1 May 2022

Hymns on Sunday, 1 May 2022

From Hymns on Sunday, 4:15 am on 1 May 2022

Beekeeper, comic opera composer and professor of anatomy: just some of the interesting occupations of the people involved in this week’s selection of hymns.

No caption

Photo: Unsplash

SONG: THIS JOYFUL EASTERTIDE

Artist: Choir of Manchester Cathedral
Words/Music: George Woodward/Trad
Recording: Priory PRCD 718

This joyful Eastertide,
away with care and sorrow!
My love, the crucified,
hath sprung to life this morrow.

Refrain:
Had Christ, that once was slain,
ne'er burst his three-day prison,
our faith had been in vain;
but now is Christ arisen,
arisen, arisen, arisen.

My flesh in hope shall rest
and for a season slumber
till trump from east to west
shall wake the dead in number.

Death's flood hath lost its chill,
since Jesus crossed the river:
Lover of souls, from ill
my passing soul deliver.
Refrain:

SONG: ALLELUIA! ALLELUIA! HEARTS TO HEAV’N

Artist: Choir of Wells Cathedral, Malcolm Archer (dir), Rupert Gough (organ)
Words/Music: Christopher Wordsworth/Arthur Sullivan
Recording: Hyperion 112102

Alleluia, alleluia!
Hearts to heav'n and voices raise;
sing to God a hymn of gladness,
sing to God a hymn of praise:
he who on the cross a victim
for the world's salvation bled—
Jesus Christ, the King of Glory,
now is risen from the dead.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!
Death at last has met defeat:
see the ancient pow'rs of evil
in confusion and retreat;
once he died, and once was buried:
now he lives forevermore,
Jesus Christ, the world's Redeemer,
whom we worship and adore.

Alleluia, alleluia!
Glory be to God on high:
alleluia to the Savior
who has gained the victory;
alleluia to the Spirit,
fount of love and sanctity!
Alleluia, alleluia
to the triune Majesty!

SONG: THE GOD OF LOVE MY SHEPHERD IS

Artist: Choir of Truro Cathedral, Andrew Nethsingha (dir), Christopher Gray (organ)
Words/Music: Psalm 23 paraphrased Herbert/attrib Collignon
Recording: Priory PRCD 710

The God of love my Shepherd is,
And He that doth me feed;
While He is mine and I am His,
What can I want or need?

He leads me to the tender grass,
Where I both feed and rest;
Then to the streams that gently pass:
In both I have the best.

Or if I stray, He doth convert,
And bring my mind in frame,
And all this not for my desert,
But for His holy name.

Yea, in death’s shady black abode
Well may I walk, not fear;
For Thou art with me, and Thy rod
To guard, Thy staff to bear.

Surely Thy sweet and wondrous love
Shall measure all my days;
And as it never shall remove
So neither shall my praise.

SONG: IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE

Artist: Huddersfield Choral Society
Words/Music: Walter Smith/Trad adapted Roberts
Recording: EMI 746202

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
in light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might:
thy justice, like mountains high soaring above;
thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all, life thou givest, to both great and small.
In all life thou livest, the true life of all.
We blossom and flourish like leaves on the tree,
then wither and perish; but naught changeth thee.

Great Father of Glory, pure Father of Light,
Thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
All laud we would render: O help us to see
‘Tis only the splendour of light hideth thee.

SONG: COME, THOU FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING

Artist: Harvard University Choir
Words/Music: Robert Robinson/Wyeth or Nettleton
Recording: HUC 2012

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of God's unchanging love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let that grace now like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

SONG: I HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS SAY

Artist: Scottish Festival Singers
Words/Music: Horatius Bonar/John Dykes
Recording: Whole World Media Group 2014

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto me and rest;
lay down, O weary one, lay down
your head upon my breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
so weary, worn, and sad;
I found him in a resting place,
and he has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold, I freely give
the living water, thirsty one;
stoop down and drink and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
of that life-giving stream;
my thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
and now I live in him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s light;
look unto me, your morn shall rise,
and all your day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
in him my star, my sun;
and in that light of life I’ll walk
till travelling days are done.

SONG: HOPE IS OUR SONG

Artist: Viva Voce, John Rosser (dir), Michael Bell (piano)
Words/Music: Shirley Murray/Barry Brinson
Recording: NZ Hymnbook Trust 941300

Refrain:
Nothing, nothing in all creation
can separate us from the love of God
.
Nothing, nothing in all creation
can separate us from the love of God.

This is our faith:
trouble may break us,
grief overtake us,
sickness and death,
this is our creed:
no place so distant
God is not present,
knowing our need,
Refrain:

Powers of our day,
angel and devil,
danger and evil
make their own play;
God's love is sure,
unseen but seeing
heart of our being,
comfort and cure,
Refrain:

Never alone,
though human error,
turmoil or terror
shake every bone,
hope is our song:
hope that is joyous,
born with Christ Jesus,
where we belong,
Refrain:

SONG: LORD OF ALL HOPEFULNESS

Artist: Choir of St Clement’s Church, Philadelphia
Words/Music: Jan Struther/Trad
Recording: Dorian 790259

Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy,
Whose trust, ever childlike,
no cares could destroy,
Be there at our waking,
and give us, we pray,
Your bliss in our hearts, Lord,
At the break of the day.

Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith,
Whose strong hands were skilled
at the plane and the lathe,
Be there at our labours
and give us, we pray,
Your strength in our hearts, Lord,
At the noon of the day.

Lord of all kindliness, Lord of all grace,
Your hands swift to welcome,
Your arms to embrace.
Be there at our homing,
and give us, we pray,
Your love in our hearts, Lord,
At the eve of the day.

Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm,
Whose voice is contentment,
whose presence is balm,
Be there at our sleeping,
and give us, we pray,
Your peace in our hearts, Lord,
At the end of the day.

SONG: FILL THOU MY LIFE

Artist: Sottish Festival Singers
Words/Music: Horatius Bonar/Thomas Haweis
Recording: Kingsway KMCD 2277

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.

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