In our final programme of Summer Hymn Requests you can hear the Seafarers’ Hymn (Eternal Father), Stuart Townend’s O, my soul, arise and a setting of Psalm 150 to mark the 100th birthday of the Lawton organ at St John’s Church, Feilding.
Photo: Robyn Jaquiery
SONG: O, MY SOUL, ARISE AND BLESS YOUR MAKER
Artist: St Michael’s Singers, Coventry Cathedral
Words/Music: Stuart Townend
Recording: Integrity Music 2007
O My Soul, arise and bless your maker,
For He is your Master and your Friend.
Slow to wrath but rich in tender mercy;
Worship the Saviour, Jesus.
King of grace, His love is overwhelming;
Bread of Life, He’s all I’ll ever need,
For His blood has purchased me forever:
Bought at the cross of Jesus.
And I will sing for all my days
Of heaven’s love come down.
Each breath I take will speak His praise
Until He calls me home.
When I wake, I know that He is with me;
When I’m weak, I know that He is strong.
Though I fall, His arm is there to lean on:
Safe on the Rock of Jesus.
Stir in me the songs that You are singing;
Fill my gaze with things as yet unseen.
Give me faith to move in works of power,
Making me more like Jesus.
Then one day I’ll see Him as He sees me,
Face to face, the Lover and the loved;
No more words, the longing will be over:
There with my precious Jesus.
SONG: THOU DIDST LEAVE THY THRONE
Artist: Choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge, David Rowland (dir), Alexandra Jobling (organ)
Words/Music: Emily Elliott/Matthews
Recording: Priory PRCD 721
Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown,
When thou camest to earth for me;
But in Bethlehem’s home was there found no room
For thy holy nativity.
Refrain:
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for thee.
Thou camest, O Lord, with the living word,
That should set thy people free;
But with mocking scorn and with crown of thorn,
They bore thee to Calvary.
Refrain:
When the heav’ns shall ring, and her choirs shall sing,
At thy coming to victory,
Let thy voice call me home, saying “Yet there is room,
There is room at my side for thee.”
Refrain:
SONG: PSALM 150
Artist: Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Words/Music: Psalm 150/Robert Goodenough
Recording: EMI 763100
O praise God in his holiness praise him in the firmament of his power.
Praise him in his noble acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Praise him in the sound of the trumpet: praise him upon the lute and harp.
Praise him in the cymbals and dances: praise him upon the strings and pipe.
Praise him upon the well-tuned cymbals: praise him upon the loud cymbals.
Let every thing that hath breath: praise the Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son
And to the Holy Ghost,
As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be
World without end. Amen
SONG: O GOD OF EARTH AND ALTAR
Artist: Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge
Words/Music: G K Chesterton/Trad arr Ralph Vaughan Williams
Recording: Conifer 51249
O God of earth and altar,
bow down and hear our cry,
our earthly rulers falter,
our people drift and die;
the walls of gold entomb us,
the swords of scorn divide,
take not thy thunder from us,
but take away our pride.
From all that terror teaches,
from lies of tongue and pen,
from all the easy speeches
that comfort cruel men,
from sale and profanation
of honour and the sword,
from sleep and from damnation,
deliver us, good Lord!
Tie in a living tether
the prince and priest and thrall,
bind all our lives together,
smite us and save us all;
in ire and exultation
aflame with faith, and free,
lift up a living nation,
a single sword to thee.
SONG: COME DOWN, O LOVE DIVINE
Artist: Choir of Wells Cathedral, Malcolm Archer (dir), Rupert Gough (organ)
Words/Music: Bianco da Siena/Ralph Vaughan Williams
Recording: Griffin GCCD 4010
Come down, O love divine,
seek thou this soul of mine,
And visit it with thine
own ardour glowing.
O comforter, draw near,
within my heart appear,
And kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.
Let holy charity
mine outward vesture be,
And lowliness
become mine inner clothing;
True lowliness of heart,
which takes the humbler part,
And o’er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.
And so the yearning strong,
with which the soul will long,
Shall far outpass the power
of human telling;
For none can guess its grace,
till he become the place
Wherein the Holy Spirit makes his dwelling.
SONG: ETERNAL FATHER, STRONG TO SAVE
Artist: Choir and Congregation of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, Gordon St John Clarke (dir)
Words/Music: William Whiting/John Dykes
Label: Abbey 280826
Eternal father, strong to save,
Whose arm doth bind the restless wave,
Who bids the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to thee,
For those in peril on the sea.
O Saviour, whose almighty word
The wind and waves submissive heard,
Who walkedst on the foaming deep,
And calm amid its rage did sleep:
O hear us when we cry to thee
For those in peril on the sea.
O Trinity of love and power,
Our brethren shield in danger's hour
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe'er they go:
And evermore shall rise to thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.
SONG: BE STILL, MY SOUL
Artist: Choir of Paisley Abbey, George McPhee (dir)
Words/Music: Katarina von Schlegel trans Jane Borthwick/Jean Sibelius
Recording: Decca 448684
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heav’nly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.
Be still, my soul: the hour is hast’ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
SONG: IN THE SWEET BY AND BY
Artist: Harvard University Choir
Words/Music: Sanford Bennet/Joseph Webster
Recording: Dallas Christian Sound DCS 2008
There's a land that is fairer than day,
and by faith we may see it afar;
for the Father waits over the way
to prepare us a dwelling place there.
Refrain:
In the sweet by and by,
we shall meet on that beautiful shore;
in the sweet by and by,
we shall meet on that beautiful shore.
We shall sing on that beautiful shore
the melodious songs of the blest,
and our spirits shall sorrow no more,
not a sigh for the blessing of rest.
Refrain:
To our bountiful Father above,
we will offer our tribute of praise
for the glorious gift of His love,
and the blessings that hallow our days.
Refrain:
SONG: GLORIOUS THINGS OF THEE ARE SPOKEN
Artist: Choir of Salisbury Cathedral
Words/Music: John Newton/Cyril Taylor
Recording: Priory 2013
Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God;
He whose word cannot be broken
formed thee for his own abode;
on the rock of ages founded,
what can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation's walls surrounded,
thou may'st smile at all thy foes.
See, the streams of living waters,
springing from eternal love,
well supply thy sons and daughters
and all fear of want remove.
Who can faint, when such a river
ever flows their thirst to assuage?
Grace which, like the Lord, the giver,
never fails from age to age.
Saviour, if of Sion's city,
I through grace a member am,
let the world deride or pity,
I will glory in thy name.
Fading is the worldling's pleasure,
all his boasted pomp and show;
solid joys and lasting treasure
none but Sion's children know.
