Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#370

370. The King of Glory Comes

Text Information

• First Line: Who is the King of glory? What shall we call him?
• Title: The King of Glory Comes
• Author: Willard F. Jabusch (1966)
• Refrain First Line: The King of glory comes, the nation rejoices
• Meter: 12 12 with refrain
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Scripture:
  Psalm 24
• Topic: Biblical Names & Places: Galilee/Galilean; Epiphany & Ministry of Christ; King, God/Christ as; Songs for Children: Hymns; Advent; Palm Sunday; Salvation
• Copyright: © 1966, 1982, admin. by OCP Publications. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Tune Information

• Name: PROMISED ONE
• Arranger: John Ferguson (1973)
• Meter: 12 12 with refrain
• Key: e minor
• Key: G Major
• Copyright: Arrangement from The Hymnal of the United Church of Christ, © 1974, United Church Press. Used by permission

Text Information:

Scripture References:
st. 1 = Ps. 24:8, Isa. 7:14
st. 2 = Matt. 4:23
st. 3 = Isa. 53:12
st. 4 = 1 Cor. 15:57, John 14:2
ref. = Ps. 24:7, Ps. 67:4

Catholic priest Willard F.Jabusch (PHH 210) wrote this text in five stanzas in 1965 in Niles, Illinois, for use by the parish folk-music ensemble of St. Celestine's Roman Catholic Church in Elmwood Park, Illinois. The text was published in Hymnal for Young Christians (1966), one of the first English Roman Catholic hymnals published in the United States after Vatican II.

Stanza 1 and the refrain are based on Psalm 24:7-8; stanzas 2 and 3 recall Jesus' ministry and his death to atone for sin; stanza 4 confesses Christ's victory over death and the coming of his kingdom. The original third stanza was not included.

Liturgical Use:
Epiphany; Advent; Palm Sunday, or anytime; a great processional hymn at the beginning of a worship service.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

Jabusch wrote his text to correspond to PROMISED ONE, an Israeli folk tune. Probably of Hasidic origin, PROMISED ONE was associated with the folk song "Gilu Hagalilim," brought by Zionist settlers to Israel after World War I. The Fireside Book of Folk Songs (1947) contains the tune with a different text but with the "Lift up your voices" phrase in its refrain.

This joyful minor tune has the syncopated rhythm associated with the Jewish hora dance and derives its melodic phrases from variations of the first line. PROMISED ONE is an exciting tune intended to be sung with perpetual energy and without pauses between refrain and stanza and refrain. Sing in unison and try using a faster tempo for each succeeding stanza. Accompany with guitar, various percussion instruments, hand clapping and/or Orff instruments on the ostinati patterns or improvise similar patterns. Try adding a simple descant for the final two measures of the refrain by going up the scale as follows. B, C-sharp, D-sharp, E, E.

John Ferguson (b. Cleveland, OH, 1941) prepared the setting for Advent services at the United Church of Christ, Kent, Ohio, in 1973. That setting was published the following year in the UCC's Hymnal, of which Ferguson was music editor. Known for his skill as a music clinician and for his organ concerts and improvisations, Ferguson has devoted much of his professional life to church music. He was educated at Oberlin College, Kent State University, and the Eastman School of Music, where he received a Doctor of Musical Arts in 1976. From 1965 to 1978 he was professor of music at Kent State University and organist and choirmaster at the United Church of Christ. He served as music director and organist at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from 1978 to 1983. Since 1983 Ferguson has been professor of church music and organ at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota. He has published numerous choral anthems and hymn arrangements for organ and issued various recordings of hymn festivals. His published works include A Musician's Guide to Church Music (1981) and Worship Blueprints: Guide to Planning Warship Music (1983).

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook