O Beautiful for Spacious Skies (Tune: MATERNA)

O beautiful for spacious skies,
for amber waves of grain,
for purple mountain majesties
above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
and crown thy good with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea.

O beautiful for heroes proved
in liberating strife,
who more than self their country loved,
and mercy more than life!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
confirm thy soul in self-control,
thy liberty in law.

O beautiful for patriot dream
that sees beyond the years
thine alabaster cities gleam,
undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
and crown thy good with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea.


Text: Katherine Lee Bates (1859-1929)
Tune: MATERNA, CMD, by Samuel Augustus Ward (1848-1903)

Before the Lord's Eternal Throne (Tune: WINCHESTER NEW)

Before the Lord's eternal throne,
all nations, bow with holy joy;
know that the Lord is God alone,
he can create and can destroy.

His sovereign power, without our aid,
formed us and fashioned us of old;
and when like wandering sheep we strayed,
he brought us back into his fold.

We'll crowd your gates with thankful songs,
high as the heavens our voices raise;
and earth, with her ten thousand tongues,
shall fill your courts with joyful praise.

Wide as the world is your command,
vast as eternity your love;
firm as a rock your truth shall stand
when rolling years have ceased to move.

Text: Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Tune: WINCHESTER NEW LM (Musikalisches Hand-Buch, Hamburg, 1690)

When we are called to sing your praise (KINGSFOLD)

1. When we are called to sing your praise with hearts so filled with pain
That we would rather sit and weep or stand up to complain,
Remind us, God, you understand the burdens that we bear;
You, too, have walked the shadowed way and known our deep despair.

2. When we are called to sing your praise and cannot find our voice,
Because our losses leaves us now no reason to rejoice.
Remind us, God, that you accept our sad laments in prayer;
You, too, have walked the shadowed way and known our deep despair.

3. When we are called to sing your praise and life ahead looks grim,
Still give us faith and hope enough to break forth in a hymn,
A thankful hymn, great God of Love, that you are everywhere;
You walk the shadowed way with us and keep us in your care.

Text: Mary Nelson Keithahn (b. 1934)
Tune: KINGSFOLD, CMD

Be Present at our Table, Lord

Be present at our table, Lord;
Be here and everywhere adored;
Thy creatures bless, and grant that we
May feast in paradise with Thee.

We thank Thee, Lord, for this our food,
For life and health and every good;
By Thine own hand may we be fed;
Give us each day our daily bread.

We thank Thee, Lord, for this our good,
But more because of Jesus’ blood;
Let manna to our souls be giv’n,
The Bread of Life sent down from Heav’n.

Text: John Cennick, 1718-1755
Tune: OLD HUNDREDTH LM

We Give You Thanks (David Haas)

1. For the bread and wine we share here,
For the friends that we embrace,
For the peace we find in healing,
For all who gather in this place,
For the faith of those around us,
For the dead and all those here,
For the hope we find in mem’ry,
For the love that draws us near.
       
Refrain   

We give you thanks, we give you thanks
For the grace to receive, in you we believe,
We give you thanks, we give you thanks,
With faith and hope and love we give you thanks.

2. For the movement deep within us,
For the stories that we bring,
For the signs of God’s compassion,
For the journey that we sing,
For the word that holds our promise,
For the gifts that we can claim,
For the wonders that surround us,
For the song that sings our name.   

3. For the water bringing new life,
For the fragrance of release,
For the fire that blazes forward,
For the call to bring forth peace,
For the blindness now enlightened,
For the bound that are now free,
For the brightness of your new day,
For the kingdom we will be.   

Composer: David Haas (b. 1957)

See my other blog postings in the Contemporary Catholic series.

わが心 たたえよ主を (テゼ / Taizé)

See also the original English version: Bless the Lord, My Soul (Taizé)

Music: Jacques Berthier (English bio) (French bio)

See my other blog postings in the "Taizé" series of chants.

Official Taizé Community Website

Wikipedia information on the Taizé Community
- in French
- in English

In de Heer (Taizé)

See also other versions: El Senyor / Meine Hoffnung / In the Lord I'll be ever thankful

Music: Jacques Berthier (English bio) (French bio)

See my other blog postings in the "Taizé" series of chants.

