Monthly Archives: Jan 2023

Hear Our Prayer

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This song by Emu Music is based on a prayer by Love M. Whitcomb Willis. Not much is known about her other than she was born 9 June 1824 and died on 26 November 1908. She was the daughter of a Unitarian minister and married Frederick Llewellyn Hovey Willis. Enjoy this simple prayer.

Hear our prayer, God above
As we come to you and seek your patient love;
Hear our hearts, hear our minds
Hear the echoes of the words we cannot find

Be our hope, be our guide
In our wanderings of weakness break our pride;
Not for ease shall we pray,
But for strength that we may walk with you this day.

Refrain
So we pray in faith, your will be done
As we long to see your kingdom come
We ask with one voice
Through Jesus Christ our Lord

Hear our prayer, faithful one
Shape our yearnings to the gospel of your Son;
Free our hearts, free our minds
From the war that sin will wage till you arrive.

Be our joy, be our stay
Give us eyes to see you answer prayer this day;
Hear us praise all you’ve done
We rejoice as we receive the victory won.

His Be the Victor’s Name

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Samuel Whitelock Gandy is the original writer of this hymn; he was the Vicar of a church in Kingston-on-Thames with Richmond from Jan. 1817 to his death, Dec. 24, 1851. As well as this hymn, his other more popular hymn was “What tho’ the Accuser roar” (Victory through Jesus) found in the Plymouth Brethren “Hymns for the Poor of the Flock“, 1838. Some of his Sermons were published posthumously in 18591. This version has been slightly tweaked by Zac Hicks, but is wonderful nonetheless.

His be the Victor’s Name
Who fought the fight alone;
Triumphant saints no honour claim;
Their conquest was His own.

By weakness and defeat
He won the glorious crown;
Trod all His foes beneath His feet
By being trodden down.

Refrain
What though the vile accuser roar
Of sins that I have done;
I know them well, and thousands more;
My God, He knoweth none

He hell in hell laid low;
Made sin, He sin o’erthrew;
Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so,
And death, by dying, slew.

Refrain

Bless, bless the Conqueror slain,
Slain by divine decree!
Who lived, who died, who lives again,
For thee, my soul, for thee.

Refrain

My sin is cast into the sea
Of God’s forgotten memory
No more to haunt accusingly
For Christ has lived and died for me

1https://hymnary.org/text/his_be_the_victors_name

Light After Darkness

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This hymn, with an added refrain and verse by Zac Hicks based on Psalm 30:5 & Job 1:21, was originally written by Frances Ridley Havergal in1879, who is most famous for her hymn, “Take My Life and Let it Be” and “Like A River Glorious”. This hymn teaches us that worship is a choice more than a feeling…that the hope of what God has in store is worth holding onto, no matter the circumstances1.

Light after darkness, gain after loss,
Strength after weakness, crown after cross;
Sweet after bitter, hope after fears,
Home after wandering, praise after tears.

Sheaves after sowing, sun after rain,
Sight after mystery, peace after pain;
Joy after sorrow, calm after blast,
Rest after weariness, sweet rest at last.

Refrain
Weeping may remain for a night
But joy arrives in morning’s new light
I’ll praise the God of merciful plight
Still I will praise him, still I will praise him, my God.

Near after distant, gleam after gloom,
Love after loneliness, life after tomb;
After long agony, rapture of bliss,
Right was the pathway, leading to this.

Refrain

You give and you take away
In darkness still I will say:
“A good God I serve this day.”
Still I will praise you, still I will praise you.

Refrain

1zachicks.com/light-after-darkness/

Grace

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This song taken from CityAlight’s 2016 album “Only a Holy God”, is a simple account of the goodness and uniqueness of the grace of God. With a 4 part harmony, this song sounds beautiful, but equally sounds as delightful if you sing this by yourself, making melody in your heart to the Lord.

Your grace that leads this sinner home
From death to life forever;
And sings the song of righteousness
By blood and not by merit.

Your grace that reaches far and wide
To every tribe and nation;
Has called my heart to enter in
The joy of Your salvation.

Refrain
By grace I am redeemed
By grace I am restored
And now I freely walk
Into the arms of Christ my Lord

Your grace that I cannot explain
Not by my earthly wisdom;
The prince of life, without a stain
Was traded for this sinner.

Refrain

Let praise rise up and overflow
My song resound forever;
For grace will see me welcomed home
To walk beside my Saviour.

Refrain

There’s A Wideness In God’s Mercy

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Brought up as an Anglican, Frederick Faber was ordained in the Church of England. But, at the age of 31, he converted to Roman Catholicism and became a Catholic priest. In 1849, Frederick decided to open an oratory – a place of prayer in London. The word “oratory” comes from the Latin word oratorio – which is often used to describe a composition uniting a biblical text with music. Frederick was concerned that British Roman Catholics did not have a heritage of hymn-writers like Isaac Watts. So he began writing hymns so Catholics could also be a hymn-singing people. Just as there is “a wideness in God’s mercy”, so there was a width to Frederick’s hymns… which soon became more familiar to Protestants than to Catholics1.

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea.
There’s a kindness in God’s justice,
Which is more than liberty.

