For God alone my soul does wait, alt. tune, revised

For God alone my soul does wait

In silence and in solitude;

My safety is in God alone;

My soul is sheltered and renewed.

 

God is my sole foundation strong,

And my salvation sure and true;

My fortress firm in which I trust,

And which no foe can still undo.

 

For God alone my soul does wait

With silence and with solitude;

My hope lives only in the Lord, 

My soul is sheltered and renewed.

 

Deliverance and honor true

Come only from my God on high; 

My mighty rock is only God,

My refuge when I mourn and cry.

 

O trust our God in all your ways; 

O peoples, trust your Lord above!

Pour out your heart, cry out your prayers

To God our refuge and our love.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2020, after Psalm 62:1-2, 5, 7-8; alt. January 2021

MUSIC: Suggested tune CONDITOR ALME SIDERUM, Sarum plainsong, 9^th cent. (LM); alternate tune O WALY WALY, English folk melody

It's not often I have to say that I've revised a text because of something that came up in my Hebrew prep time for a sermon. That said, I've revised this text because of something that came up in my Hebrew prep time for a sermon. Just two words (or one word twice, more precisely) in the third stanza, but it seemed to matter. 

In days of old your star that shone

In days of old your star that shone 

            Led seekers to the holy place

Where God the Son in human flesh

            Was sheltered in a lowly space.

With great rejoicing they gave gifts

            Of frankincense and myrrh and gold,

Then traveled back to distant homes

            To ponder what they did behold.

When light you give shows us great joy,

            Our hearts are drawn to sing your praise.

We glorify your holy name

            And seek to love you all our days.

But there are days your light will show

            The truths we long to never see:

The roiling violence, rage, and hate

            That we insist just cannot be.

 

We hide our eyes, as best we can,

            From seeing what we have become:

A fearful tribe that will not name 

            The sin to which we now are numb. 

The hates of gender, race, and clan

            We try to claim aren’t really there

Are rendered clear when you command 

            That we oppose them everywhere.

 

So shine your star, unfailing Light,

            On hatreds we seek to avoid,

Lest all our witness to your love

            Be rendered false and then destroyed.

Annul our fear and charge us now

            To name such hate as cruel sin;

And then at last as we speak out,

            Refine our souls with fire within.

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, 6 January 2021

MUSIC: Suggested tune ST. PATRICK, Irish melody, arr. Charles Villiers Stanford, 1902; alternate tune YE BANKS AND BRAES, Scottish melody, arr. John L. Bell, 1989, copyright 1989 WGRG Iona Community (admin. GIA Publications, Inc.), hence not reproduced here.

I have always (or at least since hymn writing became a thing for me) wanted to write an Epiphany hymn. This wasn’t the circumstance I was seeking for doing so.

For God alone my soul does wait (alternate tune)

For God alone my soul does wait

In silence and in solitude;

My safety is in God alone;

My soul is sheltered and renewed.

 

God is my sole foundation strong,

And my salvation sure and true;

My fortress firm in which I trust,

And which no foe can still undo.

 

For God alone my soul does wait

In silence and in solitude;

My hope lives only in the Lord, 

My soul is sheltered and renewed.

 

Deliverance and honor true

Come only from my God on high; 

My mighty rock is only God,

My refuge when I mourn and cry.

 

O trust our God in all your ways; 

O peoples, trust your Lord above!

Pour out your heart, cry out your prayers

To God our refuge and our love.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2020, after Psalm 62:1-2, 5, 7-8

MUSIC: Suggested tune CONDITOR ALME SIDERUM, Sarum plainsong, 9^th cent. (LM); 

    alternate tune O WALY WALY, English folk melody

The text came about early in coronatide, as a response to the isolation of the early period. Psalm 62 turns up in the lectionary for the third Sunday after Epiphany, as it happens. Because of our church's streaming situation and the streaming licenses we do (and don't) hold, it became necessary to adapt a different tune to the text for our usage.

