15 Jan 2017

Hymns on Sunday, 15 January 2017

From Hymns on Sunday, 7:30 am on 15 January 2017

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A selection of traditional and modern hymns. This week's Summer Requests programme includes several hymns by the great Methodist hymn writer Charles Wesley: Father of everlasting grace, And can it be, and O thou who camest from above in an arrangement be saxophonist Christian Forshaw.

Clouds

Clouds Photo: Maliz Ong, Public Domain

SONG: LO, HE COMES WITH CLOUDS DESCENDING

Artist: Choir of All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Beverly Hills, Thomas Foster (dir), Craig Phillips (organ)
Words/Music: C Wesley/Arne
Recording: Gothic 349074

Lo, he comes, with clouds descending,
once for our salvation slain;
thousand thousand saints attending
swell the triumph of his train:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Christ the Lord returns to reign.

Ev'ry eye shall now behold him
robed in glorious majesty;
those who set at nought and sold him,
pierced and nailed him to the tree,
deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing
shall their true Messiah see.

Those dear tokens of his Passion
still his dazzling body bears,
cause of endless exultation
to his ransomed worshippers.
with what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture
gaze we on those glorious scars!

Yea, amen, let all adore thee,
High on thine eternal throne;
Saviour, take the pow'r and glory,
Claim the kingdom for thine own.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou shalt reign, and thou alone!

SONG: FATHER OF EVERLASTING GRACE

Artist: St Michael’s Singers, Coventry, Paul Leddington-Wright (dir)
Words/Music: C Wesley/Norton
Recording: Kingsway KMCD 583

Father of everlasting grace,
Thy goodness and Thy truth we praise,
Thy goodness and Thy truth we prove;
Thou hast, in honor of Thy Son,
The gift unspeakable sent down,
The Spirit of life, and power and love.

Send us the Spirit of Thy Son,
To make the depths of Godhead known,
To make us share the life divine;
Send Him the sprinkled blood to apply,
Send Him our souls to sanctify,
And show and seal us ever Thine.

So shall we pray, and never cease;
So shall we thankfully confess
Thy wisdom, truth, and power, and love;
With joy unspeakable adore,
And bless and praise Thee evermore,
And serve Thee as Thy hosts above:

Till, added to that heavenly choir,
We raise our songs of triumph higher,
And praise Thee in a nobler strain,
Out-soar the first-born seraph’s flight,
And sing, with all our friends in light,
Thy everlasting love to man.

SONG: HOW CAN I KEEP FROM SINGING

Artist: Con Anima (St Patrick’s College, Wellington), Roger Powdrell (dir). Lance Mundy (piano)
Words/Music: Anon/Lowry
Recording: Private 1469

My life flows on in endless song;
Above earth’s lamentation
I hear the sweet though far off hymn
That hails a new creation:
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing;
It finds an echo in my soul –
How can I keep from singing?

What though my joys and comforts die?
The Lord my Saviour liveth;
What though the darkness gather round!
Songs in the night He giveth:
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that refuge clinging;
Since Christ is Lord of Heav’n and earth,
How can I keep from singing?

I lift mine eyes; the cloud grows thin;
I see the blue above it;
And day by day this pathway smoothes
Since first I learned to love it:
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
A fountain ever springing:
All things are mine since I am His –
How can I keep from singing?

SONG: O THOU WHO CAMEST FROM ABOVE

Artist: Grace Davidson (sop), Christian Forshaw (sax), Steve Lodder (organ), Ian Cape (percussion)
Words/Music: C Wesley/SS Wesley
Recording: Integra Records 1001

O thou who camest from above
the fire celestial to impart,
kindle a flame of sacred love
on the mean altar of my heart!

Still let me prove thy perfect will,
my acts of faith and love repeat;
till death thy endless mercies seal,
and make the sacrifice complete.

SONG: GOD BE IN MY HEAD

Artist: Clare College Chapel Choir, Cambridge, Timothy Brown (dir)
Words/Music: Anon/Davies
Recording: Guild 547109

God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in mine eyes, and in my looking;
God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;
God be in my heart, and in my thinking;
God be at mine end, and at my departing.

SONG: O CHRIST THE SAME

Artist: Choir of Portsmouth Cathedral
Words/Music: 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: CHRISTIAN, DOST THOU SEE THEM

Artist: Choir of Newcastle Cathedral
Words/Music: St Andrew of Crete trans J M Neale/Sohren
Recording: Priory PRCD 720

Christian, dost thou see them
on the holy ground,
how the troops of Midian
prowl and prowl around?
Christian, up and smite them,
counting gain but loss,
smite them by the merit
of the holy cross.

Christian, dost thou feel them,
how they work within,
striving, tempting, luring,
goading into sin?
Christian, never tremble;
never be downcast;
gird thee for the battle,
watch and pray and fast.

Hear the words of Jesus:
"O my servant true:
thou art very weary -
I was weary too;
but that toil shall make thee
some day all mine own,
and the end of sorrow
shall be near my throne."

SONG: AND CAN IT BE

Artist: Choir of Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, Catherine Palmer (dir), Ronald Jordan (organ)
Words/Music: C Wesley/Campbell
Recording: Marquis 181175
And can it be that I should gain
An int'rest in the Savior's blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? [Repeat last two lines]

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth and followed Thee. [Repeat last two lines]

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th'eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own. [Repeat last two lines]

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