Ere zij God

It occurred to me, Christmas morning, that in addition to using Skype to talk to my family and friends, I could use it to dial in to hear the Christmas service at my church, Grace Christian Reformed Church in Chatham. I was pretty excited about this - as the Christmas service is the only one in which I can hear my church family singing in Dutch. Every Christmas, we sing "Ere zij God" and I fell in love with the song the first time I heard it, in December 2007.

Confession - sometimes, I stop singing for a while, and only mouth the words (which are presented on the overhead screen in both Dutch and English) so I can revel in the deep richness of this hymn, as the congregation reaches levels of emotion and harmony which stirs my soul even as I write this. There's just something about this song that is really moving, especially when I hear my church singing it together on Christmas, reaching a rousing crescendo as the song develops.

"Ere zij God in den hoge!" "Glory to God in the highest!" Such a song!

At first, Skype kept dropping my connection, but I persevered, and eventually had 15 straight minutes of more or less recognizable worship service - as the congregation sang, "Oh Come Let Us Adore Him", "Angels We Have Heard on High", interspersed with Bible passages about the birth of Christ, and the lighting of the fourth advent candle. And wasn't that Doug Wiersma saying the offering prayer? I was especially pleased that the offering was going to the CRWRC, an organization I know much more about now, as I am volunteering with them and have been reading through some of their materials. As Doug said, they help people to improve their lives - and it is exciting for me to be a small part of the good work that is being done here in Malawi.

But shortly after that, the Skype connection dropped and every time I called back, I was met with a busy signal. Thoroughly disappointed, I managed to find a youtube rendition of the hymn, which I am listening to as I type this. (To give you an idea of how bad the connection is today, it took me just over 30 minutes to load this youtube video fully.) Here are the words, in Dutch and English.

Still, I was grateful to be able to spend a little time worshipping with my church this afternoon - although I was probably the only person in attendance who was wearing a nightgown, lying on a bed under a mosquito net and eating chocolate during the service...

I will wait patiently until next Christmas, when I can once again hear this hymn in person, God williing.