Hymns in booklet 1, Jag väntade i tystnad – I waited in silence:
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Se, nu kommer Jesus!
Lyft upp din blick och se
Välkommen!
Jag väntade i tystnad
I Betlehem, mitt hjärta
Mysterium!
Gloria
Jubla nu himlar!
Du som spränger rummets gränser
Under ett stjärnevalv
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​The booklet begins with a couple of Advent-songs; “See, here comes Jesus” and “Lift up your eyes and see”, followed by a hymn from Älvdalen: “Welcome”, taken from the folk-mass “Heaven within”.
Two songs with a slightly different perspective, that of the unborn child, come later; “I waited in silence” and “In Bethlehem, my heart”, inspired by Malung’s treasure of songs.
They are followed by Christmas songs that celebrate the miraculous birth of the child, in Bethlehem as well as in our own inner selves; “Mystery”, “Gloria” and “Heavens now rejoice”.
The booklet ends with two hymns that adopt a cosmic perspective: “You who shatter the borders of space” and “Under a vault of stars”. The first is a chorale with a boundary-crossing text by Bertil Murray. The second, a Gloria that also praises man created in God's image, is available in two versions, one where all verses are performed in the same arrangement and one through-composed.
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Booklet 2, "Än gryningen randas" – "Still the dawn breaks" –
contain the following hymns:
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Än gryningen randas
Julens tecken
När det mörknar över jorden
Gud går med mig vartän jag går
Det finns ingenting att frukta
När vattnet i bassängen börjar svalla
Låt
Nog längtar jag till ljusets dag
Jag är inte rädd för mörkret
Äntligen öppnas mitt öga
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"Hundred Hymns" continues in book 2 with songs for the time after Christmas. Stars and light are recurring themes in most of the hymns and are suitable for both Epiphany and Candlemas. Water is also a recurring theme; the 1st and 2nd Sundays after Epiphany have the headings "The baptism of Jesus" and "Life's water". The hymns "When the water in the basin begins to swell" and "God goes with me wherever I go" are linked to these themes. For the theme of the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany, "Jesus creates faith", there is "There is nothing to fear" and the song "Låt" (a Swedish word meaning both "Let!" and "Tune"), fits nicely into the theme for Septuagesima about "Grace and service". Musically, this booklet is quite uniform, based on Swedish folk tradition and choral tradition. But classical music has also left its mark, as in the hymns "Before the dawn breaks" and "At last my eye is opened". So light the star in your house and rejoice: You are the light of the world!
For more information on the songs in booklet 2, inclusively lyrics, recordings and more, see the interactive pages!:
