Now Christ's peace be with you

Refrain:

Now Christ's peace be with you,

And again Christ's peace be with you;

As the Father sent Jesus,

Even now, know that he sends you,

Now Christ's peace be with you.

 

Let the Holy Spirit come

Into all your soul and being.

If their sins you're forgiving,

They can know their sins forgiven.

 

Refrain

 

Is it only when you see

That your heart becomes believing?

Who believes, though not seeing,

Truest blessings are receiving.

 

Refrain

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2026, after John 20:19-31.

MUSIC: Tune WILD MOUNTAIN THYME, Irish melody (arrangements vary).

The "doubting Thomas" account in John 20 has never cooperated well with efforts at making a hymn. In this case taking some of Jesus's words to the disciples and then to Thomas offered a route to what might serve as a hymn of instruction, in a way.

 

 

 

Rise Up

Rise up, old bones, return to life,
Take sinew, flesh, and breath;
Give witness to the power of God,
A power that overcomes death,
A power that overcomes death.

Rise up, dear friend, return to life,
No longer in the grave;
Give witness to the love of God
That drives a Savior to save,
That drives a Savior to save.

Rise up, old church, return to life,
No longer drowned in fear;
Give witness to the word of God
The world refuses to hear, etc.

Rise up, my heart, return to life,
No longer bound in sin;
Give witness to the grace of God
And let a new life begin, etc.

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, April 2014; MUSIC Tune DOVE OF PEACE, American folk melody 

 

Suitable for Lent 5A, both the dry bones and Lazarus represented. 

 

  

LIve as children of light

Refrain:

 

Live as children of light -

Live no longer in the darkness.

Turn away from the night;

Be no longer cold and heartless.

Live as children of light.

 

Seek to find out how to live

As is pleasing to our Savior;

Seek your whole life to give,

Both in word and in behavior.

 

Refrain

 

Shine a light on shameful deeds,

Things too dark to say or to do.

Sleeper, wake from the dead,

And our Christ will shine upon you.

 

Refrain

 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2026, after Ephesians 5:18-24

MUSIC: Tune WILD MOUNTAIN THYME, Irish melody

 

 

I floundered badly trying to develop a hymn text on the gospel reading for Lent 4A, from John 9. The epistle reading was far kinder to me, as epistle readings often are. The choice of an Irish melody so close to St. Patrick's Day (which is a two-week holiday for someone who grew up in Dublin, GA) was not intentional; it's just a really good tune.

 

A woman who came to the well

A woman who came to the well for some water

found someone she did not know;

a man sitting there all alone with no pail, and

wondered why he sat there so.

As she drew out water and then turned to go,

he said to her "Give me a drink."

The Samaritan woman was thrown for a loss

and she no longer knew what to think.

 

"How do you, a Jewish man, speak to me here,

much less ask me now for a drink?"

"If you knew who I was,!" you surely would ask me

for living water, I think."

"Sir, give me this water, I ask you, so I

would never need come here again!"

But he told her, "Go, call your husband" as if

he did not know her history with men.

 

She knew that he must be a prophet, at least,

yet questioned him more, nonetheless.

He answered her more and with prophetic vision,

and still she continued to press:

"I know the Messiah will come to us all,

and proclaim all things that will be."

And he said, "Do you see I am here talking to you?

Yes, I am the one; I am he."

 

She ran to her village to tell all the people

"There is a man you must see!

He told me of everything that I have done!

Could he the Anointed One be?"

They came and they heard and believed every word,

and asked him to stay two more days.

And so, this one Samaritan town knew the wonder

of Jesus and his saving ways.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2026, after John 4:1-45.

MUSIC: Tune SAMANTHRA (MAJOR), American folk melody, alt.

 

 

A hymn on the "woman at the well" story, tightened up just a little bit (the disciples get left out). Those who pay attention to the tunes chosen for these texts will note that this American folk tune, found in Glory to God at #77, is here flipped to major instead of the minor tune as it appears in the hymnal. Will probably need some polishing in the future, but it does fit to Lent 3A, so here it is just in case.

 

 

  

 

Then Jesus came from Galilee

Then Jesus came from Galilee to be baptized by John,

Who in the Jordan's rolling flow did baptize those who came.

But John did question whether this request he should act on;

"You should baptize me here instead, in your own holy name."

 

But Jesus answered "Let this be, for this is right to do

To fulfill this one righteous call for all the world to see."

Then John consented to this task, in trust that Jesus knew

That he should carry out this work and what his role should be.

 

And then once Jesus was baptized and then raised up again,

He saw the heavens opened up and down the Spirit came.

Alighting like a dove, the Spirit cried out through the din,

"This is my Son, Beloved One, who goes forth in my name."

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, December 2025; after Matthew 3:13-17

MUSIC: Tune KINGSFOLD, English Country Songs, 1893; harmonization Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906.

 

 

A reworking of a hymn from almost two years ago, written to suit the account of Jesus's baptism in the gospel of Mark. Matthew's account goes into rather more detail than Mark's but the basic structure still worked. 

A man enslaved

A man enslaved, called "Useful,"

In bondage toiled for naught.

He might have been called "Useless"

If his work went all wrong.

But Paul called out his master

And in Christ's love he taught

To call this slave his brother,

Invite him to belong.

 

Our world still sees enslavement

For cruel profit's gain,

Inhuman treatment practiced

For products sold dirt cheap.

Have we no moral center,

To profit from such pain? 

Can we not call out evil? 

