Now Jesus sent Peter and John

Now Jesus sent Peter and John on their way

To find a room where the disciples might stay.

He gave them instructions and sent them ahead,

And there they found everything just as he said.

 

And so they prepared for the Passover meal, 

Where Jesus would to his disciples reveal, 

In bread and in cup, his great gift to us all, 

Which in this true sacrament we do recall.

 

But Jesus was troubled, his heart was dismayed,

For truly he knew that he would be betrayed. 

He also knew Peter, before the night's end, 

Would yet deny knowing his teacher and friend.

 

Still Jesus did give them this meal and this sign,

That we might remember in bread and in wine

The One who, despite how we fail and betray,

Sustains us and saves us in every new day.

 

To Jesus, Redeemer, we offer our praise,

And Spirit, Sustainer through all of our days,

And Holy Creator we praise and adore:

We worship the triune God forevermore.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2022, after verses from Luke 22:7-34.

MUSIC: Tune ST. DENIO, Welsh folk melody; adapt. in Caniadau y Cyssegr, 1839.

 

 

A new hymn text developed from Luke's account of the Last Supper. He seems to emphasize particularly how Jesus goes forward with the sharing of bread and cup despite knowing that two of the disciples will turn against him before the night is over, which hopefully comes across in the hymn. It certainly can be sung without the Trinitarian doxology at the end, but a note of praise at the last seemed appropriate.

 

  

What once was gain

What once was gain, for Christ's own sake, I count it all as loss.

In knowing Jesus as my Lord, all else is hateful dross.

All gains I knew in life before, all status, every prize,

Are wasteful madness in my heart and on my tongue are lies.

 

In Christ is found my righteousness, not from decree or law,

But in true faith that comes from God and fills my heart with awe.

I long to know the power of him who over death did rise,  

Even if his suffering I must share; for Christ my spirit cries.

 

This goal, this hope is far away, but still I must press on,

Because my Lord has made me his until all time has flown.

Forgetting what has come before, toward what before me lies,

I press on toward God's holy call, in Christ my godly prize.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2022, after Philippians 3:4b-14 (Lent 5C)

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

Written for the epistle reading again, here for Lent 5C (April 3, 2022). I clearly have a weakness for this tune; something about the melancholy shade it bears in my ears seems to resonate, and sometimes tempers texts that might otherwise turn a little bit more jaunty or proud than would be appropriate.

Be reconciled to God

Be reconciled to God.

This is our Savior's call: 

Bear witness to the saving grace

Of One who died for all.

 

Creation now made new!

This is our Master's call: 

Bear witness to the new-made life

Where sin cannot enthrall.

 

Ambassadors for Christ:

This is the Spirit's call. 

Bear witness to the love of God

For all things great and small.

 

The righteousness of God:

This is our godly call.

Bear witness to the living Christ

Who will not let us fall. 

 

Be reconciled to God.

This is our life's true call: 

Bear witness to the saving grace

Of Christ who died for all.

 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2022 (after 2 Corinthians 5:16-21)

MUSIC: Tune FESTAL SONG, William H. Walter, 1894. 

 

 

I've had this passage engraved on my brain ever since being a "Royal Ambassador" as a boy (some of you might know what that means). 

God is faithful in our living

God is faithful in our living;

Let us offer our thanksgiving.

No temptation will approach you

That there will not be a way through.

 

God is faithful in our living; 

Let us offer our thanksgiving.

Trials that come, no, these are not new;

Others knew them all before you.

 

God is faithful in our living; 

Let us offer our thanksgiving.

You can bear what tempting tries you;

'Tis God's gift, for sure and all true.

 

God is faithful in our living; 

Let us offer our thanksgiving.

Let the choice of what you will do

Be the work of God within you. 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2022; after 1 Corinthians 10:13 (Lent 3C).

MUSIC: Tune DEIRDRE, Irish melody; harm. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906. 

 

 

Another "procrastihymn," written in the course of sermon prep. Though this verse tends to be regarded as the reassuring conclusion to Paul's argument in verses 1-12, somehow this text did not want a terribly upbeat or reassuring melody; it wanted a tune that conveyed melancholy or even regret that such reassurance was even necessary in the first place. 

Every creature on your planet

Every creature on your planet,

Every blade that grows from earth,

All that live in mighty waters

Are imbued with holy worth. 

O Creator of all living, all creation seeks new birth.

O Creator of all living, all creation seeks new birth.

 

Though you call us to be stewards

Of your good, created world,

Far too often we have failed her

And our greed against her hurled.

O Creator of all living, let your healing be unfurled.

O Creator of all living, let your healing be unfurled.

 

Give us hearts of true repentance,

Gives us eyes to see the need;

Give us minds to change our living

So your creatures might be freed.

O Creator of all living, help us change in word and deed.

O Creator of all living, help us change in word and deed.

 

Show us how you love creation,

Show us how we are a part. 

Show us how to make our wrong right,

Show us how to make a start.

O Creator of all living, place this call within our heart.

O Creator of all living, place this call within our heart.

 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2022.

MUSIC: Tune BRADBURY, William Batchelder Bradbury, 1859; alt.

 

 

Written after a weekend partly spent in the midst of a type of nature preserve.

We are citizens of heaven

We are citizens of heaven, kingdom of the Lord our God,

Ransomed of the Lord, forgiven, living here on earthly sod.

Here we wait for our Deliverer, Jesus Christ, our Lord, to come;

In his power he will transform us and be our eternal home.

 

See the ones who show his goodness; see the ones who live his grace; 

Learn from their inspired example how to live in earthly space.

Do not seek a way of living that would turn away the cross!

Such indulgence cannot prosper; it will only suffer loss.

 

Let us all, dear friends and servants of our Savior and our Lord,

Firmly stand in God's own service; let that be our true reward.

In this service is our calling; this is what it means to say

We are citizens of heaven, living here on earthly clay.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2022, after Philippians 3:17-4:1 (Lent 2C).

MUSIC: Tune AUSTRIAN HYMN, Franz Joseph Haydn, 1797; alt.

Another one of those hymns that comes along when I really need to be writing a sermon. 

Do not pray for peace

Do not pray for peace 

Until you yearn for justice

Until that yearning is so strong 

You cannot be at rest

 

Do not pray for peace

Or reconciliation

Until you're filled with great desire 

To make right what is wrong

 

Do not pray for peace

Until you loathe oppression 

With so much holy raging fire 

You cannot let it stand

 

Do not pray for peace

If you will not take action

If you cannot show God's own love

Unto "the least of these"

 

Do not pray for peace

If all you want is safety

If all that matters in the end

Is that you are not harmed

 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2022

I don't know if this is a hymn or not. It doesn't fit to any tune I know, and I'm not a tune composer enough to make one for this text. All I know to do is to throw it out there and see if any hymn tune composers take an interest in making a tune for it.