Tag Archives: hymns

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Sunday Singing: Ancient of Days

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Today’s hymn was written by American William Croswell Doane (1832-1913), the first bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, New York. He wrote this hymn for the bicentenary of the City of Albany, 1886.

1 Ancient of Days, who sittest throned in glory;
To Thee all knees are bent, all voices pray;
Thy love hath blest the wide world’s wondrous story
With light and life since Eden’s dawning day.

2 O Holy Father, who hast led Thy children
In all the ages, with the fire and cloud,
Through seas dry-shod, through weary wastes bewildering;
To Thee, in reverent love, our hearts are bowed.

3 O Holy Jesus, Prince of Peace, and Savior,
To Thee we owe the peace that still prevails,
Stilling the rude wills of men’s wild behavior,
And calming passion’s wild and stormy gales.

4 O Holy Ghost, the Lord and the Life-giver,
Thine is the quickening power that gives increase;
From Thee have flowed, as from a pleasant river,
Our plenty, wealth, prosperity, and peace.

5 O Triune God, with heart and voice adoring,
Praise we the goodness that doth crown our days;
Pray we, that Thou wilt hear us, still imploring
Thy love and favor, kept to us always.

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Sunday Singing: Exalt the Lord, His Praise Proclaim

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“Exalt the Lord, His Praise Proclaim,” performed by Christelijk Residentie Mannenkoor of The Netherlands

It’s Father’s Day in the States, so I could have chosen a hymn with the word father in the first line, but I wanted to finish the month with songs of God the Father, and so we have today’s hymn. “Exalt the Lord, His Praise Proclaim” is a paraphrase of Psalm 135:1-7, 21 written for the Trinity Psalter of 1912. The tune is from Hayden’s The Creation oratorio. It’s grand and noble music, but I had to speed up the video to 1.5x. Maybe I’m singing hymns at a faster pace lately.

1 Exalt the Lord, his praise proclaim;
all ye his servants, praise his name,
who in the Lord’s house ever stand
and humbly serve at his command.
The Lord is good, his praise proclaim;
since it is pleasant, praise his name;
his people for his own he takes
and his peculiar treasure makes.

2 I know the Lord is high in state,
above all gods our Lord is great;
the Lord performs what he decrees,
in heav’n and earth, in depths and seas.
He makes the vapors to ascend
in clouds from earth’s remotest end;
the lightnings flash at his command;
he holds the tempest in his hand.

3 Exalt the Lord, his praise proclaim;
all ye his servants, praise his name,
who in the Lord’s house ever stand
and humbly serve at his command.
Forever praise and bless his name,
and in the church his praise proclaim;
in Zion is his dwelling place;
praise ye the Lord, show forth his grace.

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Sunday Singing: Holy Ghost, Dispel Our Sadness

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“Holy Ghost, Dispel Our Sadness” performed by John Allen Bankson

We are continuing a Pentecost theme with hymns on the Holy Spirit. This one was written in 1648 by Paul Gerhardt of Saxony, Germany, a famous Lutheran hymnist. The tune shared in the video above is the one composed by John Calvin’s church musician Louis Bourgeois and could be a little faster, especially if you’re singing all five of the verses below, taken from the Lutheran Hymnary of 1913.

1 Holy Ghost, dispel our sadness,
Pierce the clouds of sinful night;
Come, Thou source of sweetest gladness,
Breathe Thy life, and spread Thy light!
Loving Spirit, God of peace!
Great distributor of grace!
Rest upon this congregation,
Hear, O hear our supplication!

2 From that height which knows no measure
As a gracious shower descend,
Bringing down the richest treasure
Man can wish, or God can send!
O Thou Glory, shining down
From the Father and the Son,
Grant us Thy illumination!
Rest upon this congregation!

3 Known to Thee are all recesses
Of the earth and spreading skies;
Every sand the shore possesses
Thy omniscient mind descries.
Holy Fountain! wash us clean
Both from error and from sin!
Make us fly what Thou refusest,
And delight in what Thou choosest!

