Take and eat

"Take and eat this and remember me."

Bread he gave, both blessed and broken, as an everlasting token:

"Take and eat this and remember me."

 

"Take and drink this and remember me."

Jesus gave the cup, revealing covenant and new life sealing:

"Take and drink this and remember me."

 

Take and live this and remember him.

Show his death till his returning, blessed hope of all our yearning.

Take and live this and remember him.

 

 

 

Text: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2023, after 1 Corinthians 11:24-26.

Music: Suggested Tune RANDOLPH, Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906.

 

 

 

The confluence of two separate but overlapping events - a presentation on this hymn tune and preparation for a service using this scripture - somehow merged the two into one in my head, so to speak, and then into print. Could be a useful Maundy Thursday hymn.

 

Rise up, rev. 2023

Rise up, old bones, return to life,

Take sinew, flesh, and breath; 

Give witness to the power of God,

A power that conquers death                     

(A power that conquers death).

 

Rise up, dear friend, return to life,

No longer in the grave; 

Give witness to the love of God

That drives the Christ to save                                 

(That drives the Christ to save).

 

Rise up, old church, return to life,

No longer drowned in fear; 

Give witness to the Word of God

The world declines to hear                         

(The world declines to hear).

 

Rise up, my soul, return to life,

No longer lost in sin; 

Give witness to the grace of God

And let new life begin                                  

(And let new life begin).

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, 2014, rev. 2023, after Lent 5A texts

MUSIC: Tune CHRISTMAS, G.F. Handel, 1728; arr. Lowell Mason, 1821.

 

The combination of Ezekiel’s “valley of bones” vision and Jesus’s raising of Lazarus (Lent 5A) became a prompt for considering new life in institutions (such as churches) or people struggling to stay afloat. (The repeated phrases in parentheses correspond to the suggested tune; they can be left out if a different tune is used.)

 

Seek out the dark night

Seek out the dark night, 

Banish any stray light. 

Turn from the day's toil, come and rest.

Freed from the bright day,

Seeking a calm way; 

We rest now so to serve our best.

 

Why are we failing,

Running, hurried, flailing? 

Why this unholy rush in vain? 

Turn from this fluster,

Banish such bluster

And leave aside the striving pain.

 

Seek quiet, make space,

Give yourself to God's grace; 

Carve out a pause from marching time.

Let holy healing, God's hope revealing,

Repair your soul with love sublime.

 

Then, with this soul care

Turn yourself and now share; 

Serve as a vessel of God's peace. 

Practice such hearing, 

Sure and endearing,

That human loneliness might cease.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2023.

MUSIC: Tune CRUSADERS' HYMN, Silesian folk melody; Schlesische Volkslieder, 1842.

 

 

It might seem a bit much to have a hymn the basic message of which is "get a good night's rest and get back to work refreshed in the morning." Then again, so many people don't seem to be very good at it (raises hand), so maybe the counsel is useful after all. Anyway, make what use you will. 

A serpent so wily

A serpent so wily and set to deceive; 

A man and a woman who could not perceive;

A fruit plucked and eaten, the Lord's word maligned;

Now sin was the fortune of all humankind.

 

The Tempter, come boldly to stark wilderness;

The Teacher, sore troubled in hunger's distress;

Temptations rebuffed and the Tempter resigned;

And so came redemptions for all humankind.

 

As sin came through one, so redemption the same - 

But bringing new righteousness in place of blame.

The one who obeyed broke humanity's bind,

And brought God's free gift unto all humankind. 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, February 2023, after Lent 1A verses

MUSIC: Tune ST. DENIO, Welsh folk melody; arr. Caniadau y Cyssegr, 1839.

 

 

The texts for the first Sunday of Lent in year A give us Adam and Eve in the garden, Jesus in the wilderness, and Paul trying to draw the connection between the two. 

 

Upon a holy mountain

Upon a holy mountain, the three disciples saw

Their Teacher-Friend transfigured; the sight provoked their awe.

All luminous and shining with holy light like flame,

He was the same good Teacher they knew, but not the same.

 

Then, to their shock and wonder, beside their Teacher stood

Both Moses and Elijah, a sacred brotherhood.

Both Law and Prophet with him - a sight too much to bear - 

Caused Peter to proclaim he would build them dwellings there.

 

At this, a bright cloud shining took all of them from view,

And from that cloud all booming a sacred voice broke through:

"This is my Son, Beloved, and I am gratified;

Now listen to him only! In him be satisfied!"

 

With awful fear and terror the three disciples fell,

But Jesus spoke to calm them and their great fear dispel.

No longer three before them, now Jesus stood alone!

Their Teacher was so much more than they had ever known.

 

 

Text: Charles Spence Freeman, February 2023, after Matthew 17:1-8

Music: Suggested tune LLANGLOFFAN, Welsh folk melody.

 

 

A hymn for the Sunday of the Transfiguration of the Lord (year A most particularly), perhaps with a slight ballad-ish influence from the originally-selected folk tune SALLEY GARDENS. The minor key but spirited tune used here seemed somehow to work especially well for a text on a scripture that seems to evoke joy and terror (in the disciples) in turn.  

 

 

What do we worship

What do we worship? Who do we serve?

What claims our joy and our fire and our nerve?

Our true affection, where does it go?

To whom do we our loyalties show?

 

Refrain:

God and God only must be our love!

God in Christ Jesus sent from above,

God in the Spirit come like a dove,

God and God only must be our love.

 

Idols of power vie for the mind,

Power to rule o'er whatever we find. 

This is not holy, not in God's will - 

Perfect submission ours to fulfill.

 

Refrain

 

Idols of wealth now vie for the soul,

Thoughts that possessions might render us whole.

There is no truth in such a design; 

Give it away, your soul to refine.

 

Refrain

 

So many idols call to the heart,

Things which in God's sure design have no part.

Only in service, living and new,

Can we be holy, lovely and true.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, January 2023.

MUSIC: Tune ASSURANCE, Phoebe Palmer Knapp, 1873.

 

A reach back to a sturdy old gospel-song tune to write a hymn about idolatry. A silly thing to write, of course. Modern Christians would *never* be lulled into giving their ultimate devotion to any mere human or object, right?

Right???

Come to the water

Come to the water, hear the waves roll; 

Quiet and powerful, touching the soul.

God spread these waters over the earth

For us to find new life and new birth.

 

Come to the water, hear the brook flow;

Small streams, great rivers help life to grow. 

Jesus was baptized in one like this; 

Sharing our burden, sharing our bliss.

 

Come to the water, see the font full.

Feel how our souls are drawn by its pull.  

Sacrament living, filling the heart,

All in the power of God's holy art. 

 

Think and remember how you once came,

Then went on your way never the same. 

Come to the water! Hear once again

How God still loves you as God did then.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, January 2023.

MUSIC: Tune ADELAIDE, George C. Stebbins, 1907. 

I have found that if I sit long enough within earshot of a beach, something will come. In this case the steady rhythm of wave upon sand worked its way to the waters of the earth, and then to the waters of baptism. This one may lean slightly toward adult baptism, which does still happen. The tune represents another repurposing of those tunes that were the stuff of my church childhood.