In today's programme you can hear 'one of the most perfect tunes in existence', according to English composer Hubert Parry, as well as hymns by the very fine NZ hymn-writing partnership of Shirley Murray and Jillian Bray.
Aokautere Community Church Photo: Robyn Jaquiery
SONG: O WORSHIP THE KING
Artist: Choir of St Paul’s Cathedral
Words/Music: Grant/Croft
Recording: Helios CDH 88036
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: CHRIST IS ALIVE
Artist: Choir of St Peter’s Church, Takapuna
Words/Music: Shirley Murray/Jillian Bray
Recording: Private
Christ is alive, and the universe must celebrate,
and the stars and the suns shout on this Easter Day!
Christ is alive, and his family must celebrate
in a great alleluia,
a great alleluia
to praise the power that made the stone roll away.
Here is our hope: in the mystery of suffering
is the heartbeat of Love, Love that will not let go,
here is our hope, that in God we are not separate,
and we sing alleluia,
we sing alleluia
to praise the power that made the stone roll away.
Christ Spirit, dance through the dullness of humanity
to the music of God, God who has set us free!
You are the pulse of the new creation's energy;
with a great alleluia,
a great alleluia
to praise the power that made the stone roll away.
SONG: WHERE THE LIGHT OF EASTER DAY
Artist: Viva Voce, John Rosser (dir), Michael Bell (organ)
Words/Music: Shirley Murray/Jillian Bray
Recording: NZ Hymnbook Trust 941300
Where the light of Easter Day
shines through our life, then faith can say,
Christ is living,
Christ is moving,
Christ is changing all the world.
Here is God's good kingdom!
Where a child can grow in trust,
where there is joy that powers are just,
Christ is living,
Christ is moving,
Christ will color all the world.
Here is God's good kingdom!
Where the harvests ripen in peace,
where all the sounds of gunfire cease,
Christ is living,
Christ is moving,
Christ is healing in the world.
Here is God's good kingdom!
Where the Spirit's flame burns bright,
where there is health and truth and light,
Christ is living
Christ is moving,
Christ will resurrect the world.
Here is God's good kingdom!
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: FATHER OF EVERLASTING GRACE
Artist: St Michael’s Singers of Coventry Cathedral
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: AMAZING GRACE
Artist: Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Words/Music: Newton/Trad arr Edwin Excell
Recording: Bonneville 519602
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound.
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found.
Was blind but now I see.
Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved:
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun.
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound.
SONG: YE THAT KNOW THE LORD IS GRACIOUS
Artist: Choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge
Words/Music: Alington/Parry
Recording: Priory PRCD 721
Ye who know the Lord is gracious,
Ye for whom a Cornerstone
Stands, of God elect and precious,
Laid that you may build thereon,
See that on that sure foundation
Ye a living temple raise,
Towers that may tell forth salvation,
Walls that may re-echo praise.
Living stones, by God appointed
Each to an allotted place,
Kings and priests, by God anointed,
Shall you not declare his grace?
Ye, a royal generation,
Tell the tidings of your birth,
Tidings of a new creation
To an old and weary earth.
Tell the praise of him who called you
Out of darkness into light,
Broke the fetters that enthralled you,
Gave you freedom, peace, and sight;
Tell a tale of sins forgiven,
Strength renewed, and hope restored,
Till the earth, in tune with heaven,
Praise and magnify the Lord.
SONG: THE PEACE OF GOD
Artist: Cambridge Singers, City of London Sinfonia, John Rutter (conductor)
Words/Music: Book of Common Prayer/Rutter
Recording: Collegium CSCD 522
The peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God,
and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord:
and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
be amongst you and remain with you always.
Amen.
