We're straight in with the big tunes this week. Sing along to Hubert Parry's well-loved melody, Jerusalem, paired with words by Arthur Grimshaw: Sing to the Lord a joyful song.
Detail from the Ghent Altarpiece, by Jan van Eyck Photo: CC BY 2.0 / carulmare
SONG: SING TO THE LORD A JOYFUL SONG
Artist: Choir of Trinity College, University of Melbourne, Michael Leighton-Jones (dir)
Words/Music: Arthur Grimshaw/Hubert Parry
Recording: ABC 476509
Sing to the Lord a joyful song:
people of God give praise to him.
Your heart and soul to him belong:
With praises join the cherubim.
For God has saved us by his grace:
Abundant goodness he has shown.
So now let everyone praise the Lord:
With joyful heart surround his throne.
Praise him with trumpet’s stirring sound:
Praise him upon the lute and string.
With tuneful harp and cymbal loud
Your praises render to our King.
All creatures now with heart and mind
With lively dance and ringing voice
Sing out your praise to God our might,
and let us all in him rejoice.
SONG: GOD THAT MADEST EARTH AND HEAVEN
Artist: Choir of Trinity College, University of Melbourne, Michael Leighton-Jones (dir)
Words/Music: Reginald Heber, Richard Whatley/Trad arr Ralph Vaughan Williams
Recording: ABC 476509
God, that madest earth and heaven,
darkness and night,
who the day for toil has given,
for rest the night;
may thine angel-guards defend us,
slumber sweet thy mercy send us,
holy dreams and hope attend us,
this livelong night.
Guard us waking, guard us sleeping;
and, when we die,
may we in thy mighty keeping
all peaceful lie;
when the last dread call shall wake us,
do not thou our God forsake us,
but to reign in glory take us
with thee on high.
SONG: HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
Artist: Choir of Norwich Cathedral
Words/Music: Reginald Heber/John Dykes
Recording: QED QED276
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee;
holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
who wert and art and evermore shalt be.
Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye made blind by sin thy glory may not see,
only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
perfect in power, in love, and purity.
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea;
holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
SONG: JESUS, GOOD ABOVE ALL OTHER
Artist: Choir of St Edmundsbury Cathedral
Words/Music: Percy Dearmer/Trad
Recording: Priory PRCD 712
Jesus, good above all other,
gentle child of gentle mother,
in a stable born our brother,
give us grace to persevere.
Jesus, cradled in a manger,
for us facing every danger,
living as a homeless stranger,
make we thee our King most dear.
Jesus, for thy people dying,
risen Master, death defying,
Lord in heaven, thy grace supplying,
keep us to thy presence near.
Jesus, who our sorrows hearest,
all our thoughts and hopes thou sharest,
thou to us the truth declarest;
help us all thy truth to hear.
Lord, in all our doings guide us;
pride and hate shall ne'er divide us;
we'll go on with thee beside us,
and with joy we'll persevere.
SONG: LORD GOD OF MORNING, AND OF NIGHT
Artist: Harvard University Choir
Words/Music: Francis Palgrave/M Lee Suitor
Recording: HUC 2012
Lord God of morning and of night,
We thank Thee for Thy gift of light;
As in the dawn the shadows fly,
We seem to find Thee now more nigh.
Yet, whilst Thy will we would pursue
Oft what we would we cannot do
The sun may stand in zenith skies
But on the soul thick midnight lies
O Lord of lights, ‘tis Thou alone
Canst make our darkened hearts Thine own;
O then be with us, Lord, that we
In Thy great day may wake to Thee.
Praise God our Maker and our Friend;
Praise Him through time, till time shall end;
Till psalm and song His name adore
Through heavens great day of evermore.
SONG: PSALM 121
Artist: Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge
Words/Music: Psalm 121/Herbert Howells
Recording: Hyperion 712810
I will lift up my eyes unto the hills -
from whence cometh my help?
My help cometh from the Lord,
who hath made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot be moved;
and he that keepeth thee will not sleep.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord himself is thy keeper;
the Lord is thy defense upon thy right hand.
so that the sun shall not burn thee by day,
neither the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil;
yea, it is even he that shall keep thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in
from this time forth forevermore.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
SONG: O HAPPY BAND OF PILGRIMS
Artist: Choir of St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham
Composer: John Mason Neale, St Joseph the Hymnographer trans Neale/Knecht
Label: Priory 723
O happy band of pilgrims,
if onward ye will tread
with Jesus as your fellow
to Jesus as your head!
The cross that Jesus carried
he carried as your due:
the crown that Jesus weareth
he weareth it for you.
The faith by which ye see him,
the hope, in which ye yearn,
the love that through all troubles
to him alone will turn,--
What are they, but forerunners
to lead you to his sight?
What are they, save the effluence
of uncreated light?
O happy band of pilgrims,
look upward to the skies,
where such a light affliction
shall win so great a prize.
SONG: THE SERVANT SONG
Artist: Cape Town Youth Choir
Words/Music: Richard Gillard
Recording: CTYC 2019
Brother, let me serve you.
Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant, too.
We are pilgrims on a journey.
We are brothers on the road.
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.
I will hold the Christ-light for you
In the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you;
Speak the peace you long to hear.
I will weep when you are weeping.
When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we’ve seen this journey through.
When we sing to God in heaven,
We shall find such harmony
Born of all we’ve known together
Of Christ’s love and agony.
SONG: LIGHT OF THE LONELY PILGRIM’S HEART
Artist: Choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge, David Rowland (dir), Simon Jacobs (organ)
Words/Music: Denny/Stewart
Recording: Priory PRCD 721
Light of the lonely pilgrim's heart,
Star of the coming day,
Arise, and with Thy morning beams
Chase all our griefs away.
Bid the whole earth, responsive now
To the bright world above,
Break forth in rapturous strains of joy
In memory of Thy love.
Thine was the cross, with all its fruits
Of grace and peace Divine:
Be Thine the crown of glory now,
The palm of victory Thine.
See how they fair creation groans,
The sky, the earth, the sea,
In unison with all our heart,
And calls aloud for thee.
Come, blessed Lord, let every shore
And answering island sing
The praises of thy royal name,
And own thee as their king.
SONG: HE WHO WOULD VALIANT BE
Artist: Choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge, David Rowland (dir), Simon Jacobs (organ)
Words/Music: Bunyan, Dearmer/Trad arr Vaughan Williams
Recording: Priory PRCD 721
He who would valiant be
'Gainst all disaster,
Let him in constancy
Follow the Master.
There's no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent
To be a pilgrim.
Who so beset him round
With dismal stories,
Do but themselves confound
His strength the more is.
No foes shall stay his might,
Though he with giants fight;
He will make good his right
To be a pilgrim.
Since, Lord, thou dost defend
Us with thy Spirit
We know we at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then, fancies, flee away!
I'll fear not what men say,
I'll labour night and day
To be a pilgrim.
