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.

 

 

 

 

God, our Creator

God, our Creator, all of life creating,

You bless your people and our needs provide!

Yet we still groan, as if our lives were lacking;

In your abundance, put our fears aside.

 

God, our Creator, heaven declares your glory.

See how the sun shines out across the sky!

Yet we befoul and cloud its shine and splendor;

Show us anew your glory from on high.

 

God, our Creator, by your word creating,

In whom our hope is founded and made real,

Still we betray you, spoiling what you give us;

Set our minds right, restore us with your zeal.

 

God, our Creator, bountifully blessing,

Lavishly giving for our needs each day!

Still we complain that all is insufficient.

Teach us in love to seek your holy way.

 

God, our Creator, all you make we squander;

Heaven, earth, and seas we plunder and destroy.

Set us aright to live within creation

With adoration, wonder, hope, and joy.

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, July 2026.

MUSIC: Tune DONNE SECOURS, Genevan Psalter, 1551. 

 

 

 It hasn't even been two weeks but I already can't remember what prompted this one. Probably something at the Worship & Music Conference I had attended that week. Since I took it down on the Notes function on my phone, I clearly wasn't planning to write a hymn at that particular moment, but it happens that way sometimes. 

 

 

 

When creatures meant to roam the wild

When creatures meant to roam the wild

find freedom snatched away,

in cages locked or bound in chains

and suffering from our wounds and pains,

forgive us, God, we pray.

 

Stout lions, meant to roam in grasslands

free and unrestrained,

or tigers of the forest lands

are captured by foul human hands,

for human fun detained.

 

Sleek panthers, cougars, leopards, and

bobcats and cheetahs too,

were made by God for roaming free,

not held as "curiosity,"

bound in a "roadside zoo."

 

Those who exploit our human yen

for entertaining sights

breed creatures such for human gaze

in painful and unnatural ways,

all for our vain delights.

 

For creatures bound in such conditions,

God, we humbly pray;

but even more, strike down our yen

for painful fun, and teach us then

to hate such harmful play.

 

Teach us respect for all of life

in each and every way;

teach us to love them in their place,

not snatch them from their sacred space;

Good God, change us today.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, July 2026

MUSIC: Tune REST, Frederick Charles Maker, 1887

 

 

Prompted by a discussion at this morning's Routley Lecture at the PAM Worship & Music Conference, on creation (specifically "critters") in hymnody (short form: there's not much). I do have "All creatures of our God on high" on the record, but the discussion provoked another text, on a darker side of human fascination with wild cats.

  

 

An eclipse memento: Look into the darkness

Look into the darkness, different frame of being,

Free from light's demand for seeing.

For these moments fleeting, sunlight is concealed now;

Science and learning have revealed how.

Even though this we know, it is still God's wonder; 

            daytime torn asunder.

 

Swift these moments passing that the darkness holds sway;

Soon returns the light of harsh day.

In these minutes fleeting let us wait with rapture,

And a spark of awe recapture.

As we go, this we know; God has made this dark space, 

            filled it with divine grace.

 

Still in this new darkness, bright corona shining,

Gives the moon a golden lining.

Brilliant circling sliver over, 'round, and under,

Gives the daytime dark its wonder; 

Like God's love from above, circling 'round us ever,

            grace's great endeavor.

 

With the moon withdrawing, see the day returning; 

Sunshine's brilliance brightly burning.

Still the moment lingers, awe's light spark still flickering,

Drowning out our strife and bickering.

Dark sublime, for a time, daylight's reign did sever; 

            our God reigns forever.

 

Darkness is no darkness to our God unwavering,

Even when our souls are quavering.

Light and dark God favors, both in turn and measure;

Dark and light are both God's pleasure.

For this time most sublime, let us praise our Maker,

            Saver, and Caretaker.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, April 2024; 5th verse after Psalm 139:11-12.

MUSIC: Tune ARNSBERG, Joachim Neander, 1680.

 

 

Written in anticipation of and reflection after the total eclipse of April 2024, while staying at Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center for "Fernclipse," an event with programs around that eclipse. The inspiration for the final stanza somehow came with the music of Samuel Sebastian Wesley's anthem "Thou Wilt Keep Him in Perfect Peace" and its bridge section suddenly blaring into my head for no apparent reason.

 

 

When earth is standing dusty dry

When earth is standing dusty dry

We pray and plead for rain; 

And then when waters from the sky 

Bring flood and chaos, how we cry

For earth to dry again!

When will we learn? Oh, when?

 

This damaged earth has suffered so 

From schemes of our design. 

Yet, even when this truth we know, 

Our cravings will not let us go,

And nature we malign;

Our deeds are not benign.

 

These things we make unmake the earth; 

We kill it with our waste.

These creatures made with holy worth

Have no more place, but only dearth,

And fall away in haste, 

Their habitat debased.

 

Dear God! Will we yet spoil your world

Beyond what it can bear? 

Make us restrain, our wants in-curled,

Until with joy we see unfurled 

Creation everywhere.

Can we make this our prayer?

 

 

Text: Charles Spence Freeman, May 2023.

Music: Tune REPTON, C. Hubert H. Parry, 1888.

 

 

After a week spent driving halfway across the country, including through some particularly beautiful stretches I had not seen before, creation (and our spoilage of it) was on my mind, I guess. Exaggerated and unpredictable weather patterns are merely the tip of the iceberg, and it's hard to know if humanity has the will to rein in those behaviors that create such debasement of our planet and its climate. I'll never put it as eloquently as Bruce Cockburn does in his song "If a tree falls," but then that song would be harder for a congregation to sing, so there's that.