Can we not make that leap?

 

In other ways we mangle

Those God has called God's own;

We call them dirty, vagrants,

Or even "useless" too. 

Do we speak such debasement

To those whose hope is gone?

Good God, rebuke us ever

When we such damage do.

 

Dehumanizing others

Who do not look like us,

And yet Christ calls his family;

Have we so lost our way?

Now we must do Christ's bidding,

With nothing to discuss; 

To welcome all around us

Both now and every day.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, September 2025.

MUSIC: Tune LLANFYLLIN, Welsh melody.

Apparently that lectionary reading from Philemon stayed with me beyond the hymn written for it about a month ago. Here Onesimus ("Useful") becomes the starting point for facing the ways such dehumanization is still part of our world today and how the church has not faced up to that.

A Hymn for Resistance

Resistance is a holy act when empire now holds sway,

Like that empire with iron fist, which ruled in Jesus's day.

To feed and clothe and shelter those once called "the least of these"

Will anger tyrants bent on power, but will our Jesus please.

 

Resistance is a sacred work in times when hatred thrives,

When those who seek supremacy crush holy human lives.

To care for those of different skin gets punished as a crime,

But Jesus lifts up human folk of every race each time.

 

Resistance is in every age our mandate and our call,

Until the day when, like our Christ, love is from all, for all.

Until that day we feed and clothe, we shelter, care, and love,

To live as Jesus lived on earth, to love like God above. 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, August 2025

MUSIC: Tune KINGSFOLD, English Country Songs, 1893; 

              harm. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906.

 

 

This is a hymn very unlikely to be sung on a Sunday morning, unless the congregation is headed out to a march or protest immediately after worship. 

There were two disciples

There were two disciples who took to the road when Jesus their teacher was gone.

Their master had been crucified like a thief and now seemed the time to move on.

But as they were walking, despairing and low, another man came alongside;

When he questioned the two, they told all that happened and how their great teacher had died.

 

Much to their surprise, the man started to teach and opened the travelers' eyes

With words of the prophets that spoke of the one, their Teacher both holy and wise.

They came to Emmaus to stay for the night, invited this man to join in;

But when he broke the bread, something opened their eyes - see, their Teacher was living again!

 

As they were astounded to see Jesus there, he then disappeared from their sight. 

They gathered themselves to go back to the city, hastening with all of their might, 

And there they did hear how their Jesus drew near to Simon and others that day.

Resurrection had come! Now their call was so clear: time to follow their Lord on the way.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, April 2025, after Luke 24:13-35.

MUSIC: Tune SAMANTHRA, American folk melody.

 

 

Apparently being on a plane with no wifi can be a moment when hymn inspiration can happen. This text sits oddly in the Easter cycle, but it's a good scripture text, and I figure it was eventually going to force its way into hymn-text form somehow. 

 

There once was a father

There once was a father who lived with his sons,

And hear how the story is told;

One son who took off with his share of the fortune,

One who did stay in the fold.

The one son who fled was in over his head;

His fortune and favor were gone.

So he lived in despair, feeding pigs for a living;

He lived hungry, cold, and alone.

 

He came to his senses and made up his mind 

That he would return to his home.

He would not claim sonship, but seek only labor,

No longer living to roam.

But soon came his father in haste and in love, and

Yearning to welcome him in;

Fatted calf, finest robe, a new ring and new sandals,

And soon the great feast would begin.

 

The son who had stayed heard the noise, saw the joy,

And he was in anger and sore

That father rejoiced for this derelict son

Who had been so reckless before.

The father replied, "yes, you stayed by my side,

And all that I have is for you,

But this son who was lost, who was dead, now is found safe,

And this we must celebrate too!"

 

There once was a father who lived with his sons

But did his sons now live with him?

One son who sought only to be hired labor,

One who was angry and grim.

Now this is the story, but what does it mean,

And what are we followers to do?

So pay heed to the Father who loves with abandon,

And wonder, which lost son are you?

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2025, after Luke 15:11-32 (Lent 4C).

MUSIC: Tune SAMANTHRA, American folk melody.

 

A folk song to tell a familiar story and questions to end it without an ending.

 

 

When Jesus, full of Spirit

When Jesus, full of Spirit, came into the lonely wilderness,

He faced a tempter bound to foil his earthly work and true witness.

Not pains of hunger, fame nor power would sway our Christ from standing fast.

Our Jesus, filled with Spirit, showed how we should follow to the last.

 

When filled with Spirit, Christians need not strain for power or for fear,

For God alone is all our power and God will lead us to draw near.

When filled with Spirit, Christians need not put our God unto the test;

We turn to God not for display, we turn for sustenance and rest.

 

When filled with Spirit, Christians need not seek out stones to turn to bread.

So many suffer hungry want, but our work is to share instead;

To lay aside our selfish pride and live so no one else has need,

To end the hoarding plunder wrought by raw, unyielding, selfish greed.

 

See how each testing faced by Christ points deep into our daily life:

When we give in to tempter's wiles, we fill our world with pain and strife.

But filled with Spirit we will live upon the words of God alone

Till all our hearts dwell in God's love with all temptation finally gone.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2025, after Luke 4:1-13.

MUSIC: Tune YE BANKS AND BRAES, Scottish melody.

 

 

Somehow I had written two different texts on Matthew's temptation account, but never either the Mark or Luke stories. In this case the emphasis will fall on how those temptations Jesus faced play out in our own lives and what guidance we might draw from the experience.