4 Manifest Thy love for ever;
Fence us in on every side;
In distress be our reliever,
Guard and teach, support and guide!
Let Thy kind effectual grace
Turn our feet from evil ways;
Show Thyself our new creator,
And conform us to Thy nature!

5 Be our friend on each occasion,
God, omnipotent to save!
When we die, be our salvation,
When we’re buried, be our grave!
And, when from the grave we rise,
Take us up above the skies,
Seat us with Thy saints in glory,
There for ever to adore Thee!

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Sunday Singing: Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove

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“Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove” performed by Laude of First Congregational Church of Los Angeles

Continuing to remember the Holy Spirit on this Sunday after Pentecost, Isaac Watts 1707 hymn, “Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove,” is a thoughtful prayer that can tune our hearts to sing his praise. I suspect the second verse below has fallen out of favor in many hymnals.

1 Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,
With all Thy quickening powers;
Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours.

2 Look how we grovel here below,
Fond of these trifling toys;
Our souls can neither fly nor go,
To reach eternal joys.

3 In vain we tune our formal songs,
In vain we strive to rise;
Hosannas languish on our tongues,
And our devotion dies.

4 Dear Lord, and shall we ever live
At this poor dying rate?
Our love so faint, so cold to Thee,
And Thine to us so great!

5 Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,
With all Thy quickening powers;
Come, shed abroad a Saviour’s love,
And that shall kindle ours.

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Pentecost Singing: O Breath of Life, Come Sweeping Through Us

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Today is Pentecost Sunday, the day on which the Lord Christ sent the Comforter to dwell among us. This hymn, “O Breath of Life, Come Sweeping Through Us,” comes to use from the Irish woman Bessie Porter Head (1850-1936).

1. O Breath of life, come sweeping through us,
revive your church with life and pow’r;
O Breath of Life, come, cleanse, renew us,
and fit your church to meet this hour.

2. O Wind of God, come bend us, break us,
till humbly we confess our need;
then in your tenderness remake us,
revive, restore, for this we plead.

3. O Breath of love, come breathe within us,
renewing thought and will and heart;
come, Love of Christ, afresh to win us,
revive your church in ev’ry part.

4. O Heart of Christ, once broken for us,
’tis there we find our strength and rest;
our broken, contrite hearts now solace,
and let your waiting church be blest.

5. Revive us, Lord! Is zeal abating
while harvest fields are vast and white?
Revive us, Lord, the world is waiting,
equip your church to spread the light.

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Sunday Singing: Look, Ye Saints, the Sight Is Glorious

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“Look, Ye Saints, the Sight Is Glorious” sung by the congregation of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London

Last Thursday was Ascension Day, making today Ascension Sunday. It’s been a trying week for me, so leaning into Christ victorious is comforting.

Peter referred to Christ’s ascension when he preached to the crowd at Pentecost, saying, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. . . . For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

Today’s hymn by Irishman Thomas Kelly (1769-1855) speaks to this most incredible moment in history. Look, ye saints, he says. Look at the Man of Sorrows now! You thought he was dead, and now, not only is that not true, he has risen into the clouds to receive his crown.

1 Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious;
see the Man of Sorrows now;
from the fight returned victorious,
ev’ry knee to him shall bow.
Crown him! Crown him!
Crowns become the Victor’s brow.

2 Crown the Savior, angels, crown him;
rich the trophies Jesus brings;
in the seat of pow’r enthrone him,
while the vault of heaven rings.
Crown him! Crown him!
Crown the Savior King of kings.

3 Sinners in derision crowned him
mocking thus the Savior’s claim;
saints and angels crowd around him,
own his title, praise his name:
Crown him! Crown him!
Spread abroad the Victor’s fame!

4 Hark! those bursts of acclamation!
Hark! those loud triumphant chords!
Jesus takes the highest station;
O what joy the sight affords!
Crown him! Crown him!
King of kings and Lord of lords.

