Holy Spirit window, Christ the King Catholic Church (Ann Arbor, Michigan) Photo: Wikimedia Commons
This week's selection of traditional and modern hymns begins with two settings of Psalm 104, there are hymns with a Welsh connection, and you can hear a beautiful rendition of the spiritual There is a balm in Gilead, sung by the 1984 New Zealand Youth Choir
SONG: O WORSHIP THE KING
Artist: Choir of Norwich Cathedral, David Dunnett (dir), Katherine Dienes (organ)
Words/Music: Grant/Croft
Recording: QED 276
O worship the King all-glorious above,
O gratefully sing his power and his love:
our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.
O tell of his might and sing of his grace,
whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
and dark is his path on the wings of the storm.
The earth with its store of wonders untold,
Almighty, thy power hath founded of old;
hath stablished it fast by a changeless decree,
and round it hath cast, like a mantle, the sea.
O measureless might! Ineffable love!
While angels delight to hymn thee above,
Thy humbler creation, though feeble their lays,
With true adoration shall all sing thy praise.
SONG: PSALM 104, PRAISE THE LORD
Artist: Choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge, David Rowland (dir), Alexander Miller (tenor), Simon Jacobs (organ)
Words/Music: Psalm 104/Dom Gregory Murray
Recording: Priory PRCH 721
Response:
Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.
Praise the Lord O my soul,
O Lord God, your glory is great:
how manifold are your works,
in wisdom you have made them all.
Response:
All creatures look to you
to give them their food to eat:
when you open your hands, they are filled with good,
when you hide your face, they pine away.
Response:
When you take away their breath, they die,
and return to the earth whence they came:
when you send forth your spirit, all things spring to life,
and the face of the earth is renewed.
Response:
The glory of the Lord shall never cease,
the Lord shall rejoice in all his works:
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live,
I will praise my God while my breath remains.
Response:
SONG: LOVE DIVINE, ALL LOVES EXCELLING
Artist: Choir of Westminster Abbey, James O’Donnell (dir), Robert Quinney (organ)
Words/Music: C Wesley/Rowlands
Recording: Hyperion 712801
Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven, to earth come down,
fix in us thy humble dwelling;
all thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesu, thou art all compassion;
pure, unbounded love thou art;
visit us with thy salvation;
enter every trembling heart.
Come, Almighty, to deliver;
let us all thy life receive;
suddenly return, and never,
nevermore thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
serve thee as thy hosts above,
pray, and praise thee without ceasing,
glory in thy perfect love.
Finish then thy new creation;
pure and spotless let us be;
let us see thy great salvation
perfectly restored in thee:
changed from glory into glory,
till in heaven we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before thee,
lost in wonder, love, and praise.
SONG: GOD IS LOVE, LET HEAV’N ADORE HIM
Artist: Choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge, David Rowland (dir), Simon Jacobs (organ)
Words/Music: Rees/Caesar
Recording: Priory PRCD 721
God is love: let heaven adore him;
God is love: let earth rejoice;
let creation sing before him,
and exalt him with one voice.
He who laid the earth's foundation,
he who spread the heavens above,
he who breathes through all creation,
he is love eternal love.
God is love, and is enfolding
all the world in one embrace;
with unfailing grasp is holding
every child of every race;
and when human hearts are breaking
under sorrow's iron rod,
that same sorrow, that same aching
wrings with pain the heart of God,
God is love: and though with blindness
sin afflicts and clouds the will,
God's eternal loving-kindness
holds us fast and guides us still.
Sin and death and hell shall never
o'er us final triumph gain;
God is love, so Love for ever
o'er the universe must reign.
SONG: THERE IS A BALM IN GILEAD
Artist: National Youth Choir of New Zealand (1984), Peter Godfrey (dir), Jennifer Moss (soprano)
Words/Music: Trad
Recording: RNZ 811
Refrain:
There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole,
there is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin-sick soul.
Sometimes I feel discouraged
and think my work's in vain,
but then the Holy Spirit
revives my soul again.
Refrain:
If you cannot preach like Peter,
if you cannot pray like Paul,
you can tell the love of Jesus
and say, "He died for all."
Refrain:
SONG: FAIREST LORD JESUS
Artist: Choir of Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington
Composer: Anon/Trad
Label: Private CD 812
Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all creation,
Jesus our God and man the Son,
thee will I cherish, thee will I honour,
o thou, my soul's delight and crown!
Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
robed in the verdure and bloom of spring:
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
he makes the saddest heart to sing.
Fair are the flowers, fairer still the sons of men,
In all the freshness of youth arrayed.
Yet is their beauty, fading and fleeting,
Thine Jesus Thine will never fade.
SONG: O GOD, YOU SEARCH ME AND YOU KNOW ME
Artist: Choir of Wells Cathedral, Malcolm Archer (dir), Rupert Gough (organ)
Words/Music: Bernadette Farrell
Recording: Hyperion 112105
O God, you search me and you know me
All my thoughts lie open to your gaze
When I walk or lie down you are before me:
Ever the maker and keeper of my days.
You know my resting and my rising
You discern my purpose from afar
And with love everlasting you besiege me:
In ev'ry moment of life or death, you are.
Before a word is on my tongue, Lord,
You have known its meaning through and through.
You are with me beyond my understanding:
God of my present, my past and future, too.
Although your Spirit is upon me,
Still I search for shelter from your light.
There is nowhere on earth I can escape you:
Even the darkness is radiant in your sight.
For you created me and shaped me,
Gave me life within my mother's womb.
For the wonder of who I am, I praise you:
Safe in your hands, all creation is made new.
SONG: BREATHE ON ME, BREATH OF GOD
Artist: Choir of Wells Cathedral, Malcolm Archer (dir), Rupert Gough (organ)
Words/Music: Hatch/Lockhart
Recording: Hyperion 112105
Breathe on me, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
that I may love the way you love,
and do what you would do.
Breathe on me, Breath of God,
until my heart is pure,
until my will is one with yours,
to do and to endure.
Breathe on me, Breath of God,
so shall I never die,
but live with you the perfect life
for all eternity.
SONG: FILL THOU MY LIFE
Artist: Scottish Festival Singers
Composer: Bonar/Haweis
Label: EMI CMG
Fill thou my life, O Lord my God,
In ev'ry part with praise,
That my whole being may proclaim
Thy being and thy ways.
Not for the lip of praise alone,
Nor e'en the praising heart,
I ask, but for a life made up
Of praise in ev'ry part;
Praise in the common things of life,
Its goings out and in,
Praise in each duty and each deed,
However small and mean.
Fill ev'ry part of me with praise;
Let all my being speak
Of thee and of they love, O Lord,
Poor though I be, and weak.
So shalt thou, Lord, from me, e'en me,
Receive the glory due,
And so shall I begin on earth
The song for ever new.
So shall no part of day or night
From sacredness be free:
But all my life, in ev'ry step,
Be fellowship with thee.