What child is this, additional verses

What child is this, on temple ground, in mother’s arms appearing

Amidst the faithful, crowding throng, both humble and God-fearing?

This, this is Christ the King, whose birth first saw the angels sing; 

See, see the law fulfilled for this, the son of Mary!

 

Why does this man, long-waiting here, now hail this child with wonder?

Why sing of promises fulfilled, but also torn asunder?

“Woe, woe shall come to you – a sword shall pierce your own soul, too!”

All, all o’er one small babe, o’er this, the son of Mary!

 

Now sings this woman, faithful sage, to all within her hearing, 

How this child brings redemption; how the rule of God is nearing.

Hope, hope has now drawn near in spite of hardship, hate, and fear; 

Joy, joy, for Christ has come in this, the son of Mary!

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, December 2020, after Luke 2:22-40 (Christmas 1B)

MUSIC: English ballad, 16^th cent.; arr. Christmas Carols New and Old, 1871

 

 

Three verses appropriate for the account in Luke 2:22-40, for the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, featured in the RCL on the Sunday after Christmas, year B.

We sing to God

We sing to God; we sing our thanks and praises.

Honor and reverence to our Lord we bring.

Yet too we sing our suffering and longing; 

We lift our voice to God in every thing.

In Christ redeemed, by Holy Spirit strengthened,

In all our worship to our God we sing.

We sing for God; we join the endless chorus 

Of all who learn by heart the holy song: 

The cloud of witnesses, the host of heaven,

Lifting their voices through the ages long.

In Christ redeemed, by Holy Spirit strengthened,

In holy union for our God we sing.

 

We sing of God; our chorus bears our witness. 

We show God’s goodness in our songful play.

In song from every corner of creation,

We witness to the truth, the life, the way.

In Christ redeemed, by Holy Spirit strengthened,

To this world’s yearning, of our God we sing.

 

We sing with God; the Singer of creation

Leads in the song we join with boundless glee:

The song of ages, new and yet eternal,

Of all that was, and is, and is to be.

In Christ redeemed, by Holy Spirit strengthened,

Now and forever, with our God we sing.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, November 2020

MUSIC: Tune FINLANDIA, Jean Sibelius, 1899.

 

 

Truthfully, I can’t say where this one came from. Frankly I’ve been quite blocked in every kind of writing of late (I can’t even write a postcard without fighting through existential angst), and somehow my brain got from there to a song about singing. I suppose the one thing that might make this one stand apart from other hymns about song is that (as I’ve had to learn in recent years) not all songs are songs of big exuberant joy, and yet God wants us to sing them all (or so I hope).

NOTE: while Sibelius’s stalwart tune has passed into public domain, be advised that any arrangement you find in your hymnal is likely under some copyright or other. 

A hymn set suitable for Advent wreath candle lighting

 Five hymns, from Advent 1 through Christmas Eve, suitable for lighting the candles of the Advent wreath on a typical hope/peace/joy/love cycle. Will gladly send PDFs upon request.

Advent 1: When the world tells us

When the world tells us “all is lost,” God still says “all is loved in me.”

All is loved and all is forgiven; open your eyes, behold and see!

Love! Love! Show us that Christ is coming!

Love! Love! Show us that Christ is near!

 

When the darkness says “light is gone,” Light reminds us to be surprised:

See the fire igniting before us; see how the dawn invades the skies!

Light! Light! Show us that Christ is coming!

Light! Light! Show us that Christ is near!

 

Fear says “cover your eyes and ears”; Hope says “listen and watch and wait.”

Stand and watch, redemption is coming; now hope will come and not be late!

Hope! Hope! Show us that Christ is coming!

Hope! Hope! Show us that Christ is near!

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, November 2018 

MUSIC: Tune BRING A TORCH, French melody

Advent 2:A voice cries out in the wilderness

A voice cries out in the wilderness: “Prepare the Lord a way!”

