Sunday, 28 September 2014
Baptism of Christ - Piero della Francesca (National Gallery, London)
SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
SONG: HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
Artist: Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Words/Music: Heber/Dykes
Recording: Argo 414609
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee;
holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
who wert and art and evermore shalt be.
Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye made blind by sin thy glory may not see,
only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
perfect in power, in love, and purity.
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea;
holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
SONG: PRAISE GOD, FOR HE IS KIND
Artist: Scottish Philharmonic Singers
Words/Music: Anon/Croft
Recording: Abbey 282830
Praise God, for he is kind:
His mercy lasts for aye.
Give thanks with heart and mind
To God of gods alway:
For certainly
His mercies dure
Most firm and sure
Eternally.
The Lord of lords praise ye,
Whose mercies still endure.
Great wonders only he
Doth work by his great pow’r
For certainly
His mercies dure
Most firm and sure
Eternally.
Which God omnipotent,
By might and wisdom high,
The heav’n and firmament
Did frame, as we may see:
For certainly
His mercies dure
Most firm and sure
Eternally.
Who hath remembered
Us in our low estate;
And us delivered
From foes which did us hate:
For certainly
His mercies dure
Most firm and sure
Eternally.
SONG: MY FAITH LOOKS UP TO THEE
Artist: Norwich Cathedral Choir
Words/Music: Palmer/Mason
Recording: Priory PRCD 705
My faith looks up to thee,
thou Lamb of Calvary,
Saviour divine!
Now hear me while I pray;
take all my guilt away;
O let me from this day
be wholly thine!
May thy rich grace impart
strength to my fainting heart,
my zeal inspire;
as thou hast died for me,
O may my love to thee
pure, warm, and changeless be,
a living fire!
While life’s dark maze I tread
and griefs around me spread,
be thou my guide;
bid darkness turn to day;
wipe sorrow’s tears away;
nor let me ever stray
from thee aside.
When ends life’s transient dream,
when death’s cold, sullen stream
shall o’er me roll;
blest Savior, then, in love,
fear and distrust remove;
O bear me safe above,
a ransomed soul!
SONG: NEARER MY GOD TO THEE (instrumental version)
Artist: I Salonist
Words/Music: Adams/Mason
Recording: London 458 382
Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
still all my song shall be,
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
yet in my dreams I'd be
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
There let the way appear, steps unto heaven;
all that thou sendest me, in mercy given;
angels to beckon me
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
SONG: HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS SOUNDS
Artist: Choir of Ely Cathedral
Words/Music: Newton/Reinagle
Recording: Priory PRCD 703
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.
It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
’Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary, rest.
Dear name, the rock on which I build,
My shield and hiding place,
My never failing treasury, filled
With boundless stores of grace!
Jesus! my shepherd, husband, friend,
My prophet, priest and king,
My lord, my life, my way, my end,
Accept the praise I bring.
Weak is the effort of my heart,
And cold my warmest thought;
But when I see thee as thou art,
I’ll praise thee as I ought.
Till then I would thy love proclaim
With every fleeting breath,
And may the music of thy name
Refresh my soul in death!
SONG: THERE’S A WIDENESS IN GOD’S MERCY
Artist: Choir of Wells Cathedral
Words/Music: Faber/Bevan
Label: Hyperion 112105
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in his justice,
Which is more than liberty.
There is no place where earth’s sorrows
Are more felt than up in heaven;
There is no place where earth’s failings
Have such kindly judgment given.
For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of man’s mind;
And the heart of the eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.
But we make his love too narrow
By false limits of our own;
And we magnify his strictness
With a zeal he will not own.
There is plentiful redemption
In the blood that has been shed;
There is joy for all the members
In the sorrows of the head.
There is grace enough for thousands
Of new worlds as great as this;
There is room for fresh creations
In that upper home of bliss.
If our love were but more simple,
We should take him at his word;
And our lives would be all goodness
In the joy of Christ our Lord.
SONG: ALL PEOPLE THAT ON EARTH DO DWELL
Artist: Choir of Westminster Abbey
Words/Music: Kethe/Bourgeois
Label: EMI 948 306
All people that on earth do dwell,
sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;
him serve with mirth, his praise forth tell.
Come ye before him and rejoice.
Know that the Lord is God indeed;
without our aid he did us make;
we are his folk; he doth us feed,
and for his sheep he doth us take.
O enter then his gates with praise;
approach with joy his courts unto;
praise, laud, and bless his name always,
for it is seemly so to do.
For why? The Lord our God is good;
his mercy is forever sure;
his truth at all times firmly stood,
and shall from age to age endure.