Praise the Lord, O my soul (Psalm 146)

          

Refrain:

Praise the Lord, O my soul, God all-knowing and all-seeing;

I'll sing praise to my God for as long as I have being.

Praise the Lord, O my soul.

 

Put no trust in mortal hands

Given to war and making mayhem;

They will die and be buried,

And their plans will perish with them

Refrain

 

Let our hope be in the Lord,

The Creator of all living;

Who gives food to the hungry

And whose justice is life-giving.

Refrain

 

The Lord sets the prisoners free

And gives sight to eyes once sightless.

God lifts up those bowed over,

And God's love enwraps the righteous.

Refrain

 

Our Lord keeps a watchful eye

On the orphan, widow, stranger;

Over all generations

God will reign and shield from danger.

Refrain

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, June 2026, after Psalm 146.

MUSIC: Tune WILD MOUNTAIN THYME, Irish melody.

 

 

This one had to stay under wraps for a while because reasons, but it is now free. I'm pretty sure Psalm 146 comes up in the lectionary at some point - several times, actually... 

 

 

 

 

Give thanks to the Lord

Give thanks to the Lord, and call on God's name;

To all peoples now God's great works proclaim.

Let those who seek God live rejoicing in heart,

To God's holy name now let each sing our part.

 

Now seek out the Lord; in God's strength abide;

In God's presence stay and dwell and reside.

Remember the wonderful works God has done,

The judgments God speaks as the High Holy One.

 

The Lord is our God, whose judgments prevail,

Whose covenants will endure without fail

Through all generations, again and again;

O praise the Lord always, forever! Amen!

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, August 2026; after Psalm 105:1-8.

MUSIC: Tune LAUDATE DOMINUM, C. Hubert H. Parry, 1894.

 

 

I haven't had much success with psalm settings. Nonetheless here is a setting of the beginning of Psalm 105, which appears in the lectionary for Ordinary 22A. 

 

 

 

 

 

The stars in the sky

The stars in the sky, see the courses they run;

The planets encircle the glorious sun.

In motion, rotation, in every great thing,

The heavenly bodies in harmony sing.

 

Hear melodies grunted or hummed in the field,

To warn or to woo or to call or to yield;

Creations and creatures, in great or small things,

From land or from water, the natural world sings.

 

The ancients proclaimed it with reverent delight;

Now scientists hear it in depth and at height.

We humans, late creatures, what have we to bring?

Now lift up your voices; in harmony sing!

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, July 2026.

MUSIC: Tune MUELLER, James R. Murray, 1887.

 

 

After hearing (online) a sectional, "The Sounds of Science: God's Wonders to Perform," given by Jan Kraybill, FHS, at the 2026 conference of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada at Princeton University, 22 July 2026.