Now in the Lord rejoice!

Now in the Lord rejoice! Again, I say rejoice!

Worry is not needed here, not when Christ the Lord draws near!

Fretfulness is not our call, but true rejoicing is for all.

In the Lord rejoice! In the Lord rejoice!

 

Now in the Lord rejoice! Again, I say rejoice!

Though the things we see and hear may provoke our doubt and fear, 

Frightfulness is not our way; instead, rejoice from day to day.

In the Lord rejoice! In the Lord rejoice!

 

Now in the Lord rejoice! Again, I say rejoice!

Happiness may charm the soul but alone is not our goal.

Faithfulness and joy combined will lift our heart and soul and mind.

In the Lord rejoice! In the Lord rejoice!

 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, November 2023.

MUSIC: Tune IN DULCI JUBILO, German folk melody, 14th cent.

 

 

A need to find a more accessible tune for a new congregation prompted this new spin on the Advent 3 candle lighting hymn provoked by those liturgies that set me on this hymn-writing path five years ago. Hopefully this tune will be familiar enough...

 

 

Let us thank our God Almighty

Let us thank our God almighty,

Let us give God all our praise.

Let us give our Christlike witness

Even to our final days. 

For the gifts of life and living,

For the love that holds us still,

We implore God's Holy Spirit

To maintain us in God's will.

 

Midst the noise of raging quarrel,

Midst the groan of endless war,

Midst the wrongs of those who claim God

But know not Christ anymore:

We are called to hold to Jesus

And maintain our gratitude,

While our life in Christlike service

Is by Spirit's work renewed.

 

We give thanks to God almighty,

We give thanks to Christ the Lord,

We give thanks to Holy Spirit,

All revealed in sacred word.

All our gratitude deserving

While the endless ages run,

Triune God we praise and worship

'Til our time on earth is done.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, November 2023.

MUSIC: Tune JEFFERSON, Alexander Johnson's Tennessee Harmony, 1818.

 

 

Written down on Thanksgiving Day 2023, and I suppose it has something of thanksgiving (or gratitude if you prefer) about it. 

The nations will gather

The nations will gather when the Son of Man comes, 

From high mighty places, from shelters and slums. 

The Son will then part them on his left and his right, 

They will all stand before him in his endless sight.

 

To those on the right he will call them to come,

"O blest of my Father, come all, not just some!

You fed me and gave me drink to me, welcomed me in! 

The kingdom is for you now; let new life begin!"

 

But those on the left now found the opposite true:

"Get out of my sight now, for you did not do

What those on my right did when you saw me in need!

Begone, you unrepentant in your selfish greed."

 

When do we see Jesus bound in hunger or thirst?

No clothing nor shelter and suffering the worst?

Our Christ bids us listen and he tells us to see:

"What you do unto those is what you do to me."

 

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

Make hunger a relic and homelessness too; 

Care for the imprisoned and the sick whom we see, 

In Christ's own holy name for all eternity.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, November 2023, after Matthew 25:31-46.

MUSIC: Tune COLUMCILLE, Irish melody. (See Glory to God #101.)

 

 

The third of the Matthew 25 parables is in place, though (as with any of these hymns) revision is somewhere between possible and likely. It's a loaded parable, and some streamlining seemed to help the hymn live. This tune was not one with which I was familiar, but it shares a propulsive quality with a number of traditional tunes that will hopefully help keep any singing of this test moving and energetic.  

A man about to journey far

A man about to journey far called from his slaves these three,

And told them of his firm intent for what their task would be.

They were to manage, in the measure of five, two, and one, 

His property and finances until his trip was done.

The first one, given five in trust, did manage his part well,

And made five more by his own skill to barter, buy, and sell.

The second one, in fashion same, also doubled his two.

The third one, with just one to trust, chose something else to do.

 

He took those funds and dug a hole to hide them in the ground,

Presuming that the funds he held would there be safe and sound.

And then their master did return and bade those slaves to come

And give account of how they held each their prolific sum.

 

"Well done," he told the one who doubled five to ten,

And to the one who doubled two he cried "well done" again.

The slave with one, by fear consumed, gave what he hid away

The master firmly cast him out, forbidding him to stay.

 

The gifts that we are given so, however great or small,

Are not for hiding or to hoard; such fear is not our call.

To share and trade and make them more is how we're meant to live,

So that when God bids us to act, we have so much to give.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, November 2023, after Matthew 25:14-30.

MUSIC: Tune SALVATION, Kentucky Harmony, 1816 (various harmonizations)

            alternate tune KINGSFOLD, English Country Songs, 1893; harm. Ralph 

            Vaughan Williams, 1906.

 

 

Not the easiest parable to make sense of in song. This might be one of those for revisiting in future. And I really might prefer what is listed as the alternate tune here. Either one has enough folk song/ballad quality that works to tell the story. And with the number of folk tunes that involve one or both of a couple dying from romantic disappointment or misunderstanding, the strangeness of this parable is nothing by comparison.