Therefore, sisters, brothers all

Therefore, sisters, brothers all,

Hear this, and now your charge foresee; 

Give your whole selves to our God; 

This your true worship now should be.

We, though many, are one body, 

Now and all eternity!

 

Be transformed by God's own work,

Your minds renewed so you can see,

Not conformed to worldly ways

So sorely bound and never free,

We, though many, are one body, 

Now and all eternity!

 

Sober judgment is your task,

According to the faith God gives; 

Members many, body one - 

We share the gifts that our Lord lives:

We, though many, are one body, 

Now and all eternity!

 

Prophets, ministers, and those 

Who teach us and exhort with glee; 

Givers, leaders, and the ones

For whom compassion is their plea.

We, though many, are one body, 

Now and all eternity!

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, August 2023, after Romans 12:1-8.

MUSIC: Tune REGENT SQUARE, Henry Thomas Smart, 1867.

 

The Roman road is still being built, so to speak. Any of five or six points from this passage could have been emphasized by being made into the refrain, to be sure, but our unity in the body of Christ jumped out most of all. The tune seems to provide good emphatic support to the text without overdoing it.