Verschenen is de mildheid = How Faithful, 1967 - 2000

The Dutch refrain, Verschenen is de mildheid en de trouw van onze God, is in the past tense, Appeared now is the mercy and faithfulness of our God. The Dutch word trouw posed a translation problem because as a monosyllable it required a three-syllable word in English, faithfulness, loyalty. And whereas early translations used Appearing is the mercy and faithfulness of God, while avoiding arguing over semantics, I felt that appearing was too weak a word to compensate for the strong and leaping Dutch Verschenen. Hence I sought a similar onomatopoeia solution, arriving at How faithful, now appearing. This song is from the Prologue of John's Gospel, for Advent and Christmas and any occasion which celebrates a theophany, the presence of the all-Merciful One among us. A gathering song, it may also be sung during the liturgy of the word, as a procession around the altar, and as a communion chant of reflection. Each time, the Refrain is sung, first by unison choir then repeated by the assembly, with the (optional) SAT descant where resources permit. While Sopranos, Altos and Tenors vocalize on the refrains, the Basses carry the melody, the text, and the assembly. On the Christmas recording from the Dominicuskerk, Huijbers invoked his inimitable style of choosing not to repeat the full Refrain after verses 1 + 2 (during which harmonies are sung throughout) but repeating only the final phrase, the mercy of our God. At the beginning and after verse 3, the entire Refrain is sung twice, with harmonies on each occasion. The refrain opens with an ascending fifth followed by a third. The verse resumes by completing the octave with the rising fourth, and then proceeds by a series of descending steps back to the apparent tonic, rising to the mediant in conclusion. Although ostensibly in the key of G, by regarding its modality as being myxolydian makes analysis an easier task