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.
Photo: RNZ / Robyn Jaquiery
SONG: HOW GREAT THOU ART
Artist: Huddersfield Choral Society
Composer: Carl Boberg trans Stuart Hine/Trad
Label: Signum 2006
O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works thy hand hath made.
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Refrain:
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee;
How great thou art, how great thou art!
And when I think that God, his son not sparing,
Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin:
Refrain:
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then shall I bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, my God, how great thou art!
Refrain:
SONG: FOR THE FRUITS OF HIS CREATION
Artist: Choir of Wells Cathedral, Malcolm Archer (dir), Rupert Gough (organ)
Words/Music: Fred Pratt Green/Francis Jackson
Recording: Hyperion 711210
For the fruit of all creation,
thanks be to God.
For his gifts to every nation,
thanks be to God.
For the ploughing, sowing, reaping,
silent growth while men are sleeping,
future needs in earth's safe-keeping,
thanks be to God.
In the just reward of labour,
God's will is done.
In the help we give our neighbor,
God's will is done.
In our world-wide task of caring
for the hungry and despairing,
in the harvests men are sharing,
God's will is done.
For the harvests of the Spirit,
thanks be to God.
For the good we all inherit,
thanks be to God.
For the wonders that astound us,
for the truths that still confound us,
most of all, that love bas found us,
thanks be to God.
SONG: TOUCH THE EARTH LIGHTLY
Artist: Durham St Methodist Church Choir, Christchurch
Words/Music: Shirley Murray/Colin Gibson
Recording: Private CD 817
Touch the earth lightly,
use the earth gently,
nourish the life of the world in our care:
gift of great wonder,
ours to surrender,
trust for the children tomorrow will bear.
We who endanger,
who create hunger,
agents of death for all creatures that live,
we who would foster
clouds of disaster,
God of our planet, forestall and forgive!
Let there be greening,
birth from the burning,
water that blesses and air that is sweet,
health in God's garden,
hope in God's children,
regeneration that peace will complete.
God of all living,
God of all loving,
God of the seedling, the snow and the sun,
teach us, deflect us,
Christ reconnect us,
using us gently, and making us one.
SONG: LET ALL THINGS NOW LIVING
Artist: The Redeemer Choir, Austin, Texas
Words/Music: Katherine Davis/Trad
Recording: Redeemer Choir
Let all things now living
a song of thanksgiving
to God the Creator triumphantly raise,
Who fashioned and made us,
protected and stayed us,
who guides us and leads to the end of our days.
His banners fly o’er us;
His light goes before us,
a pillar of fire shining forth in the night,
till shadows have vanished
and darkness is banished,
as forward we travel from light into light.
His law he enforces, the stars in their courses
And sun in its orbit obediently shine;
The hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains,
The deeps of the ocean proclaim Him divine.
We too should be voicing our love and rejoicing;
With glad adoration a song let us raise
Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving:
"To God in the highest, Hosanna and praise!"
SONG: ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL
Artist: Choir of Manchester Cathedral
Words/Music: Cecil Frances Alexander/Trad
Recording: Priory PRCD 718
Refrain:
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colours,
He made their tiny wings.
Refrain:
The purple-headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning,
That brightens up the sky;
Refrain:
The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one;
Refrain:
He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
Refrain:
SONG: FATHER, WE THANK THEE WHO HAS PLANTED
Artist: Choir of Ely Cathedral, Paul Trepte (dir), Scott Farrell (organ)
Words/Music: Francis Bland Tucker/Louis Bourgeois
Recording: Priory PRCD 703
Father, we thank Thee who hast planted
Thy holy Name within our hearts.
Knowledge and faith and life immortal
Jesus Thy Son to us imparts.
Thou, Lord, didst make all for Thy pleasure,
didst give man food for all his days,
giving in Christ the Bread eternal;
Thine is the pow'r, be Thine the praise.
Watch o'er Thy church, O Lord, in mercy,
save it from evil, guard it still.
Perfect it in Thy love, unite it,
cleansed and conformed unto Thy will.
As grain, once scattered on the hillsides,
was in this broken bread made one,
so from all lands Thy church be gathered
into Thy kingdom by Thy Son.
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: THIS IS MY FATHER’S WORLD
Artist: Choir of Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, Catherine Palmer (director), Ronald Jordan (organ)
Words/Music: Maltbie Babcock/Trad arr Franklin Sheppard
Recording: Marquis 181175
This is my Father's world,
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas –
His hand the wonders wrought.
This is my Father's world:
The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker's praise.
This is my Father's world:
He shines in all that's fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.
This is my Father's world:
O let me ne'er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father's world:
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let earth be glad!
SONG: FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH
Artist: Gondwana Voices
Words/Music: Folliat Pierpoint/John Rutter
Recording: ABC 472822
For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies;
over and around us lies:
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise.
For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale,
and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light:
Sun and moon and stars of light:
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise.
For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth,
and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild:
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise.
For each perfect gift of thine
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flow'rs of earth and buds of heav'n:
flow'rs of earth and buds of heav'n:
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise,
our hymn of praise.