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Sunday Singing: Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord

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“Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord” performed by The Redeemer Choir of Austin, Texas

This week’s hymn of ascension is a new one, as hymns go. Edmund P. Clowney (1917-2005) taught practical theology and was the first president of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He published this hymn, based on Psalm 24, in 1987.

The tune, about a hundred years older, is by the Irishman Sir Charles Villiers Stanford. You’ll notice it’s different than many hymn tunes in its triumphal openness. Each verse ends on a high note, perhaps to lift our heads up to Christ above us. With that it doesn’t feel neatly wrapped. It feels as if it anticipates more to come.

The words are under copyright, so I will copy only the first verse here.

Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord,
to search the mystery in heaven stored,
the knowledge of the Holy One adored?
Alleluia!

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Princess Elizabeth Gave Us the Hymn of Psalm 23

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I heard recently that after the Civil War, Americans began using Psalm 23 in funerals and it took on nostalgia for many people. Believers were in the habit of singing psalms back then and were moving toward hymns.

When you think of a traditional melody for Psalm 23, what do you think of? Is this Crimond? The wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten in 1947 put that tune on the world stage. Donald Keddie writes:

The music director of the Royal Wedding, William McKie (1901–1984), visited Balmoral in Scotland and heard one of Princess Elizabeth’s ladies-in-waiting, Lady Margaret Egerton, singing a descant of Psalm 23 to CRIMOND, accompanied by Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. McKie wanted to include something Scottish in the Royal Wedding, and Psalm 23’s pastoral imagery fit the bill perfectly.

Unable to find the music for the descant and with two days to go to the wedding, McKie wrote down the music himself shorthand and taught it to the Abbey Choir. The composer of the descant, William Baird Ross (1871–1950), was later surprised to hear his arrangement on the radio broadcast.

The fame of the Royal Wedding made Psalm 23 to CRIMOND a Christian pop song of its era. The brighter, more joyful tune gave new life to the psalm. As a result, American Protestants of all denominations began singing Psalm 23 to this tune, and American Presbyterians embraced a metrical psalm from their own tradition again.

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Sunday Singing: A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing

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“A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing,” performed by the congregation of the Church of Saint Michael in Stillwater, MN

For the majority of May, our theme will be Christ’s ascension. Ascension Sunday is May 21. The text was written by The Venerable Bede, “Father of English History.” He died on Ascension Day in 735. Benjamin Webb originally translated it for The Hymnal Noted in 1852.

The words here were copied from the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, 1996.

1 A hymn of glory let us sing!
New songs throughout the world shall ring:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Christ, by a road before untrod.
Ascendeth to the throne of God.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

2 The holy apostolic band
Upon the Mount of Olives stand.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
And with his followers they see
Jesus’ resplendent majesty.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

3 To whom the angels, drawing nigh,
“Why stand and gaze upon the sky?
Alleluia! Alleluia!
“This is the Saviour!” thus they say,
“This is His noble triumph-day.”
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Continue reading Sunday Singing: A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing →
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Sunday Singing: Thine Be the Glory

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“Thine Be the Glory” performed by The Harmonious Chorale Ghana

One more Easter hymn for the month. “Thine Be the Glory” was written by Swiss hymnist Edmond Louis Budry (1854–1932) specifically to the “conquering hero” theme in Handel’s oratorio Judas Maccabaeus. Englishman Richard Birch Hoyle translated the work into English.

1 Thine be the glory, risen, conqu’ring Son:
endless is the vict’ry thou o’er death hast won;
angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
kept the folded grave-clothes where thy body lay.

Refrain:
Thine be the glory, risen, conqu’ring Son;
endless is the vict’ry thou o’er death hast won.

2 Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;
lovingly he greets us, scatters fear and gloom;
let the church with gladness, hymns of triumph sing,
for her Lord now liveth, death hath lost its sting. [Refrain]

3 No more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of life;
life is naught without thee: aid us in our strife;
make us more than conqu’rors, thro’ thy deathless love:
bring us safe thro’ Jordan to thy home above. [Refrain]