Official Taizé Community Website

Wikipedia information on the Taizé Community
- in French
- in English

Praise the Lord, Ye Heavens Adore Him (Tune: AUSTRIA)

Praise the Lord, ye heavens adore Him;
Praise Him, angels, in the height;
Sun and moon, rejoice before Him;
Praise Him, all ye stars and light.
Praise the Lord, for He hath spoken;
Worlds His mighty voice obeyed.
Laws which never shall be broken
For their guidance He hath made.

Praise the Lord, for He is glorious;
Never shall His promise fail.
God hath made His saints victorious;
Sin and death shall not prevail.
Praise the God of our salvation;
Hosts on high, His power proclaim.
Heaven and earth and all creation,
Laud and magnify His Name.

Worship, honour, glory, blessing,
Lord, we offer unto Thee;
Young and old, Thy praise expressing,
In glad homage bend the knee.
All the saints in heaven adore Thee;
We would bow before Thy throne:
As Thine angels serve before Thee,
So on earth Thy will be done.

See also: Praise the Lord, Ye Heavens Adore Him (Tunes: HYFRYDOL, ABBOT'S LEIGH)

Text: Foundling Hospital Collection, 1801

Tune: AUSTRIA, HYFRYDOL 87.87D

Každý den Pán mi sílu dává (Taizé)

See also other versions: El Senyor / Meine Hoffnung / In the Lord I'll be ever thankful

Music: Jacques Berthier (English bio) (French bio)

See my other blog postings in the "Taizé" series of chants.

Official Taizé Community Website

Wikipedia information on the Taizé Community
- in French
- in English

Meine Hoffnung (Taizé)

German:

Meine Hoffnung und meine Freude,
meine Stärke, mein Licht.
Christus, meine Zuversicht,
auf dich vertrau' ich und fürcht' mich nicht,
auf dich vertrau' ich und fürcht' mich nicht

See also other version: El Senyor / In the Lord I'll be ever thankful / Každý den Pán mi sílu dává

Music: Jacques Berthier (English bio) (French bio)

See my other blog postings in the "Taizé" series of chants.

Official Taizé Community Website

Wikipedia information on the Taizé Community
- in French
- in English

In the Lord I'll be ever thankful (Taizé)

English:

In the Lord I'll be ever thankful,
In the Lord I will rejoice!
Look to God, do not be afraid.
Lift up your voices, the Lord is near,
Lift up your voices, the Lord is near.

See also other versions: El Senyor / Meine Hoffnung / Každý den Pán mi sílu dává

Music: Jacques Berthier (English bio) (French bio)

See my other blog postings in the "Taizé" series of chants.

Official Taizé Community Website

Wikipedia information on the Taizé Community
- in French
- in English

Exomologisthe to Kyrio (Taizé)

See my other blog postings in the "Taizé" series of chants.

Official Taizé Community Website

Wikipedia information on the Taizé Community
- in French
- in English

Rendez grâce au Seigneur (Taizé)

See my other blog postings in the "Taizé" series of chants.

Official Taizé Community Website

Wikipedia information on the Taizé Community
- in French
- in English

How Shall I Sing That Majesty

How Great a Being
Which doth all beings keep.
Thy Knowledge the only Line
To sound so vast a Deep.

Thou art a sea without a shore,
A sun without a sphere,
Thy time is now and ever more,
Thy place is every where.

How shall I sing that majesty,
Which angels do admire?
Let dust in dust and silence lie,
Sing, Sing, Ye Heavenly Choir.

Thou art a sea without a shore.
A Sun without a sphere,
Thy time is now and ever more
Thy place is every where.

How shall I sing that Majesty
Which Angels do Admire?
Let dust in dust and silence lie.
Sing, Sing, Ye Heavenly Choir.

