When creatures meant to roam the wild

When creatures meant to roam the wild

find freedom snatched away,

in cages locked or bound in chains

and suffering from our wounds and pains,

forgive us, God, we pray.

 

Stout lions, meant to roam in grasslands

free and unrestrained,

or tigers of the forest lands

are captured by foul human hands,

for human fun detained.

 

Sleek panthers, cougars, leopards, and

bobcats and cheetahs too,

were made by God for roaming free,

not held as "curiosity,"

bound in a "roadside zoo."

 

Those who exploit our human yearn

for entertaining sights

breed creatures such for human gaze

in painful and unnatural ways,

all for our vain delights.

 

For creatures bound in such conditions,

God, we humbly pray;

but even more, strike down our yearn

for painful fun, and let us learn

to hate such harmful play.

 

Teach us respect for all of life

in each and every way;

teach us to love them in their place,

not snatch them from their sacred space;

Good God, change us today.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, July 2026

MUSIC: Tune REST, Frederick Charles Maker, 1887

 

 

Prompted by a discussion at this morning's Routley Lecture at the PAM Worship & Music Conference, on creation (specifically "critters") in hymnody (short form: there's not much). I do have "All creatures of our God on high" on the record, but the discussion provoked another text, on a darker side of human fascination with wild cats.

 

 

  

 

O Lord of our ancestors

"O Lord of our ancestors, are you not God above?

Are we no more your people? Have you withdrawn your love?

Do you not rule the nations? Is your great power not true?

We know not what to do, Lord, but our eyes are on you."

 

"You gave your faithful people a sanctuary place,

A land where we could live safe and covered by your grace.

Now enemies surround us, their hate and bile they spew;

We know not what to do, Lord, but our eyes are on you."

 

That cry of ancient Judah we feel again today,

Beset by vain indifference, or hatred holding sway.

How do we stand against these, and yet to you stay true?

We know not what to do, Lord, but our eyes are on you.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, July 2026, from 2 Chronicles 20:5-12

MUSIC: Tune PASSION CHORALE, Hans Leo Hassler 1601;

                  harmonization Johann Sebastian Bach, 1729.

 

 

After a sermon heard at the Presbyterian Association of Musicians' Worship & Music Conference, Montreat Conference Center on July 1, 2026 (preached by Brian Blount, president emeritus of Union Presbyterian Seminary). Yes, the sermon was on 2 Chronicles 20.

 

 

 

 

Let our hearts be broken

Let our hearts be broken, let our souls be torn;

For the chaos 'round us, let us weep and mourn.

Violence and hatred, practiced in your name?

Your true gospel twisted into fear and shame?

 

How have we stood silent for so many years

While this anti-gospel stoked up angry fears?

Why did we not speak out until so, so late?

When the lie was shouted, why did we still wait?

 

Now our call to answer will no longer wait:

Speaking truth to falsehood, speaking love to hate;

Ev'n amidst such violence, injuries and pains,

Bearing witness only to the Christ who reigns.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, June 2026.

MUSIC: Tune KING'S WESTON, Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1925;

            other possible tune WYE VALLEY, James Mountain, 1876.

 

 

One of those inevitable attempts to express in a hymn some kind of response to <gestures around wildly> all this, especially when you realize you should have been speaking up long, long ago...

 

 

 

Journey From the Mind to the Heart

There is a journey facing us all,

Some kind of passion, maybe a call.

Some never make it, some come apart,

Journeying from the head to the heart.

 

Community is so hard to teach,

Ev'n with so many well within reach.

True fellowship, though, is hard to find;

Is there no path between heart and mind?

 

Pity the mind so learned and trained,

Disciplined knowledge fully maintained,

Yet with no core, no link to the heart?

Knowledge for hire; the soul has no part.

 

Where is compassion, decency, joy?

What of reflection? Is this a ploy?

Does honesty live in such a mind

When to the heart's core there is no bind?

 

What do you know, beyond any doubt?

Is there a purpose you are about?

Is there an insight vital to you,

Something behind what you say and do?