A voice calls out of our loneliness for night to break into day.

We cry that wars and violence and rank injustice cease: 

We pray the holy peace of God; come now, O Prince of Peace.

 

A choir sings into the silent night, “O come, Emmanuel!”

The song breaks into our darkened hearts, our frightened voices now swell.

We cry for healing and for hope, for broken souls’ release:

We pray the holy peace of God; come now, O Prince of Peace.

 

O every valley shall be filled up, and every heart elate;

For peace is stronger than violence, and love is louder than hate.

We cry for joy and yearn for love and grace now to increase:

We pray the holy peace of God; come now, O Prince of Peace.

 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, 2018

MUSIC: Tune CAROL, Richard Storrs Willis, 1850.

Advent 3: Rejoice! Always rejoice! (Now the world says to worry)

Now the world says to worry and fret all day;

Rejoice! Always rejoice!

But the children of God do not live that way!

Rejoice! Always rejoice!

 

Refrain: 

Joy! Joy! Rejoice! Always rejoice!

We pray for hope and peace and joy; rejoice! Always rejoice!

 

“Be afraid! Be afraid!” That’s the noise we hear;

Rejoice! Always rejoice!

But the children of God will not live in fear!

Rejoice! Always rejoice!

 

Refrain

 

Now the world says “be happy and laugh and smile!”

Rejoice! Always rejoice!

But the church lives to follow the extra mile.

Rejoice! Always rejoice!

 

Refrain

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, 2018

MUSIC: Tune FOLLOW, African American Spiritual

Advent 4: When Isaiah spoke a word

When Isaiah spoke a word of holy grace

Of a child born for the people of his place, 

Hope and peace and promise filled that sacred space

At the working of God’s almighty hand.

 

When the angel Gabriel came to Nazareth town,

Mary’s faith was kindled, God’s great hope to crown;

Joy and peace and promise all came pouring down

Through the working of God’s almighty hand.

 

When to Bethlehem she came that holy day,

Carrying that child just as our Lord did say,

Love and peace and promise joined her on the way,

For the working of God’s almighty hand.

 

Let us all give thanks for Who was born that night,

And for Mary’s journey – faith that came to sight,

And that death and darkness all were put to flight

By the working of God’s almighty hand.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, 2018

MUSIC: Tune CRANHAM, Gustav Holst, 1906, adapted

Christmas Eve: Hope is born

Hope is born, this night in Bethlehem.

The star leads on and calls us ever to One who forsakes us never.

Hope is born, this night in Bethlehem.

 

“Peace on earth,” a heavenly choir sings on,

“For now our God who reigns on high in this child has come down nigh.”

“Peace on earth,” a heavenly choir sings on.

 

“Great, great joy!” the angels sing their song.

“For you is born a Savior holy; yet he rests in manger lowly.”

“Great, great joy!” the angels sing their song.

 

Love has come; our life is now made new;

For like a candle breaks the night, this child comes as sacred light.

Love has come; our life is now made new.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, revised August 2020

MUSIC: Tune STILL, STILL, STILL, Austrian Carol

Encourage one another

Encourage one another; do not give in to fear!

Be not dismayed nor hopeless for those no longer here.

Let not your grief be helpless like those who do not know

Of Jesus’ true redemption God does on us bestow.

 

Encourage one another; live not in dank despair!

Those who have passed before us are still in God’s good care.

When comes at last reunion with Christ the Living One, 

We will be yet preceded by those whose rest is done.

 

Encourage one another; God’s faithfulness is sure!

Our Lord does not abandon; our hope is yet secure,

Alive or dead, no matter; for all, not just for some.

God holds us all, both now and for ages yet to come.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, October 2020 (after 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

MUSIC: Tune WIE LIEBLICH IST DER MAIEN, Johann Steurlein, 1575

 

 

What can I say? The epistles inspire me, evidently. The challenge here is to catch the main point without getting bogged down in the kind of theological minutia that causes schisms.