In a Deep, Unbounded Darkness

In a Deep, Unbounded Darkness

8.7.8.7.4.[4.]7 MILLER CHAPEL or CORONAE
Annotated Version

In a deep, unbounded darkness1
long before the first light shone,2
You, O God, beyond all merit,3
worked a wonder faith makes known:

in your mercy, in your mercy,
You embraced us as Your own.4

Though our world is ever-changing,
You are constant, firm, and sure,5
faithful to Your cov’nant promise.6
Trusting You, we live, secure:

singing praises, singing praises,
long as heart and breath endure.7

Joy transforms our lips to boasting
only in Your matchless grace,8
sending Christ to dwell among us,
Word made flesh, in time and space:9

Friend and Savior, Friend and Savior,
in whose life we glimpse Your face.10

God of Hagar, God of Sarah,
God of nomad Abraham;
God of Miryam, God of Moses,
Fiery Pillar, great I Am:11

lead us homeward, lead us homeward,12
to the love-feast of the Lamb.13

1 Gen 1:2, “darkness was over the surface of the deep.” Note the alliteration of “deep, unbounded
darkness.”
2 The Francis Jones 1953 text begins, “Father, long before creation.” The 2010 text approaches
the same idea through imaging a time before the first creating word was spoken: “Let there be
light” (Gen 1:3).
3 The Jones translation begins as a prayer of direct address to God: “Father . . . Thou hadst chosen
us.” The 2010 re-working changes from archaic “Thou” to contemporary “You” language. The
prepositional phrase “beyond all merit” is intended to straddle meanings: it refers both to God,
whose goodness far exceeds any ascription of merit that we could devise, and to the fact that
God’s election (or “embrace”) of us is made solely on the basis of electing grace, and not because
of any foreknowledge of our deserving.

Mary Louise Bringle (2010)

4 Eph 1:4. I like the subtle reminder of contrasts that occurs in the initial consonant sounds
connecting “in your mercy” with “beyond all merit.”
5 Where the Jones text shifts pronoun references for God from second to third person in stanzas
two and three (“His compassion and His covenant”; “His only Son He gave”), I have chosen to
stay in the vocative “You” form throughout the hymn. Not only does this keep the whole text in
the form of a prayer, but it also avoids any awkwardness in attempting to avoid gendered third-
person pronouns.
6 The Jones translation emphasizes that “Though the world may change its fashion, / yet our God
is e’er the same.” The 2010 version of the text stays close to these ideas; however, I have
attempted to focus on God’s “constancy” in the form of “faithfulness” to covenant promises,
rather than on “changelessness,” since there are forms of 21st-century theology that open the
possibility for God to “change” in response to the movement of the creation, while remaining
“firm” and “sure” in fundamental character as One who is utterly trustworthy.
7 Both stanza two and stanza four of the Jones translation refer to our appropriate human response
to God’s grace and guidance as unceasing praise: “God’s own children / must forever praise His
name”; “And our song will sound unceasing…” The 2010 translation elects to combine these two
expressions into one, occurring simply at the end of the second stanza: “Singing praises / long as
heart and breath endure.” I chose the images of “heart” and “breath,” because they function both
literally and metaphorically. We sing praises as long as we live in this world—as long as our
hearts beat and breath animates our bodies. But we also sing praises in the life beyond this one:
when, whatever else may characterize our resurrection bodies, we surely will have some manner
of “heart” as a locus for our loving, and “breath” as a means of remaining “spirited” beings. (I
might also add that I like the way, when this text is sung to CORONAE, the word “breath” falls
onto an elongated note—one that requires some “breath” to sing!)
8The opening of this stanza was particularly assisted by the word-for-word translation of the
original Chinese provided by Chi Yi Chen, choral associate at Princeton Theological Seminary,
originally from Taiwan. Chinese characters from stanza three of the original 1952 texts allude to
“mouth,” “boasting,” and “joy.” Various Pauline allusions are captured here, e.g.: “May I never
boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14); “Let the one who boasts, boast in
the Lord” (1 Cor 1:31).
9 The original Chinese, as well as the Jones translation, alludes to Jn 3:16 in closing stanza three.
The 2010 translation approaches the same mystery of God’s gracious gift of Godself to us, using

Mary Louise Bringle (2010)

language from earlier in the gospel of John, Christ sent to dwell among us as the Word made
flesh (Jn 1:14), rather than the patriarchal imagery of God’s sending “His only-begotten Son.”
10The focus here is clearly incarnational. The Christ who dwells among us as the Word made
flesh lives a fully human life as our “Friend” as well as our “Savior,” and shows us through his
living (and not just through his dying) what and who God is. (Jn 14:9: “Anyone who has seen
me has seen the Father.”)
11 Our forebears in the faith, Hagar and Sarah and Abraham were “nomad” peoples, even as we
are sojourners on the earth; Miryam and Moses were also wilderness wanderers, inspired in their
resistance against tyranny by a living and acting God whose self-disclosed name is not a noun but
a verb, “I Am,” and who led them through the darkness of their exodus journey by appearing as a
pillar of fire (Ex 13:21). Thus, we, too, may have confidence that God will guide our journeys
from birth to death and beyond.
12 The Jones translation closes with the affirmation that our songs of praise “will sound unceasing
/ Till we reach our home above.” The original Chinese characters, in like manner, speak of a
returning to “home” or “heaven.” The 2010 translation carries forward the imagery of an ultimate
homecoming to be with God, but omits any spatial reference that would invoke a three-tiered
universe.
13 The last word in both the original Chinese and the Jones translation is “Lamb.” Wanting to
preserve this climactic ending, I have given it a somewhat fuller scriptural allusion to Rev 19, the
wedding supper (or “love-feast”—for the sake of alliteration) of the Lamb, which carries further
echoes of Rev 22:17 (“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come’”). With this added allusion, the text
becomes particularly suitable for singing as part of a service of Holy Communion, when we
receive a blessed foretaste of that final banquet.

Mary Louise Bringle (2010)