Like Waves Upon the Shore

O God of time and all our years,

Of all that comes and came before,

Hold us against our doubts and fears 

That crash like waves upon the shore.

 

We’ve acted out in cruel ways,

Indulged in hates we should abhor.

Our anger flared in fiery blaze

And crashed like waves upon the shore.

 

You claim all peoples as your own;

Against those neighbors we’ve waged war. 

Lord, still the furies that we’ve sown

That crash like waves upon the shore.

 

Cast out our fear, tear out our hate,

Upon our souls your grace outpour.

Your restoration we await,

That flows like waves upon the shore.

 

Fill us with love, and give us poise 

So that, repenting, we restore.

Make us the vessel for your joys

That flow like waves upon the shore.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, January 2021.

MUSIC: Tune O WALY WALY, English folk melody.

An attempt to imagine a particular situation of repentance.

With the rising of the sun

With the rising of the sun, we wait for the Savior,

Long-foretold, the Promised One, born of God’s own favor.

He who comes from Bethlehem, told in prophet-story,

Stands to feed God’s children all, full of power and glory.

 

With the rising of the sun, we wait for the Savior,

Long-foretold, the Promised One, born of God’s own favor.

Come to tear the powerful down and lift up the lowly,

He is God’s own Mighty One, and his name is holy.

 

With the rising of the sun, we wait for the Savior,

Long-foretold, the Promised One, born of God’s own favor.­

He comes now to do God’s will, all that is God’s pleasure,

And to sanctify us all, as our God does measure.

 

With the rising of the sun, we wait for the Savior,

Long-foretold, the Promised One, born of God’s own favor.

One who comes to save us all, healing and restoring,

This is he who makes our hearts joyful and adoring.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, January 2021, after Advent 4C scriptures

MUSIC: Tune TEMPUS ADEST FLORIDUM, Piae Cantiones, 1582

 

Part of the Advent Hymnary project.

 

How then shall we live

How then shall we live, and what then should we do?

If someone has none, then give one of your two.

Take nothing by force; do not threaten or goad.

Collect nothing more than what your work is owed,

 

How then shall we live, and what then shall we do?

Bear fruit of repentance; give God what is due.

Claim not to inherit some virtue or worth,

But make your heart open for godly new birth.

 

How then shall we live, and what then shall we do?

Rejoice in the Lord and rejoice again too.

Let gentleness from your example be clear,

And know in all truth that the Lord now is near.

 

How then shall we live, and what then shall we do?

Give nothing to worry, but hold what is true: 

That God who surpasses all that we can know

Will guard heart and mind as in Jesus we grow.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, January 2021, after Luke 3:7-18 and Philippians 4:4-7 

(Advent 3C)

MUSIC: Tune CRADLE SONG, William James Kirkpatrick, 1895

 

Part of the Advent Hymnary project

The Lord began a work in John

The Lord began a work in John, 

then dwelling in the wilderness.

Repentance was the word he gave 

to those all bound in sin’s distress.

“Prepare the way now for the Lord, 

            and make his paths all straight and true.”

 

The Lord began a work in you

            before you e’er could know or say, 

And that same Lord will see that work

            until the coming of that day, 

That day of Christ, our saving Lord, 

            whose word is faithful, just and true.

 

Now as this work in you goes on,

            we pray your love may overflow

With knowledge and with insight sure,

            that you might see the way to go;

Onward to Jesus Christ, our Lord,

            who keeps you blameless, pure, and true.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, January 2021, after Luke 3:1-6 and Philippians 1:3-11 (Advent 2C)

MUSIC: Tune SUSSEX CAROL, English carol; arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1912

 

 

Part of the Advent Hymnary project

 

 

When the song of the ruthless is stilled

The peoples of power and strength shall rejoice

To see your salvation fulfilled; 

Your praise shall go up and your glory resound

When the song of the ruthless is stilled.

We shall praise and rejoice when the song of the ruthless is stilled.

Yet those who oppose you shall tremble with fear

To find their designs unfulfilled; 

Their fire shall be doused and their noise shall be hushed,

When the song of the ruthless is stilled.

We shall praise and rejoice when the song of the ruthless is stilled.

 

For you are a refuge and shelter secure;

This you have desired and have willed.

The ones in distress shall be sheltered and saved

When the song of the ruthless is stilled.

We shall praise and rejoice when the song of the ruthless is stilled.

 

So how shall we live as we wait for the time

When God’s true design is revealed?

How then shall we struggle and strive for that day

When the song of the ruthless is stilled?

We shall praise and rejoice when the song of the ruthless is stilled.

 

 

Text: Charles Spence Freeman, January 2021 (after Isaiah 25:3-5)

Music: Tune VILLE DU HAVRE, Philip P. Bliss, 1876

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.