When Sister Suzanne Toolan wrote I am the Bread of Life in the 1960s she almost threw the song away, thinking it wasn’t very good. Since then, it’s been sung all over the world in many denominations and in many languages. Hear it in Hymns on Sunday this week, along with other hymns celebrating the Feast of Corpus Christi.
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SONG: O WORSHIP THE KING
Artist: Choir of Westminster Abbey
Words/Music: Robert Grant/William Croft
Recording: Griffin 224018
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 splendour 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.
Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
and sweetly distils in the dew and the rain.
Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
in thee do we trust, not find thee to fail.
Thy mercies, how tender, how firm to the end,
our Maker, Defender, Redeemer and Friend!
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: LET ALL MORTAL FLESH KEEP SILENCE
Artist: Choir of Westminster Abbey, James O’Donnell (dir), Robert Quinney (organ)
Words/Music: Anon paraphrased Moultrie/Trad
Recording: Hyperion 712801
Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing in his hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.
King of kings, yet born of Mary,
as of old on earth he stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
in the body and the blood,
he will give to all the faithful
his own self for heavenly food.
Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the light of light descendeth
From the realms of endless day,
That the powers of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away.
At his feet the six wingèd seraph,
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the presence,
As with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia, Lord most high!
SONG: LET US BREAK BREAD TOGETHER
Artist: Choir of Yorkminster Park Baptist Church
Words/Music: Trad arr Dett
Recording: Marquis
Let us break bread together on our knees.
Let us break bread together on our knees.
Refrain:
When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.
Let us drink wine together on our knees.
Let us drink wine together on our knees.
Refrain:
Let us praise God together on our knees.
Let us praise God together on our knees.
Refrain:
SONG: I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE
Artist: Choir of All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Beverly Hills
Words/Music: Sister Suzanne Toolan
Recording: Gothic 349074
I am the bread of life.
they who come to me shall not hunger;
they who believe in me shall not thirst.
No one can come to me
unless the Father draw them.
Refrain:
And I will raise them up,
and I will raise them up,
and I will raise them up on the last day.
The bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world,
and they who eat of this bread,
they shall live for ever,
they shall live for ever.
Refrain:
I am the resurrection,
I am the life.
They who believe in me
even if they die,
they shall live for ever.
Refrain:
Yes, Lord, we believe
that you are the Christ,
the Son of God,
who has come
into the world.
Refrain: (x2)
SONG: O LOVE OF GOD, HOW STRONG AND TRUE
Artist: Choir of All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Beverly Hills
Words/Music: Horatius Bonar/Calvin Hampton
Recording: Gothic 349074
O love of God, how strong and true!
Eternal, and yet ever new;
Uncomprehended and unbought,
Beyond all knowledge and all thought.
O wide-embracing, wondrous love!
We read thee in the sky above,
We read thee in the earth below,
In seas that swell, and streams that flow.
We read thee best in Him who came
To bear for us the cross of shame;
Sent by the Father from on high,
Our life to live, our death to die.
We read thy power to bless and save,
E'en in the darkness of the grave;
Still more in resurrection light
We read the fullness of thy might.
SONG: HAIL, QUEEN OF HEAVEN, THE OCEAN STAR
Artist: Choirs of the Diocese of Leeds
Words/Music: Father John Lingard/Trad
Recording: Herald HAVPCD 397
Hail, Queen of Heav'n, the ocean Star,
Guide of the wand'rer here below!
Thrown on life's surge we claim thy care,
Save us from peril and from woe.
Mother of Christ, Star of the sea,
Pray for the wanderer, pray for me
O gentle, chaste, and spotless Maid,
We sinners make our prayers through thee
Remind thy Son that He has paid
The price of our iniquity.
Virgin most pure, Star of the sea,
Pray for the sinner, pray for me.
Sojourners in this vale of tears,
O thee, blest Advocate, we cry,
Pity our sorrows, calm our fears,
And soothe with hope our misery.
Refuge in grief, Star of the sea,
Pray for the mourner, pray for me.
And while to Him who reigns above,
In Godhead One, in Persons Three,
The source of life, of grace, of love,
Homage we pay on bended knee;
Do thou, bright Queen, Star of the sea.
Pray for thy children, pray for me.
SONG: OUR LIFE HAS ITS SEASONS
Artist: Festival Singers, Guy Jansen (dir)
Words/Music: Shirley Murray/Colin Gibson
Label: Festivity Productions FPCD 2007
Our life has its seasons, and God has the reasons
why spring follows winter, and new leaves grow,
for there's a connection with our resurrection
that flowers will bud after frost and snow.
Refrain:
So there's never a time to stop believing,
there's never a time for hope to die,
there's never a time to stop loving,
these three things go on.
There's a time to be planting, a time to be plucking,
a time to be laughing, a time to weep,
a time to be building, a time to be breaking,
a time to be waking, a time to sleep.
Refrain:
There's a time to be hurting, a time to be healing,
a time to be saving, a time to spend,
a time to be grieving, a time to be dancing,
a time for beginning, a time to end.
Refrain:
SONG: WHEN IN OUR MUSIC GOD IS GLORIFIED
Artist: Harvard University Choir
Words/Music: Fred Pratt Green/Charles Stanford
Label: HUC 2012
When in our music God is glorified,
and adoration leaves no room for pride,
it is as though the whole creation cried:
Alleluia!
How often, making music, we have found
a new dimension in the world of sound,
as worship moved us to a more profound
Alleluia!
So has the church, in spoken word and song,
in faith and love, through centuries of wrong,
borne witness to the truth in every tongue:
Alleluia!
And did not Jesus sing a psalm that night
when utmost evil strove against the light?
Then let us sing, for whom he won the fight:
Alleluia!
Let every instrument be tuned for praise!
Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise!
And may God give us faith to sing always:
Alleluia!
