Advent tells us Christ is near

Advent tells us Christ is near. (Arabella) Katherine Hankey* (1834-1911). According to JJ, p. 483, this was written in 1888 for Sunday School children at St Peter’s, Eaton Square, London, then as now a prosperous part of the city (although Hankey organised classes for shop girls). It was printed on a card, with a tune composed by Hankey herself, before being included in many English-speaking hymnbooks on both sides of the Atlantic. It is not a hymn for Advent, in spite of the first line: it is a brisk outline of the Christian Seasons from the First Sunday in Advent to Trinity Sunday, as in the Book of Common Prayer: Advent tells us Christ is near: Christmas tells us Christ is here! In...

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