year orbiting Christ, the Day-star of the soul. The “spheres” of the Church Year proclaim the Gospel, each in their own way. The reference to a heptachord (a seven-stringed lyre, or a scale of seven notes) is also a reference to the seven visible heavenly bodies in the ancient cosmology (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn).

By participating in the liturgical year, we listen to the Word that is proclaimed in Scripture, sermon, and song. By hearing the Word of Christ, we are given faith (Rom. 10:17). And with faith, our lips are cleansed (Is. 6:7) and sanctified to sing the praises of our Lord. We join with all creation in worship, including the sun, moon, planets, and stars. The Lord of the cosmos has come to earth, was made flesh, and dwells among His creatures. Let every season and every song be tuned to Christ. And let us also be tuned to Him in heart, mind, and voice, as we follow Him through the years, during His Advent now, and on to the End.