Sing along this week to Shirley Murray's God bless our land, written especially to mark Waitangi Day.
Fern frond Photo: Ray Bilcliff from Pexels
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: GOD OF AGES
Artist: Viva Voce, John Rosser (dir), Michael Bell (organ)
Words/Music: Jocelyn Marshall/Christopher Marshall
Recording: NZ Hymnbook Trust 9413000
God of ages, times and seasons,
light that shines through all that lives,
yours the spirit which empowers,
yours the caring heart that gives
confidence to face the future,
strengthens faith when courage wanes,
challenges to new endeavours,
when we doubt, our hope sustains.
God of galaxies and planets
far beyond all human thought,
centuries, like pages turning,
are within your keeping brought.
You, the past that makes our present,
you the future still concealed,
yours the sacrificial giving,
boundless love through Christ revealed.
God, Creator, Holy Spirit,
Word made flesh in Christ, your Son
whose example we would follow
so that all might be as one –
ever loving, ever hopeful
of a world redeemed, restored;
people, by their faith united,
dedicated to their Lord.
God, the Alpha and Omega,
source of wisdom, life and breath,
you our highest motivation,
you the love that conquers death.
In past ages people sought you;
you are with us now as then.
In your hands we leave the future,
God, our ultimate Amen.
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 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: LIVING LORD (LORD JESUS CHRIST)
Artist: Choir of The King’s School, Canterbury
Words/Music: Patrick Appleford
Recording: Priory PRCD 716
Lord Jesus Christ
You have come to us
You are one with us,
Mary's Son.
Cleansing our souls from all their sin.
Pouring Your love and goodness in.
Jesus our love for you we sing,
Living Lord.
Lord Jesus Christ
Now and every day
Teach us how to pray,
Son of God.
You have commanded us to do
This in remembrance Lord of you
Into our lives your power breaks through,
Living Lord.
Lord Jesus Christ
You have come to us
Born as one with us,
Mary's Son.
Led out to die on Calvary,
Risen from death to set us free,
Living Lord Jesus help us see
You are Lord.
Lord Jesus Christ
I would come to you
Live my life for you,
Son of God.
All your commands I know are true,
Your many gifts will make me new,
Into my life your power breaks through,
Living Lord.
SONG: SAVIOUR, AGAIN TO THY DEAR NAME WE RAISE
Artist: Choir of Newcastle Cathedral
Words/Music: John Ellerton/Edward Hopkins
Recording: Priory PRCD 720
Saviour, again to Thy dear Name we raise
With one accord our parting hymn of praise;
Guard thou the lips from sin, the hears from shame,
That in this house have called upon thy name.
Grant us thy peace, Lord, through the coming night;
Turn thou for us its darkness into light;
From harm and danger keep thy children free,
For dark and light are both alike to thee.
Grant us thy peace throughout our earthly life,
Peace to thy church from error and from strife;
Peace to our land, the fruit of truth and love;
Peace in each heart, thy Spirit from above.
Thy peace in life, the balm of every pain;
Thy peace in death, the hope to rise again;
Then, when thy voice shall bid our conflict cease,
Call us, O Lord, to thy eternal peace.
SONG: JERUSALEM THE GOLDEN
Artist: Choir of Ely Cathedral, Paul Trepte (dir), Scott Farrell (organ)
Words/Music: Bernard of Cluny trans Neale/Alexander Ewing
Recording: Priory PRCD 703
Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest,
Beneath thy contemplation sink heart and voice oppressed.
I know not, O I know not, what joys await us there,
What radiancy of glory, what bliss beyond compare.
They stand, those halls of Zion, all jubilant with song,
and bright with many an angel, and all the martyr throng:
the Prince is ever in them, the daylight is serene;
the pastures of the blessèd are decked in glorious sheen.
Oh, sweet and blessèd country, the home of God's elect!
Oh, sweet and blessèd country, that eager hearts expect!
Jesus, in mercy bring us to that dear land of rest,
who art, with God the father, and the Spirit, ever blest.
SONG: HUSHED WAS THE EVENING HYMN
Artist: Scottish Festival Singers
Words/Music: James Burns/Arthur Sullivan
Recording: Whole World Media Group 2014
Hushed was the evening hymn,
The temple courts were dark,
The lamp was burning dim,
Before the sacred ark:
When suddenly a voice divine
Rang through the silence of the shrine.
The old man, meek and mild,
The priest of Israel, slept;
His watch the temple-child,
The little Levite, kept;
And what from Eli's sense was sealed,
The Lord to Hannah's son revealed.
Oh, give me Samuel's ear.
The open ear, O Lord,
Alive and quick to hear
Each whisper of Thy word!
Like him to answer at Thy call,
And to obey Thee first of all.
Oh, give me Samuel's mind.
A sweet, unmurmuring faith,
Obedient and resigned
To Thee in life and death!
That I may read with childlike eyes
Truths that are hidden from the wise.
SONG: CONSIDER THE LILIES
Artist: The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square
Words/Music: Roger Hoffman
Recording: Tabernacle Choir 2003
Consider the lilies of the field,
How they grow, how they grow.
Consider the birds in the sky,
How they fly, how they fly.
He clothes the lilies of the field.
He feeds the birds in the sky.
And He will feed those who trust Him,
And guide them with His eye.
Consider the sheep of His fold,
How they follow where He leads.
Though the path may wind across the mountains,
He knows the meadows where they feed.
He clothes the lilies of the field.
He feeds the birds in the sky,
And He will feed those who trust Him,
And guide them with His eye.
Consider the sweet, tender children
Who must suffer on this earth.
The pains of all of them He carried
From the day of His birth.
He clothes the lilies of the field,
He feeds the lambs in His fold,
And He will heal those who trust Him,
And make their hearts as gold.
