This Week's Hymns

 

God we praise you

CH4 120   Ode to Joy

Music: Symphony No.9, Ludwig van Beethoven
Words: Christopher Martin Idle, from Te Deum

 

120 God we praise you.mp3

1 God, we praise you. God, we bless you.
God, we name you sovereign Lord.
Mighty King whom angels worship,
Father, by your church adored:
all creation shows your glory,
heaven and earth draw near your throne
singing ‘Holy, holy, holy,
Lord of hosts and God alone!’

2 True apostles, faithful prophets,
saints who set their world ablaze,
martyrs, once unknown, unheeded,
join one growing song of praise,
while your Church on earth confesses
one majestic Trinity:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
God, our hope eternally.

3 Jesus Christ, the King of glory,
everlasting Son of God,
humble was your virgin mother,
hard the lonely path you trod:
by your cross is sin defeated,
hell confronted face to face,
heaven opened to believers,
sinners, justified by grace.

4 Christ, at God’s right hand victorious,
you will judge the world you made;
Lord, in mercy help your servants
for whose freedom you have paid:
raise us up from dust to glory,
guard us from all sin today;
King enthroned above all praises,
save your people, God, we pray.

 

Children of God

CH4 521   Intercessor

Music: Charles Hubert Hastings Parry
Words: John Greenleaf Whittier

 

521 Children of God.mp3

1 Children of God, reach out to one another!
Where pity dwells, the peace of God is there;
to worship rightly is to love each other,
each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer.

2 For he whom Jesus loved has truly spoken:
the holier worship which God deigns to bless
restores the lost, and binds the spirit broken,
and feeds the widow and the fatherless.

3 Follow with reverent steps the great example
of him whose holy work was doing good;
so shall the wide earth seem our Father’s temple,
each loving life a psalm of gratitude.

4 Then shall all shackles fall; the stormy clangour
of wild war-music o’er the earth shall cease;
love shall tread out the baleful fire of anger,
and in its ashes plant the tree of peace.

 

Lord, you have come to the seashore

CH4 532

Music: Cesáreo Gabaráin
Words: Cesáreo Gabaráin, transl. Robert Trupia

 

532 Lord you have come to the seashore.mp3

1 Lord, you have come to the seashore,
neither searching for the rich nor the wise,
desiring only that I should follow.

     O Lord, with your eyes set upon me,
     gently smiling, you have spoken my name.
     All I longed for I have found by the water,
     at your side I will seek other shores.

2 Lord, see my goods, my possessions;
in my boat you find no power, no wealth.
Will you accept, then, my nets and labour?

3 Lord, take my hands, and direct them.
Help me spend myself in seeking the lost,
returning love for the love you gave me.

4 Lord, as I drift on the waters,
be the resting-place of my restless heart,
my life’s companion, my friend and refuge.

 

We do not hope to ease our minds

 CH4 537   Mary Morison

Music: Scottish folk mel. – John L. Bell
Words: Marnie Barrell

 

We do not Hope.mp3

1 We do not hope to ease our minds
by simple answers, shifted blame,
while Christ is homeless, hungry, poor,
and we are rich who bear his name.
As long as justice is a dream
and human dignity denied,
we stand with Christ; disturb us still
till every need is satisfied.

2 We cannot ask to live at peace
in comfort and security
while Christ is tried in Pilate’s hall
and drags his cross to Calvary.
As long as hatred stifles truth
and freedom is betrayed by fear,
we stand with Christ; give us no peace
till his peace reigns in triumph here.

3 We will not pray to be preserved
from any depths of agony
while Christ’s despairing cry rings out:
God, why have you abandoned me?
As long as we have hope to share
of life renewed beyond the pain,
we stand with Christ all through the night
till Easter morning dawns again.