In Hymns on Sunday, we mark Waitangi Day with Shirley Murray's hymn God bless our land. And we wrap up our Summer Hymn Requests for the year: this week's listener favourites include a setting of Psalm 23 by New Zealand composer Dorothy Buchanan, there's a Welsh choir in fine voice, and a track from Van Morrison's 1991 album Hymns to the Silence.
Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral in Auckland - detail of stained glass window designed by Nigel Brown Photo: RNZ
SONG: GOD BLESS OUR LAND
Artist: Viva Voce, John Rosser (dir), Michael Bell (organ)
Words/Music: Shirley Murray/Barry Brinson
Recording: NZ Hymnbook Trust 941300
God bless our land, in every generation,
God bless our people, growing as one nation,
God bless our islands, home and whenua,
Aotearoa, Aotearoa
God give us hope in common cause and caring,
each bringing treasures, baskets for the sharing,
grieving the wrongs of history no more –
Aotearoa, Aotearoa
God bless our land, its beauty and its blending
into communities of warm befriending,
proud in the cultures settled on our shore –
Aotearoa, Aotearoa
God bless the child whose feet are firmly planted
here in our place of freedoms daily granted,
seedbed and soil for peace and aroha –
Aotearoa, Aotearoa
SONG: REJOICE! THE LORD IS KING
Artist: Choir of Westminster Abbey, James O’Donnell (dir), Robert Quinney (organ)
Words/Music: C Wesley/Handel
Recording: Hyperion 712801
Rejoice, the lord is king!
Your lord and king adore;
Mortals give thanks and sing,
And triumph evermore;
Lift up your heart,
Lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
Jesus, the Saviour, reigns,
The God of truth and love;
When he had purged our stains,
He took his seat above;
Lift up your heart,
Lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
His kingdom cannot fail,
He rules o’er earth and heav’n;
The keys of death and hell
Are to our Jesus giv’n;
Lift up your heart,
Lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
He sits at God’s right hand
Till all his foes submit,
And bow to his command,
And fall beneath his feet:
Lift up your heart,
Lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
SONG: NOW THE GREEN BLADE RISETH
Artist: Choir of Ely Cathedral
Words/Music: Crum/Trad
Recording: Priory PRCD 703
Now the green blade riseth from the buried grain,
Wheat that in the dark earth many years hath lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead hath been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.
In the grave they laid Him, Love whom men had slain,
Thinking that never He would wake again,
Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.
O He came at Easter, like the risen grain,
He that for three days in the grave had lain;
Freed from the dead my risen Lord is seen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.
When our hearts are wintry, grieving or in pain,
Thy touch can call us back to life again;
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.
SONG: O CHRIST THE SAME
Artist: Llandaff Cathedral Choir
Words/Music: Dudley-Smith/Trad
Recording: Priory PRCD 719
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: MAKE ME A CAPTIVE, LORD
Artist: Scottish Festival Singers, Ian McCrorie (dir)
Words/Music: George Matheson/George Martin
Recording: Integrity Music
Make me a captive, Lord,
And then I shall be free.
Force me to render up my sword
And I shall conqueror be.
I sink in life's alarms
When by myself I stand;
Imprison me within thine arms,
And strong shall be my hand.
My heart is weak and poor
Until it master find;
It has no spring of action sure,
It varies with the wind.
It cannot freely move
Till thou hast wrought its chain;
Enslave it with thy matchless love,
And deathless it shall reign.
My pow'r is faint and low
Till I have learned to serve;
It lacks the needed fire to glow,
It lacks the breeze to nerve.
It cannot drive the world
Until itself be driv'n;
Its flag can only be unfurled
When thou shalt breathe from heav'n.
My will is not my own
Till thou hast made it thine;
If it would reach a monarch's throne,
It must its crown resign
It only stands unbent
Amid the clashing strife
When on thy bosom it has leant,
And found in thee its life.
SONG: THE LORD’S MY SHEPHERD
Artist: Woodford House Chapel Choir, Gary Bowler (dir)
Words/Music: Psalm 23/Dorothy Buchanan
Recording: KSP 93001
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me down to lie in pastures green: he leadeth me, the quiet waters by.
My soul He doth restore again, and me to walk doth make within the paths of righteousness e’en for His own name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through death’s dark vale, yet will I fear no ill: for thou art with me and thy rod and staff me comfort still.
Goodness and mercy all my life shall surely follow me: and in God’s house for evermore my dwelling place shall be.
SONG: TAMA NGAKAU MARIE
Artist: Hatea Kapa Haka Group, Whangareii
Music: Trad
Recording: Praise Be 2011
|
Tama ngākau mārie |
Son of peace |
SONG: BE THOU MY VISION
Artist: Van Morrison
Music: Anon trans Byrne, versified Hull/Trad arr Morrison
Recording: Polydor 849026
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
naught be all else to me, save that thou art;
thou my best thought in the day and the night,
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word;
I ever with thee, and thou with me, Lord;
thou my great Father: and I thy true son;
thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.
Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight;
be thou my armour, and be thou my might,
thou my soul's shelter, and thou my high tower:
raise thou me heavenward, O power of my power.
Riches I need not, nor man's empty praise,
thou mine inheritance, through all of my days:
thou, and thou only, the first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my treasure thou art.
High King of Heaven, when battle is done,
grant heaven’s joys to me, bright heaven's sun!
Christ of my own heart whatever befall,
still be my vision, O ruler of all.
SONG: GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH
Artist: Morriston Orpheus Choir
Music: Williams/Hughes
Recording: Hallmark 300822
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
hold me with thy powerful hand;
bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me now and evermore
feed me now and evermore.
Open now the crystal fountain,
whence the healing stream shall flow;
let the fiery, cloudy pillar
lead me all my journey through;
strong deliverer, strong deliverer,
be thou still my strength and shield
be thou still my strength and shield.
When I tread the verge of Jordan,
bid my anxious fears subside;
bear me through the swelling torrent,
land me safe on Canaan's side;
songs of praises, songs of praises,
I will ever give to thee
I will ever give to thee.
