We're celebrating the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi (4 October) in Hymns on Sunday, which marks the end of the Season of Creation in the church calendar.
St Francis addressing the birds (Giotto) Photo: / CC 3.0
SONG: HOW GREAT THOU ART
Artist: Huddersfield Choral Society
Composer: Boberg trans Hine/Trad
Label: Signum 2006
O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works thy hand hath made.
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Refrain:
Then sings my soul, my saviour God, to thee;
How great thou art, how great thou art!
And when I think that God, his son not sparing,
Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin:
Refrain
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then shall I bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, my God, how great thou art!
Refrain
SONG: FOR THE FRUITS OF HIS CREATION
Artist: Choir of Wells Cathedral, Malcolm Archer (dir), Rupert Gough (organ)
Words/Music: Green/Jackson
Recording: Hyperion 711210
For the fruit of all creation,
thanks be to God.
For his gifts to every nation,
thanks be to God.
For the ploughing, sowing, reaping,
silent growth while men are sleeping,
future needs in earth's safe-keeping,
thanks be to God.
In the just reward of labour,
God's will is done.
In the help we give our neighbor,
God's will is done.
In our world-wide task of caring
for the hungry and despairing,
in the harvests men are sharing,
God's will is done.
For the harvests of the Spirit,
thanks be to God.
For the good we all inherit,
thanks be to God.
For the wonders that astound us,
for the truths that still confound us,
most of all, that love bas found us,
thanks be to God.
SONG: FAIREST LORD JESUS
Artist: Choir of Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, Catherine Palmer (dir), Ronald Jordan (organ)
Words/Music: Anon/Trad
Recording: Marquis 181175
Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature,
O thou of God and man the Son,
thee will I cherish, thee will I honour,
thou, my soul's glory, joy and crown.
Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
robed in the blooming garb of spring:
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
who makes the woeful heart to sing.
All fairest beauty, heavenly and earthly,
wondrously, Jesus, is found in thee;
none can be nearer, fairer or dearer,
than thou, my Saviour, art to me.
SONG: MAKE ME A CHANNEL OF YOUR PEACE
Artist: Choir of Westminster Abbey, Martin Neary (dir), Martin Baker (organ)
Words/Music: Anon/Temple
Recording: Griffin 224018
Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is hatred let me bring your love
Where there is injury, your pardon Lord
And where there is doubt true faith in you.
Refrain:
Oh, master grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love with all my soul.
Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is despair in life let me bring hope
Where there is darkness only light
And where there's sadness ever joy
Refrain:
Make me a channel of your peace
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
In giving to all man that we receive
In dying that we are born to eternal life.
Refrain:
Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is hatred let me bring your love
Where there is injury, your pardon Lord
And where there is doubt true faith in you.
SONG: O LOVE THAT WILT NOT LET ME GO
Artist: London Fox Singers
Words/Music: Matheson/Peace
Recording: London Fox Singers
O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O Light that followest all my way
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
my heart restores its borrowed ray,
that in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
may brighter, fairer be.
O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
SONG: O CHRIST THE SAME
Artist: Llandaff Cathedral Choir
Words/Music: Dudley-Smith/Trad
Recording: Priory PRCD 719
O Christ the same, through all our story's pages--
our loves and hopes, our failures and our fears;
eternal Lord, the King of all the ages,
unchanging still, amid the passing years:
O living Word, the source of all creation,
who spread the skies, and set the stars ablaze;
O Christ the same, who wrought our whole salvation,
we bring our thanks for all our yesterdays.
O Christ the same, the friend of sinners, sharing
our inmost thoughts, the secrets none can hide;
still as of old upon your body bearing
the marks of love, in triumph glorified:
O Son of Man, who stooped for us from heaven,
O Prince of life, in all your saving power,
O Christ the same, to whom our hearts are given,
we bring our thanks for this the present hour.
O Christ the same, secure within whose keeping
our lives and loves, our days and years remain,
our work and rest, our waking and our sleeping,
our calm and storm, our pleasure and our pain:
O Lord of love, for all our joys and sorrows,
for all our hopes, when earth shall fade and flee,
O Christ the same, beyond our brief tomorrows,
we bring our thanks for all that is to be.
SONG: ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING
Artist: Choir of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh, Dennis Townhill (dir), Peter Backhouse (organ)
Words/Music: St Francis of Assisi paraphrased Draper/Anon
Recording: Priory PRCD 376
All creatures of our God and King,
lift up your voice and with us sing:
alleluia, alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
thou shining moon with silver gleam,
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Thou rushing wind that art so strong,
ye clouds that sail in heaven along,
O praise Him, alleluia!
Thou rising dawn in praise rejoice;
ye lights of evening find a voice:
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Thou flowing water, pure and clear,
make music for thy Lord to hear:
alleluia, alleluia!
Thou fire, so masterful and bright,
that givest man both warmth and light.
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Let all things their Creator bless,
and worship Him in humbleness
O praise Him, alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
and praise the Spirit, Three in One
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
SONG: THE IRISH BLESSING
Artist: Laudate Mennonite Ensemble
Words/Music: Trad
Recording: LME 2008
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
