For all led by the Spirit, alternate tune

For all led by the Spirit of God our Lord on high

Are children of that same God and on God's grace rely.

This Spirit does not hold us in bondage or in fear,

But brings us to adoption by God who draws us near. 

 

And if we are God's children, then heirs of God are we!

Joint-heirs with Christ our brother! Let all now hear and see!

Now hear creation groaning, with labor pains it cries;

Oh, how it longs for freedom, in earth and seas and skies!

 

We, too, wait or redemption with sighs for what will be;

We wait with hope and patience, although we do not see.

For all led by the Spirit of God our Lord above

Are children of this same God through God's unending love.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, July 2023; loosely after Romans 8:12-25

MUSIC: Tune AURELIA, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, 1864.

 

 

An alternate setting of this hymn, now with three verses instead of two (and a very familiar tune).

God, grant us the contentment (alternate tune)

God, grant us the contentment

            Of knowing what we need,

Not wanting after riches

            That cause the soul to bleed.

Deliver us from evil

            That comes of loving wealth,

But hold us in your true love,

            Your life and breath and health.

 

Give us the grace, our dear Lord,

            To seek your gift of love;

To choose that which is faithful

            And peace-like as the dove.

With righteousness and goodness

            And gentleness to give,

O God of all our living,

            Hold us and help us live.

 

For we who know abundance,

            Let us live not in pride,

But only in your goodness,

            Lord, teach us to abide.

Keep us from vain desiring

            That leads to pain and strife,

But give to us your best gift:

            Life that is truly life.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, 2019, after 1 Timothy 6:6-19.

MUSIC: Tune PASSION CHORALE, Hans Leo Hassler, 1621; harm. J.S. Bach, 1729.

So, about three years ago I came up with this text on the indicated reading from 1 Timothy even though I wasn't actually preaching from it at the time. So I let it sit, and for the fall I decided to get into these difficult little epistles for preaching material for the first time. I had originally set the text to the SALLEY GARDENS tune, but the version in our hymnal is not accessible with the copyright licensing we have, so I needed another. Once I decided to adapt Martin Luther's supposed line and say "Why should Good Friday have all the good tunes?", I was set. 

O love your God with all your heart

O love your God with all your heart,

            With all your power to love;

Now show that love to all around

            As to your Lord above.

 

O love your God with all your soul,

            With all your power to feel; 

Give to the world your greatest gifts

            To show your Lord is real.

 

O love your God with all your strength,

            With all your power to do;

Show deeds of holy service now

            To serve your Savior true.

 

O love your God with all your mind,

            With all your power to know;

In word and thought be full of grace,

            The power of God to show.

 As you have loved the Lord your God,

            So love your neighbor well; 

There is no rule of greater worth 

            Than in these loves to dwell. 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, June 2019, October 2021, after Luke 10:26-28 or Mark 12:28-31.

MUSIC: Suggested tune AZMON, Carl Gotthelf Gläser, 1828; arr. Lowell Mason, 1839.

The text has been tweaked a little, and is fitting for (among other things) the lectionary lesson on the parable of the Good Samaritan. Also continuing to take advantage of finally learning how to create more hymn-like scores on Finale. 

The Reign of Christ compels us (alternate tune)

The reign of Christ compels us to bear a witness true

To glorify our Savior in all we say and do.

The Lord, who in our living is sovereign above all, 

Compels and draws us always to live into this call. 

As Christ first bore good witness to God’s almighty power, 

So we are charged to sound forth in this and every hour.

With calls to truth and justice, with words of peace and love,

We give our testimony to our good God above.

 

By Spirit’s power unyielding we bear that witness true,

Not just with words but actions that we are called to do.

In work that lifts up God’s own that this world calls “the least,” 

We call the world to gather at God’s own holy feast.

 

For God our king and ruler, all that we have, we give. 

Our witness is embodied in every way we live.

So let us join our living to words of love and grace,

That Christ’s own holy justice may reign in every place.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, June 2021.

MUSIC: Tune AURELIA, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, 1864.

 

 

This text was provoked by a sermon by Rev. Cecilia Armstrong and service given at the Presbyterian Association of Musicians Worship and Music Conference at Montreat Conference Center in North Carolina on June 29, 2021. The scripture from Revelation 1:4b-8, in particular the reference to Christ as “the faithful witness” in verse 5, provided the starting point for the sermon (at least as I understood it) and this hymn as well. Here it is paired to a somewhat more accessible tune.

O love your God, alternate fifth stanza

O love your God with all your heart,

            With all your power to love;

Now show that love to all around

            As to your Lord above.

 

O love your God with all your soul,

            With all your power to feel; 

Give to the world your greatest gifts

            To show your Lord is real.

 

O love your God with all your strength,

            With all your power to do;

Show deeds of holy service now

            To serve your Savior true.

 

O love your God with all your mind,

            With all your power to know;

In word and thought be full of grace,

            The power of God to show.

 

With mind and strength and soul and heart

            The love of God proclaim,

That all the world may know that love

            And call on Jesus’ name.

