Follow His Star ...

“Morning Star, O cheering sight! Ere thou

cam’st, how dark earth’s night!

Morning Star, O cheering sight! Ere thou

cam’st, how dark earth’s night!

Jesus mine, in me shine; in me shine, Jesus mine;

Fill my heart with light divine.

Morning Star, thy glory bright far excels

the sun’s clear light.

Morning Star, thy glory bright far excels

the sun’s clear light.

Jesus be, constantly, Constantly, Jesus be

More than thousand suns to me.

Thy glad beams, thou Morning Star, cheer the

nations near and far.

Thy glad beams, thou Morning Star, cheer the

nations near and far.

Thee we own, Lord alone, Lord alone, thee we

own,

Our dear Savior, God’s dear son.

Morning Star, my soul’s true light, tarry not,

dispel my night.

Morning Star, my soul’s true light, tarry not,

dispel my night.

Jesus mine, in me shine; in me shine, Jesus mine;

Fill my heart with light divine.”

                

               ~ “Morning Star, O Cheering Sight !”

                             ~ Moravian Carol

     ~ Words: Johannes Scheffler (1657),    
Translation by Bennett Harvey, Jr. (1885)

               ~   Music: Francis F. Hagen, 1836

         In Moravian tradition, this is often sung as part of a Christmas Eve service, with a child as the leader.

                                             

A Moravian star glows with the warmth of Christmas on a cold December evening at Emmaus Moravian Church, founded in 1747 in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. The star shines over a Nativity scene placed on the church lawn during Christmastime.

This scene in sepia could be part of a Moravian Christmas putz, in dreams of Christmastide or a nostalgic Yuletide film – think “It’s A Wonderful Life” – but it’s very real, just as following Christ’s star is as important today as it was at his birth.

A Moravian star (German: Herrnhuter Stern) is an illuminated Advent, Christmas or Epiphany decoration popular in Germany and in places in American and Europe where there are Moravian congregations. The stars take their English name from the Moravian Church, originating in Moravia. In Germany, they are known as Herrnhut stars, named after the Moravian Mother Community in Saxony, Germany, where they were first commercially produced.

Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas everyone!

        

State Of The Evening ...

“I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.”

                   ~ Oscar Wilde  

                                  ~1854-1900

 The State Theatre sparkles like a jewel in downtown Easton, Pennsylvania on a chilly November evening on Northampton Street.

State Theatre, originally known as Neumeyers Vaudeville House and now the State Theatre Center for the Arts, is an historic theatre. The building began to take its present form in 1910, when modified from a bank building to a vaudeville house. The building was extensively modified in 1926, to include a larger auditorium, balcony and lush decorations. At that time it was renamed “The State.” The building is asymmetrical with a cut stone Beaux-Arts style façade and large overhanging marquee.

Beaux-Arts Architecture is a very rich, lavish and heavily ornamented classical style taught at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris in the 19th century. The term “Beaux Arts” is the approximate English equivalent of  “Fine Arts.”

State Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.