 

There is a journey facing us all,

Journey that drives our passion and call.

Never grow weary, strong from the start,

Journeying from the head to the heart.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, May 2026, after the 2026 Sprunt Lectures, Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, VA.

MUSIC: Tune ADELAIDE, George C. Stebbins, 1907.

 

 

This is probably not a general interest hymn. I wrote it after attending the aforementioned lectures given at my seminary alma mater by Dr. Gregory Ellison of Candler School of Theology, Emory University, which I attended in hope of getting some handle on the teaching and thinking of Howard Thurman. (My main conclusion is that there is no such as "getting a handle on" anything about Howard Thurman. But I digress.)  As I am increasingly becoming aware, besides being written for worship or devotion or other things, at least some of the hymns I write are just about processing things I have seen and heard. This is one of those. If anybody else who was there finds it useful, here you are. 

 

 

 

 

When they saw their Teacher lifted

When they saw their Teacher lifted far above all human sight,

Still they stood, still gazing upward, filled with wonder and with fright.

"Alleluia, alleluia" on their lips did not seem right.

 

Then two men were standing by them, robed in white; they asked them this:

"Why do you stand gazing upward? What do you think is amiss?

Alleluia, alleluia! Christ will come back just like this!"

 

So they turned and headed homeward to Jerusalem to stay;

In the upper room they gathered there to meditate and pray,

Alleluia, alleluia! Waiting, watching for that day.

 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, May 2026, after Acts 1:9-14.

MUSIC: Suggested tune LAUDA ANIMA (Andrews), Mark Andrews, 1930.

                Given tune LAUDA ANIMA, John Goss, 1869.

 

 

 

I have written two hymn texts for Ascension, whatever day it might be observed. This one is Ascension-ish, but is more strictly from the reading for the seventh Sunday of Easter, year A. As for the suggested tune, it's one I like a lot and wish would be used more often, but the more common tune is given here. I will make a version to the Andrews tune as soon as I have time.

 

 

 

The God who made the world

The God who made the world and everything therein,

Who is the Lord of heaven and earth since all time did begin;

 

This God lives not in shrines built up by human hands;

The One who gives us life and breath beyond such walls expands.

 

The nations all God made to live across the earth,

And set their times and places, too, so they might seek God's worth.

 

In God we live and move and have our being all;

For we are God's own offspring, too; so let us on God call.

 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, April 2026, after Acts 17:24-28

MUSIC: Suggested tune ST. BRIDE, Samuel Howard, 1762.

 

 

A text drawn from Paul's speech at the Areopagus is the basis for this fairly simple hymn, hopefully suitable for Easter 6A. It should be fairly adaptable to other short-meter tunes. 

 

 

 

  

The stones that struck the deacon down

The stones that struck the deacon down

         came not from soldiers' hands,

For neither law nor government

         did issue such commands.

No, those who seized and dragged him out

         to crush his life away

Are given no name or title here;

         the scripture calls them "they".

 

How often since, in centuries gone,

         have deeds of violence

Been done by those unnamed, unknown;

         the darkness their defense.

Our history hides in darkened doors

         while we still look away

While nameless, faceless, masked-up hate

         is killing still today.

 

Enslaving barons stealing lives

         across the distant seas

To hold in chains, to whip and shame

         and bring down to their knees;

Indigenous children taken, too,

         from family and from names;

And garment girls locked in the shop

         to perish in its flames.

 

No, Stephen likely was not first

         and certainly not last

To be struck down by mindless rage

         while we still stand aghast.

Lord, give us righteous anger now

         to make such violence cease,

And kneel before your holy throne

         and yield before your peace.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, April 2026, after Acts 7:55-60.

MUSIC: Tune RESIGNATION, USA folk melody, Lewis's Beauties of Harmony, 1828.

 

 

References in verse 3: kidnapping, trafficking, and enslaving Africans in North America; kidnapping of Indigenous children and inserting them into "Indian schools" to strip away all Indian-ness; the death of over one hundred workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory by fire with the factory doors locked.