Hymns with the theme of mercy feature in this week's programme, and there are some hymns to Mary to mark Mother's Day.
Holy Trinity Cathedral Photo: RNZ / Paul Bushnell
SONG: KA WAIATA
Artist: New Zealand Youth Choir 1996, Karen Grylls (dir)
Words/Music: Richard Puanaki
Recording: Trust MMT 2016
Maria
Ka waiata ki a Maria
Hine i whakaae
Whakameatia mai
Te whare tangata.
Hine pūrotu
Hine ngākau
Hine rangimārie
Ko te whaea
Ko te whaea
O te ao
SONG: LOVING SPIRIT
Artist: Festival Singers
Words/Music: Shirley Murray/David Dell
Recording: Private CD 807
Loving spirit, loving spirit,
you have chosen me to be
you have drawn me to your wonder,
you have set your sign on me.
Like a mother you enfold me,
hold my life within your own,
feed me with your very body,
form me of your flesh and bone.
Like a father you protect me,
teach me the discerning eye,
hoist me up upon your shoulder,
let me see the world from high.
Friend and lover, in your closeness
I am known and held and blessed:
in your promise is my comfort,
in your presence I may rest.
Loving spirit, loving spirit,
you have chosen me to be
you have drawn me to your wonder,
you have set your sign on me.
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: THERE’S A WIDENESS IN GOD’S MERCY
Artist: Choir of Wells Cathedral, Malcolm Gough (dir), Rupert(organ)
Words/Music: Frederick Faber/Maurice Bevan
Recording: Hyperion 112105
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in his justice,
Which is more than liberty.
There is no place where earth’s sorrows
Are more felt than up in heaven;
There is no place where earth’s failings
Have such kindly judgment given.
For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of man’s mind;
And the heart of the eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.
But we make his love too narrow
By false limits of our own;
And we magnify his strictness
With a zeal he will not own.
There is plentiful redemption
In the blood that has been shed;
There is joy for all the members
In the sorrows of the head.
There is grace enough for thousands
Of new worlds as great as this;
There is room for fresh creations
In that upper home of bliss.
If our love were but more simple,
We should take him at his word;
And our lives would be all goodness
In the joy of Christ our Lord.
SONG: KYRIE ELEISON
Artist: St Thomas’ Music Group, Margaret Rizza (dir)
Words/Music: Trad/Margaret Rizza
Recording: Kevin Mayhew
Kyrie, eleison
Christe, eleison
Kyrie, exaudi nos, Domine
Kyrie, eleison
Christe, eleison
Kyrie, eleison
Christe, exaudi nos, Domine.
[Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, hear us
Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
Christ, hear us.]
SONG: HIS MERCY IS MORE
Artist: Matt Papa and Boyce College Choir
Words/Music: Matt Papa, Matt Boswell
Recording: Messenger Hymns 2017
What love could remember no wrongs we have done
Omniscient, all knowing, He counts not their sum
Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more
Refrain:
Praise the Lord, His mercy is more
Stronger than darkness, new every morn
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more
What patience would wait as we constantly roam
What Father, so tender, is calling us home
He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more
Refrain:
What riches of kindness He lavished on us
His blood was the payment, His life was the cost
We stood 'neath a debt we could never afford
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more
Refrain:
SONG: THE LORD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU
Artist: Choir of Trinity College, University of Melbourne, Michael Leighton-Jones (dir)
Words/Music: Trad/John Rutter
Recording: ABC 476568
The Lord bless you and keep you:
The Lord make His face to shine upon you,
To shine upon you and be gracious, and be gracious unto you.
The Lord bless you and keep you:
The Lord make His face to shine upon you,
To shine upon you and be gracious, and be gracious unto you.
The Lord lift up the light
Of His countenance upon you,
The Lord lift up the light
Of His countenance upon you,
And give you peace,
And give you peace,
And give you peace,
And give you peace.
Amen.
