This is a hymn for Advent, based on the idea of being awake and prepared for God's time.
It was written by English Anglican-raised, United Reformed Church minister, community health worker and hymn writer Michael Forster (1946-2023).
It was first published in 1993 by Kevin Mayhew Ltd.
With meter 8.6.8.6 (CM), tunes it has been set to include:
- BILLING by Richard Runciman Terry (1865-1938)
- TALLIS ORDINAL
- SLEEPER by Scot Crandal.
Hymn-books where it has been published in include:
- Church Hymnal (Church of Ireland), Oxford University Press, UK, 2000
- Hymns for the Gospels, GIA Publications, USA., 2001
- Various editions of Hymns Old and New, Kevin Mayhew Ltd, UK- including Catholic 2009, and Complete Anglican 2000.
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| Image - adapt from The sunrise with starry sky - CC4.0 Share Alike |
Downloads
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Examples
Choir with bells, tune SLEEPER
Instrumental, piano. Tune BILLING.
Instrumental - organ, tune BILLING
Lyrics
The lyrics are copyright so cannot be reproduced here. But they are currently available on this website. A rough outline is:1. Waken, O sleeper, wake and rise,
Salvation’s day is near,
And let the dawn of light and truth
Dispel the night of fear.
2. Let us prepare to face the day
Of judgment and of grace,
To live as people of the light,
And perfect truth embrace.
3. Watch, then, and pray, we cannot know
the moment or the hour,
when Christ, unheralded, will come
with life-renewing power.
4. Then shall the nations gather round
to learn his ways of peace,
when spears to pruning-hooks are turned,
and all our conflicts cease.
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