Hymns of thankfulness today, including New Zealand composer Jenny McLeod's Thank you for the night and a particularly joyful recording of Now thank we all our God by the Huddersfield Choral Society.
Sunrise, Waikanae Beach, Gisborne Photo: Creative Commons / Ray Sheldrake
SONG: THANK YOU FOR THE NIGHT
Artist: Viva Voce, John Rosser (dir), Michael Bell (piano)
Words/Music: Jenny McLeod
Recording: NZ Hymnbook Trust 941300
Thank you for the night
that will bring us the dawn,
Alleluia, bright is our Redeemer.
Thank you for the light
that reveals where we are,
Alleluia, kindly is our Comforter.
Thank you for the wind
when we open the door,
Alleluia, cleansing breath of God from afar.
Thank you for the sea
that surrounds and enfolds,
Alleluia, God our refuge and mother.
Thank you for the sky
when we lift up our heads,
Alleluia, high and free our Saviour.
Thank you for the earth
giving sweetness to all,
Alleluia, God our life, our sustainer.
SONG: CHRIST BE OUR LIGHT
Artist: Choirs of the Diocese of Leeds
Words/Music: Bernadette Farrell
Recording: Herald HAVPCD 397
Longing for light, we wait in darkness
Longing for truth, we turn to You.
Make us Your own, Your holy people
Light for the world to see.
Refrain:
Christ, be our light!
Shine in our hearts.
Shine through the darkness.
Christ, be our light!
Shine in Your church gathered today.
Longing for peace, our world is troubled
Longing for hope, many despair.
Your word alone has pow'r to save us.
Make us your living voice.
Refrain:
Longing for food, many are hungry
Longing for water, many still thirst.
Make us Your bread, broken for others
Shared until all are fed.
Refrain:
Many the gift, many the people
Many the hearts that yearn to belong.
Let us be servants to one another
Making Your kingdom come.
Refrain:
SONG: SIYAHAMBA (WE ARE WALKING IN THE LIGHT OF GOD)
Artist: American Spiritual Ensemble
Words/Music: Anon
Recording: American Spiritual Ensemble 2009
Siyahamb’ ekukhanyen’ kwenkhos’,
siyahamb’ ekukhanyen’ kwenkhos’.
Siyahamb’ ekukhanyen’ kwenkhos’,
siyahamb’ ekukhanyen’ kwenkhos’.
Siyahamba,
Siyahamb’ ekukhanyen’ kwenkhos’.
Siyahamba,
Siyahamb’ ekukhanyen’ kwenkhos'.
We are marching in the light of God,
we are marching in the light of God.
We are marching in the light of God,
we are marching in the light of God.
We are marching,
We are marching in the light of God.
We are marching,
We are marching in the light of God.
SONG: DEAR LORD AND FATHER OF MANKIND
Artist: Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Words/Music: Whittier/Parry
Recording: EMI 948306
Dear Lord and father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise,
In deeper reverence, praise.
In simple trust like theirs who heard,
Beside the Syrian sea,
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word,
Rise up and follow thee,
Rise up and follow thee.
Drop thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of thy peace,
The beauty of thy peace.
Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and thy balm,
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire,
O still small voice of calm,
O still small voice of calm!
SONG: PSALM 111 (I WILL GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD WITH MY WHOLE HEART)
Artist: Choir of Westminster Abbey, Martin Neary (dir), Andrew Lumsden (organ)
Words/Music: Psalm 111/Neary
Recording: Virgin 545036
I will give thanks unto the Lord with my whole heart
secretly among the faithful, and in the congregation.
The works of the Lord are great
sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.
His work is worthy to be praised, and had in honour
and his righteousness endureth for ever.
The merciful and gracious Lord hath so done his marvellous works
that they ought to be had in remembrance.
He hath given meat unto them that fear him
he shall ever be mindful of his covenant.
He hath showed his people the power of his works
that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.
The works of his hands are verity and judgement
all his commandments are true.
They stand fast for ever and ever
and are done in truth and equity.
He sent redemption unto his people
he hath commanded his covenant for ever; holy and reverend is his Name.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
a good understanding have all they that do thereafter; the praise of it endureth for ever.
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: FATHER, WE THANK THEE WHO HAS PLANTED
Artist: Choir of Ely Cathedral, Paul Trepte (dir), Scott Farrell (organ)
Words/Music: Tucker/Bourgeois
Recording: Priory PRCD 703
Father, we thank Thee who hast planted
Thy holy Name within our hearts.
Knowledge and faith and life immortal
Jesus Thy Son to us imparts.
Thou, Lord, didst make all for Thy pleasure,
didst give man food for all his days,
giving in Christ the Bread eternal;
Thine is the pow'r, be Thine the praise.
Watch o'er Thy church, O Lord, in mercy,
save it from evil, guard it still.
Perfect it in Thy love, unite it,
cleansed and conformed unto Thy will.
As grain, once scattered on the hillsides,
was in this broken bread made one,
so from all lands Thy church be gathered
into Thy kingdom by Thy Son.
SONG: O THE DEEP, DEEP LOVE OF JESUS
Artist: Choir of Hereford Cathedral
Words/Music: Francis/Thomas
Recording: Griffin GCCD 4060
O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
vast, unmeasured, boundless, free,
rolling as a mighty ocean
in its fullness over me.
Underneath me, all around me,
is the current of Thy love;
leading onward, leading homeward
to my glorious rest above.
O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth,
changeth never, nevermore!
How He watcheth o'er His loved ones,
died to call them all His own;
how for them He intercedeth,
watcheth o'er them from the throne.
Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Love of every love the best:
vast the ocean of his blessing,
sweet the haven of his rest!
Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus,
very heaven of heavens to me,
and it lifts me up to glory,
evermore his face to see.
SONG: NOW THANK WE ALL OUR GOD
Artist: Huddersfield Choral Society
Words/Music: Rinkart trans Winkworth/Kruger
Recording: Signum Records 2006
Now thank we all our God
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done,
in whom his world rejoices;
who from our mothers' arms
has blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us,
to keep us in his grace,
and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills
of this world in the next.
All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given,
the Son and Spirit blest,
who reign in highest heaven
the one eternal God,
whom heaven and earth adore;
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.
