Hymns

Carols for the Fourth Sunday in Advent include Poverty Carol, It came upon a midnight clear, and New Zealand hymn writer Shirley Murray’s Star-child, earth-child. Audio

Rejoice! It's Gaudete Sunday, the Third Sunday in Advent (Gaudete is 'rejoice' in Latin). Hymns include Tell out my soul, and New Zealand carols From Pastures Green and Pohutukawa Carol. Audio

Hymns for the Second Sunday of Advent include Shirley Murray's Look toward Christmas! and Hail to the Lord's anointed. Audio

The season of Advent begins today – a time of waiting and expectation leading up to Christmas. Sing along to favourite Advent hymns including O come, Emmanuel and Come, thou long-expected Jesus. Audio

Christ the King Sunday is a 20th century addition to the church calendar, introduced by Pope Pius XI in the 1920s. We're marking it today with hymns including Rejoice! the Lord is King and Lord,… Audio

Marking World Day of the Poor in Hymns on Sunday this week. Pope Francis established this day in the Catholic liturgical calendar in 2017 - a Sunday set aside to reflect on how poverty is at the very… Audio

We're featuring evening hymns this week, there's a setting of Psalm 23 (probably the most frequently set of all the psalm), and a hymn that nearly ended up in little pieces in the rubbish bin. Audio

Marking the Feast of All Saints today with William Walsham How's great hymn For All the Saints. Audio

Hymns by Charles Wesley feature in this week's programme. Nicknamed 'the Bard of Methodism', he wrote thousands of hymns throughout his life. Audio

Marking World Mission Sunday this week with hymns including We have a gospel to proclaim, and Who’ll be a witness for my Lord. Audio

An atmospheric recording of Psalm 23 this week, along with some hymns given 'the Vaughan Williams touch'. The English composer (born on 12 October 1872 in the village of Down Ampney) was music editor… Audio

“Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee”, writes Reginald Heber in his well-loved hymn, Holy, holy, holy. Sing along in this week’s programme. Audio

New Zealand hymn writer Shirley Erena Murray’s life and work is celebrated in a new biography by Anne Manchester: Peace is Her Song. You can hear hymns by Shirley Murray in this week’s programme. Audio

Celebrate Te Wiki o te Reo Māori this week with a selection of hymns from Hīmene Māori - a project to document, record, and publish Māori hymns and waiata. Audio

It’s hymns ancient and modern this week. We’ve a setting of Hail, gladdening light (a hymn from the 3rd or 4th century), and In You we live – a 21^st century hymn written by Sue Mepham from Flagstaff… Audio

Celebrating the beginning of the Season of Creation today with hymns including How great thou art, For the beauty of the earth, and Shirley Murray’s Touch the earth lightly. Audio

Hymns from across the centuries this week, from Bernard of Clairvaux's 12th century poetry to NZ hymn writer Jocelyn Marshall's God of Ages written for a Millennium hymn competition. Audio

Church musician William Shrubsole is best known for the hymn tune ‘Miles Lane’. He was a “one tune man”, wrote composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, but what a “superb” tune it was. You can hear it set to… Audio

It's a 21^st century classic to begin this week’s programme: In Christ Alone, written by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty in 2001. Audio

It's straight in with the big tunes today - Arthur Grimshaw's hymn Sing to the Lord a joyful song, to the tune 'Jerusalem' by Hubert Parry. Audio