Hymns By Charles Freeman

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Monday, July 20, 2015

Saturday, August 9, 2014

A Charge and Blessing on Romans 10

Sunday, June 8, 2014

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, 2014
(Inspired by scriptures for Lent 5A: Ezekiel 37:1-14 and John 11:1-45)
Tune: DOVE OF PEACE, American folk melody

This one thing only

This one thing only, loving God,

plant firmly in my heart;

Amidst our work, to hear your word

and choose the better part;

Lord, teach us when to labor on

and when to stop and rest,

To hear your voice and, so restored,

to serve you at our best.

O give this gift, our loving God,

and this one grace please give:

To know one thing above all else

and in this one thing live.

TEXT: CSF, 2013, after Jesus' visit to Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42
MUSIC: Tune McKEE, African American spiritual; Jubilee Songs, 1884

For Ash Wednesday

These ashes marked upon the brow in strokes both dark and fine--

No lightning bolt, no magic spell found in this cross of mine.

But what, then, does this marking do? These faces that I’ve seen

Marked with that sooty, smudgy cross; what do these ashes mean?

They tell me I’m a child of God, yet made of dust and clay,

And that in time this mortal form returns to dust some day.

And yet the cross reminds me, too, this life is not in vain;

That any day lived in my Lord is never loss, but gain.

Though years be short, and life be quick to flee our feeble hold,

Oh, let me live in God’s good will in years both young and old,

And when this mortal body takes its final, dusty rest,

My soul will not be without hope, but be forever blessed.

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, 2014
MUSIC: Tune: CAITHNESS, Scottish Psalter, 1635

When we gather at the table

Eating what is true and real,

Fellowship with all God’s people

Makes the blessing for the meal.

Love for Christ and one another

Makes the feast a sign and seal.

(Makes the feast a sign and seal.)

As we dine on all God’s bounty,

Meats and grains and fruits God sows,

Never let us take for granted

Everything that in Christ grows,

Creatures all of God’s own making

And whose every breath God knows.

Let us not forsake the workers

Who put food upon our plates,

Those who toil at grueling labor

Yet for whom no justice waits;

May we strive that they see mercy,

Not be callous to their fates.

Teach us, Lord, to eat with conscience,

Knowing that in Your good will

What we eat and who we eat with

With Your blessing You will fill;

Nourish us to feed each other

All with good and not for ill.

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, 2012

MUSIC: Possible tunes:

CWM RHONDDA, John Hughes, 1907 (the repeated final line as shown in the first stanza would come into play here).

REGENT SQUARE, Henry Thomas Smart, 1866.

A scene from a Coalition for Immokalee Workers action at a Publix supermarket in Florida; the third stanza was inspired by the work of CIW and other organizations seeking economic justice for the workers who perform the labor others won't, yet are often treated as less than human, with poverty wages and abuse as a regular part of their lives. Learn what CIW is doing at ciw-online.org