Anytime the carol "We Three Kings" plays on the radio or is sung in a church, the congregation at Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport hears an echo of their own history.
“It’s really amazing to…think that there are millions of people singing the same hymn and to think it was written within the walls of our church,” said Father Kyle Murphy, rector at the Williamsport church.
John Henry Hopkins Jr. served as rector at Christ Episcopal Church from 1876 to 1887, and while he was there, he was composing "We Three Kings."
Hopkins published his composition in 1863 in his book, "Carols Hymns, and Songs," and it became the first carol written in the United States to earn widespread popularity.
“That’s almost ethereal in a sense, to think about all of the voices that are singing it now and have sung it in the past,” Murphy said. “It’s a beautiful gift that we have.”
At Christ Episcopal Church, plaques and relics note Hopkins’s contributions. Murphy says Hopkins left his mark on the church through his designs of the bishop’s chair, the cathedral and a bishop’s crozier - a staff shaped like a shepherd’s crook, adorned with crystals that the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese still uses when he performs services in Williamsport.
“Usually each bishop has their own crozier that they take with them,” Murphy said. “It’s really kind of neat to see each bishop throughout all this time using the crozier that’s specifically made here for Christ Church.”
The crozier is hand carved out of wood, and each gem represents a part of creation, Murphy says.
Murphy says the Williamsport congregation will more than likely sing "We Three Kings" during the hymn’s intended time - Epiphany, celebrated on January 6 in the Christian tradition. It marks the day the three kings, or wise men, arrived to find the newborn Jesus in the manger.
“It's always our opening hymn on that day,” Murphy said. “And so we keep it very, very special and very, very distinct from the Christmas season.”