 

Alternate final stanza:

As you have loved the Lord your God,

            So love your neighbor well; 

There is no rule of greater worth 

            Than in these loves to dwell.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, June 2019; alternate stanza October 2021, after Luke 10:26-28 or Mark 12:28-31.

MUSIC: Suggested tune AZMON, Carl Gotthelf Gläser, 1828; arr. Lowell Mason, 1839.

A revision of a text from back in June 2019, found here. Mark's rendering of this encounter adds what seems to me a significant comment from Jesus, the part about how there is no commandment greater than these. With this text approaching in the lectionary, a quick revision to bring this note into the hymn seemed desirable. 

For God alone my soul does wait, alt. tune, revised

For God alone my soul does wait

In silence and in solitude;

My safety is in God alone;

My soul is sheltered and renewed.

 

God is my sole foundation strong,

And my salvation sure and true;

My fortress firm in which I trust,

And which no foe can still undo.

 

For God alone my soul does wait

With silence and with solitude;

My hope lives only in the Lord, 

My soul is sheltered and renewed.

 

Deliverance and honor true

Come only from my God on high; 

My mighty rock is only God,

My refuge when I mourn and cry.

 

O trust our God in all your ways; 

O peoples, trust your Lord above!

Pour out your heart, cry out your prayers

To God our refuge and our love.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2020, after Psalm 62:1-2, 5, 7-8; alt. January 2021

MUSIC: Suggested tune CONDITOR ALME SIDERUM, Sarum plainsong, 9^th cent. (LM); alternate tune O WALY WALY, English folk melody

It's not often I have to say that I've revised a text because of something that came up in my Hebrew prep time for a sermon. That said, I've revised this text because of something that came up in my Hebrew prep time for a sermon. Just two words (or one word twice, more precisely) in the third stanza, but it seemed to matter. 

Take on the mind of Christ

Take on the mind of Christ our Lord: though God in every way,

He did not cling to heav’nly form, but gave himself away.

 

Take on the mind of Christ our Lord: he took a servant mind,

Yes, Christ, the Everlasting One took on our human kind.

 

Take on the mind of Christ our Lord, who did not call it loss

To be obedient to the end of death upon a cross.

 

So at the name of Christ our Lord, let every knee now bend,

And every tongue confess him Lord forever, without end.

 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, 2019-20, after Philippians 2:5-8 (10-11)

MUSIC: Tune DETROIT, Supplement to Kentucky Harmony, 1820.

The first three stanzas were written about a year ago, more as a challenge or test than for any particular immediate usage. Lo and behold, the passage appears in the lectionary in a couple of weeks, and that last half I didn't know what to do with suddenly became verse four. 

Hope is born

Hope is born, this night in Bethlehem.

The star leads on and calls us ever to One who forsakes us never.

Hope is born, this night in Bethlehem.

 

“Peace on earth,” a heavenly choir sings on,

“For now our God who reigns on high in this child has come down nigh.”

“Peace on earth,” a heavenly choir sings on.

 

“Great, great joy!” the angels sing their song.

“For you is born a Savior holy; yet he rests in manger lowly.”

“Great, great joy!” the angels sing their song.

 

Love has come; our life is now made new;

For like a candle breaks the night, this child comes as sacred light.

Love has come; our life is now made new.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, December 2018, revised August 2020 (after liturgy by Anna Traynham)

MUSIC: Tune STILL, STILL, STILL, Austrian Carol

As noted, this is a revision of an earlier hymn for Christmas Eve 2020, found here. The revision is fairly straightforward in that the original three verses are reversed in order and a fourth added, allowing for this hymn originally designed for Christmas Eve to recapitulate the hope-peace-joy-love cycle (associated with Advent and wreath lightings in many churches) more completely. As this set of Advent songs is not bound to a particular year's readings it may be usable in any Advent cycle. 

With our earthly bodies broken

Note: if you actually go to a hymn-writing workshop and show your hymns, you're going to get some edits. This recent hymn has a couple, probably to the better, though there are still a couple of things I'm not satisfied with yet. (Original here.) And yes, the event that provoked the writing of this hymn is two weeks from Monday.

Note 2, 18 August 2019: Another revision, very slight, and a different screen shot of a rearranged score, hopefully more readable.

With our earthly bodies broken,

            While our hopes fade into fear,

Bodies failing or cut open,

            Fates we never want to hear:

Where is Christ, the Great Physician?

            Where is Jesus’ healing touch?

Dare we question why this torment,

            Why we suffer pain so much?

Have we sinned somehow, unwitting?

            Have we failed to honor you?

Is there some great deed of service

            That we somehow failed to do?

Though your words refute such wond’ring,

            Make it clear that’s not your way,

Still we cannot help but question,

            Yet there’s nothing left to say.

Still you promise not to leave us,

            Though our doubting is not stayed.

You have claimed us in your kingdom,

            Though our fears are strong arrayed.

Should we fail yet to recover,

            If our wounds can never heal,

Let us not despair of knowing

            That your care for us is real.

Text: CSF, 2019.

Music: Suggested tune BEACH SPRING, The Sacred Harp, 1844.