Hymns with a focus on St Francis of Assisi and nature this week. The patron saint of ecology’s feast day is on 4 October and marks the end of the Season of Creation in the church calendar.
Manuscript leaf with scenes from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, circa 1320 - 42 (Metropolitan Museum of Art) Photo: CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication
SONG: JOYFUL, JOYFUL, WE ADORE THEE
Artist: Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Words/Music: Van Dyke/Beethoven
Recording: Bonneville 519602
Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flow'rs before Thee,
Op'ning to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
Fill us with the light of day!
All Your works with joy surround Thee,
Earth and heav'n reflect Thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around Thee,
Center of unbroken praise;
Field and forest, vale and mountain,
Flow'ry meadow, flashing sea,
Singing bird and flowing fountain
Call us to rejoice in Thee!
Thou art giving and forgiving,
Ever blessing, ever blest,
Well-spring of the joy of living,
Ocean-depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our Brother,
Let Thy light upon us shine;
Teach us how to love each other,
Lift us to the joy divine.
SONG: WHEN IN OUR MUSIC GOD IS GLORIFIED
Artist: Choir of Winchester College Chapel
Words/Music: Fred Pratt Green/Charles Villiers Stanford
Recording: Convivium Records 2015
When in our music God is glorified,
and adoration leaves no room for pride,
it is as though the whole creation cried:
Alleluia!
How often, making music, we have found
a new dimension in the world of sound,
as worship moved us to a more profound
Alleluia!
So has the church, in spoken word and song,
in faith and love, through centuries of wrong,
borne witness to the truth in every tongue:
Alleluia!
And did not Jesus sing a psalm that night
when utmost evil strove against the light?
Then let us sing, for whom he won the fight:
Alleluia!
Let every instrument be tuned for praise!
Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise!
And may God give us faith to sing always:
Alleluia!
SONG: FILL US WITH YOUR LOVE (KNEELS AT THE FEET OF HIS FRIENDS)
Artist: Pro Musica Youth Chorus
Words/Music: Tom Colvin/Trad Ghanaian folk tune
Recording: YPM 2011
Refrain:
Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love,
show us how to serve
the neighbours we have from you.
Kneels at the feet of his friends,
Silently washes their feet,
Master who pours out himself for them.
Neighbours are rich and poor,
Neighbours are black and white,
Neighbours are near and far away.
Refrain:
These are the ones we should serve,
These are the ones we should love.
All are neighbours to us and you.
Kneel at the feet of our friends,
Silently washing their feet,
This is the way we should live with you.
This is the way we should live with you.
Refrain:
SONG: MAKE ME A CHANNEL OF YOUR PEACE
Artist: Choir of Westminster Abbey, Martin Neary (dir), Martin Baker (organ)
Words/Music: Anon/Sebastian 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 Choir
Words/Music: George Matheson/Albert Peace
Recording: London Fox Choir
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: Choir of Portsmouth Cathedral
Words/Music: Timothy Dudley-Smith/Trad
Recording: Herald HAVPCD 205
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: Choirs of Belfast Cathedral, Philip Stopford (dir)
Words/Music: Trad/James Moore
Recording: Priory PRCD 826
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.
