A metrical Benedictus

I seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment with hymn words. One of the reasons for this is that I was stuck in bed for a few days with a horrible bug, and it was the kind of task that I could do in between coughing and sneezing a lot. 

There seem to be very few hymn settings of the Benedictus, although Ruth Duck has written a very nice one which has made its way into common worship. Anyway here is my attempt which I think goes rather well to the Swedish folk melody "O Store Gud" (which the hymn "how great thou art" is based upon). 

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Blest be the Lord, the mighty God of Is-rael

has come to set his chosen people free.

God will raise up for us a mighty saviour;

a King from David’s glorious pedigree. 

 

Blest is our Lord, the God of Is-ra-el.

You set us free, sweet liberty!

Blest is our Lord, the God of Is-ra-el.

You set us free, sweet liberty!

 

In prophet’s words and in the scrolls of scripture

you promised freedom from our enemies; 

you liberate us from our fear and trembling

to pray and praise in justice and in peace. [Refrain]

 

And you my child, a prophet of the Most High

You go before to help prepare God’s way

To tell the people of God’s great salvation

Forgiven sins, the dawn of a new day.

 

In tender love, and in Your great compassion, 

The dawn from heaven shall break and bring us peace.

You shine in darkness and the graveyard’s shadow. 

You guide our feet till every war shall cease. 

-----

If you change the chorus words to... 

"Blest is our Lord, the holy God of Is-ra-el.

You set us free, sweet precious liberty!

Blest is our Lord, the holy God of Is-ra-el.

You set us free, sweet precious liberty!"

you can then sing it to Danny Boy. 

A new Advent Hymn/Carol to the tune of "Once in Royal"

 I have been pondering a common problem at this time of year; the fact that people sometimes see publicity for an "Advent Carol" service, and think that they might actually sing some carols, which is often not the case for specifically Advent services (except maybe "O Come Emmanuel"). This is why I often call them "Advent processions" or "A service of Darkness to Light". (of course you actually have to have a procession, or go from darkness to light to call it that.) 

In any case, a number of the traditional Advent hymns are not that well-known. So  my solution to this problem is to write a hymn to a well-known carol tune. I went for "Once in Royal" because it has a mournfulness about it, that seems to suit the themes of Advent. 

So anyway here we are. Feel free to use in services, streaming, projection, printing etc. and if you want to "tweak" it for your circumstances go ahead! (update: I have done a little "polishing" for this year and "fixed" two lines where the rhyming was clunky).

On our world of doubts and darkness,

greed and vio-lence, war and pain

prophets cry out in their sorrow,

“Come towards the light again.

Cease your greed and share your hoard. 

Pave the highway of the Lord”.

 

Root of Jesse, souls are restless.

Graft our lives upon your law.

Day-Star, light salvation’s pathway;

in our hearts the ice can thaw:

He will melt our hearts of stone;

Shape our minds to match his own. 

 

Key of David, sin has bound us:

Our addictions weigh us down

with the chains of guilty mem-ories;

shedding tears, enough to drown.

Come O King, renew, inspire;

come release us, True Messiah! 

 

Come Redeemer of our cosmos, 

come Redeemer of our world.

Lord of Love, restore the broken,

come, O Wisdom, God’s true Word.

In the East your light will dawn;

God-With-Us will soon be born. 

 

SMW 2024 (amended 2025)

A Palm Sunday Procession Hymn

Writing this hymn has been on my wishlist for a while. There aren't enough processional hymns that everyone knows, that are easy to sing, that tell the Palm Sunday story and which have an easy-to-remember chorus. Please feel free to use, photocopy, tweak, etc etc. 

So here we are....

The tune is Cwm Rhondda (Guide me O Thou Great Redeemer). 

By the road the Hebrew children

Waving branches in their hands

Come and greet the great Messiah,

Singing praise at God’s command.

Sing Hosanna, sing Hosanna, 

sing Hosanna to the King;

sing Hosanna to the King of Kings. 

This Messiah rides a donkey,

Not a chariot or a horse.

Jesus is a humble leader

“Prince of Peace”, not “Czar of War”

Sing Hosanna, sing Hosanna, 

sing Hosanna to the King; 

sing Hosanna to the King of Kings. 

Come and greet the New Messiah!

Come and greet the one who saves!

See the man who cured the lepers

And raised Laz’rus from the grave!

Sing Hosanna, sing Hosanna, 

sing Hosanna to the King;

sing Hosanna to the King of Kings. 

Wave your palms and wave your olives,

Wave your branches, shout and sing. 

Spread your cloaks upon the roadway

like a carpet for a king. 

Sing Hosanna, sing Hosanna, 

sing Hosanna to the King; 

sing Hosanna to the King of Kings. 

Blessed is the coming kingdom

Blessed is the coming King

He who enters in the Lord’s name

Our salvation he will bring. 

Sing Hosanna, sing Hosanna, 

sing Hosanna to the King;

sing Hosanna to the King of Kings. 

Prophets had foretold his coming, 

Riding on a donkey’s foal, 

Battle-bows will soon be broken, 

Love and peace will be his goal. 

Sing Hosanna, sing Hosanna, 

sing Hosanna to the King;

sing Hosanna to the King of Kings. 

Pharisees will hate this tumult

And the praises of the crowd.

Yet if children cease their singing 

then the rocks will cry aloud. 

Sing Hosanna, sing Hosanna, 

sing Hosanna to the King; 

sing Hosanna to the King of Kings. 

Come and join this joyful movement!

Bring a royal diadem!

Why do you not want to join us

Leaders of Jerusalem?

Sing Hosanna, sing Hosanna, 

sing Hosanna to the King; 

sing Hosanna to the King of Kings. 

Jesus weeps upon the city,

“I would hold you in my arms

like a mother holds her children,

Keep you safe from war and harm”

Sing Hosanna, sing Hosanna, 

sing Hosanna to the King;

sing Hosanna to the King of Kings. 

Overturn the swindlers tables

Make my house a house of prayer

For the people of all nations

Every soul that loves and cares.

Sing Hosanna, sing Hosanna, 

sing Hosanna to the King;

sing Hosanna to the King of Kings. 

Sue Wallace, 2018.

Great is thy faithfulness - New Verses

"Great is thy faithfulness" is a popular hymn for ordinations, however in the cathedral we need longer hymns than most churches due to the fact that our nave is so long and collections and processions take some time. This often limits our choice of hymns at services such as ordinations where we try to have particularly popular and well-known tunes.

 In order to solve this problem over a lack of verses I have written two more verses to Great is thy faithfulness, taking Lamentations 3 as the basis for these verses. This chapter of the bible was Thomas Chishom's original inspiration for the hymn.

Please feel free to use in a worship context as you wish, and if you need to make little tweaks for any reason, please also feel free to do so. I suggest that these verses go in the middle of the hymn if you use them.

Steadfast the love of the Lord never ceases
Quietly we wait for salvation to come.
Let us seek out and examine the Lord's ways
Woe and injustice he will overcome.

Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies we see....(etc)

Grieving I cried in the depth of the dungeon,
"Come to my aid, O Lord give me relief."
Thou hast redeemed me and saved me from sorrow,
from my assailants, their taunts and my grief.

Great is thy faithfulness.....(etc)