Text: John Mason (1645-1694)

For the Beauty of the Earth (John Rutter)

See also: the original hymn version

For the beauty of the earth,
for the beauty of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies,

Refrain:

Lord of all, to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale, and tree and flower,
sun and moon, and stars of light (Refrain)

For the joy of ear and eye,
for the heart and brain's delight,
for the mystic harmony
linking sense to sound and sight (Refrain)

For the joy of human love,
brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth, and friends above,
for all gentle thoughts and mild (Refrain)

For each perfect gift of thine
to our race so freely given,
graces human and divine,
flowers of earth and buds of heaven (Refrain)

See also: the original hymn version

Words: Folliot Sandford Pierpoint, 1864
Music: John Rutter

King of Glory, King of Peace

TUNE I: GWALCHMAI




TUNE II: GENERAL SEMINARY







King of glory, King of peace,
I will love thee;
and that love may never cease,
I will move thee.
Thou hast granted my request,
thou hast heard me;
thou didst note my working breast,
thou hast spared me.

Wherefore with my utmost art
I will sing thee,
and the cream of all my heart
I will bring thee.
Though my sins against me cried,
thou didst clear me;
and alone, when they replied,
thou didst hear me.

Seven whole days, not one in seven,
I will praise thee;
in my heart, though not in heaven,
I can raise thee.
Small it is, in this poor sort
to enroll thee:
e'en eternity's too short
to extol thee.

Words: George Herbert (1633)
Tune I: GWALCHMAI, 74.74D
Tune II: GENERAL SEMINARY, 74.74D (by David Charles Walker)

Let All Things Now Living

Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving
To God the creator triumphantly raise.
Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
Who still guides us on to the end of our days.
God's banners are o'er us, His light goes before us,
A pillar of fire shining forth in the night.
Till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished
As forward we travel from light into light.

His law he enforces, the stars in their courses
And sun in its orbit obediently shine;
The hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains,
The deeps of the ocean proclaim him divine.
We too should be voicing our love and rejoicing;
With glad adoration a Song let us raise
Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving:
"To God in the highest, Hosanna and praise!

Text: Katherine Kennicott Davis (1939)
Tune: ASH GROVE 66.11.66.11D

I Sing The Mighty Power of God

I sing the mighty power of God,
that made the mountains rise,
that spread the flowing seas abroad,
and built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained
the sun to rule the day;
the moon shines full at God's command,
and all the stars obey.

I sing the goodness of the Lord,
who filled the earth with food,
who formed the creatures through the Word,
and then pronounced them good.
Lord, how thy wonders are displayed,
where'er I turn my eye,
if I survey the ground I tread,
or gaze upon the sky.

There's not a plant or flower below,
but makes thy glories known,
and clouds arise, and tempests blow,
by order from thy throne;
while all that borrows life from thee
is ever in thy care;
and everywhere that we can be,
thou, God art present there.

Words: Isaac Watts, 1715
Tune: ELLACOMBE CMD

Let All The World In Every Corner Sing

Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!
The heavens are not too high, his praise may thither fly,
the earth is not too low, his praises there may grow.
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!

Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!
The church with psalms must shout, no door can keep them out;
but, above all, the heart must bear the longest part.
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!

Words: George Herbert (1633)
Setting in Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1911)

For The Beauty Of The Earth

See also: For the Beauty of the Earth (John Rutter)

For the beauty of the earth,
for the beauty of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies,

Refrain:

Christ our God, to thee we raise
this our sacrifice of praise.

OR

Lord of all, to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale, and tree and flower,
sun and moon, and stars of light (Refrain)

For the joy of ear and eye,
for the heart and brain's delight,
for the mystic harmony
linking sense to sound and sight (Refrain)

For the joy of human love,
brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth, and friends above,
for all gentle thoughts and mild (Refrain)

For each perfect gift of thine
to our race so freely given,
graces human and divine,
flowers of earth and buds of heaven (Refrain)

For thy Bride that evermore
lifteth holy hands above,
offering up on every shore
this pure sacrifice of love (Refrain)

For the martyrs' crown of light,
for thy prophets' eagle eye,
for thy bold confessors' might,
for the lips of infancy (Refrain)

For thy virgins' robes of snow,
for thy maiden Mother mild,
for thyself, with hearts aglow,
Jesus,Victim undefiled (Refrain)

See also: For the Beauty of the Earth (John Rutter)

Historical Information

Words: Folliot Sandford Pierpoint, 1864
Tune: DIX 77.77.77