There is welcome for the sinner,
And more graces for the good.
There is mercy with the Saviour,
There is healing in his blood.

But we make God’s love too narrow
By false limits of our own,
And we magnify its strictness
With a zeal God will not own.

For the love of God is broader
Than the measures of the mind,
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.

If our love were but more simple,
We should rest upon God’s word,
And our lives would be illumined
By the presence of our Lord.

1thescottspot.wordpress.com/2016/02/26/theres-a-wideness-in-gods-mercy-written-in-1862/

My Song Is Love Unknown

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I was reminded of this hymn after listening to an episode of Ask Pastor John where John Piper explains that the words alone, without the wonderful accompanying music, is a beautiful poem. This was written by Samuel Crossman (1624-1683) who became Dean of Bristol Cathedral. He received a Bachelor of Divinity at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He then served both an Anglican parish at All Saints, Sudbury, and a Puritan congregation. This poignant meditation of the Passion of Christ was published just before Crossman’s ordination, in The Young Man’s Meditation (1664). This short book of poems was reprinted in 1683, and the poem appeared for the first time as a hymn in the Anglican Hymn Book in 1686, just two years after the author’s death1.

My song is love unknown,
my Saviour’s love to me,
love to the loveless shown
that they might lovely be.
Oh, who am I,
that for my sake
my Lord should take
frail flesh and die?

He came from his blest throne
salvation to bestow,
but such disdain! So few
the longed-for Christ would know!
But oh, my friend,
my friend indeed,
who at my need
his life did spend!

Sometimes they crowd his way
and his sweet praises sing,
resounding all the day
hosannas to their King.
Then “Crucify!”
is all their breath,
and for his death
they thirst and cry.

Why? What has my Lord done?
What makes this rage and spite?
He made the lame to run,
he gave the blind their sight.
Sweet injuries!
Yet they at these
themselves displease
and ‘gainst him rise.

They rise and needs will have
my dear Lord made away.
A murderer they save,
the Prince of life they slay.
Yet cheerful he
to suff’ring goes
that he his foes
from death might free.

In life, no house, no home
my Lord on earth might have;
in death, no friendly tomb,
but what a stranger gave.
What may I say?
Heav’n was his home
but mine the tomb
wherein he lay.

Here might I stay and sing;
no story so divine,
never was love, dear King,
never was grief like thine.
This is my friend,
in whose sweet praise
I all my days
could gladly spend!

1anglicanfocus.org.au/2019/04/08/my-song-is-love-unknown/

Lord, It Belongs Not To My Care

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This hymn I came across during my daily devotional as I was reading an old hymnal a friend lent to me. This hymn was written by well known Puritan pastor Richard Baxter in 1681. This hymn expresses the reliance and confidence believers place in Christ for their earthly and spiritual lives. Its simple but eloquent verses remind us of God’s love and provision for His children, the joy of living under His lordship, and the expectation of eternal happiness in Christ1. Enjoy reading the words to this hymn as a prayer today.

Lord, it belongs not to my care
Whether I die or live:
To love and serve thee is my share,
And this thy grace must give.

Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than he went through before;
He that into God’s kingdom comes
Must enter by this door.

Come, Lord, when grace hath made me meet
Thy blessed face to see;
For if thy work on earth be sweet,
What will thy glory be!

Then shall I end my sad complaints
And weary, sinful days,
And join with the triumphant saints
That sing my Saviour’s praise.

My knowledge of that life is small,
The eye of faith is dim;
But ’tis enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with him.

1engagemagazine.net/starting-blog/entertainment/rediscovering-lord-it-belongs-not-to-my-care/

Every Promise

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Songs are a great way of remembering and meditating on the great truths of the faith during the 6 days and 22 hours of the week when we are not at church. This song, written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, reminds us that when we fall into sin, when we are faced with difficult decisions, we can rely on God’s promises to forgive, to guide, to strengthen us just when we need it. Jesus Himself said we are to live not by bread alone, but by the word of God – perhaps songs like this can help us to do that!1

From the breaking of the dawn
To the setting of the sun,
I will stand on every promise of Your word.
Words of power, strong to save,
That will never pass away,
I will stand on every promise of Your word.
For Your covenant is sure,
And on this I am secure,
I can stand on every promise of Your word.

When I stumble and I sin,
Condemnation pressing in,
I will stand on every promise of Your word.
You are faithful to forgive,
That in freedom I might live,
So I stand on every promise of Your word.
Guilt to innocence restored:
You remember sins no more!
So I’ll stand on every promise of Your word.

When I’m faced with anguished choice,
I will listen for Your voice,
And I’ll stand on every promise of Your word.
Through this dark and troubled land
You will guide me with your hand
As I stand on every promise of Your word.
And you’ve promised to complete
Every work begun in me,
So I’ll stand on every promise of Your word.

Hope that lifts me from despair,
Love that casts out every fear,
As I stand on every promise of Your word.
Not forsaken, not alone,
For the Comforter has come,
And I stand on every promise of Your word.
Grace sufficient, grace for me,
Grace for all who will believe,
We will stand on every promise of Your word.

1stuarttownend.co.uk/song/every-promise/

Drawn To The Cross, Which Thou Hast Blest

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Genevieve Mary Irons, daughter of Dr. W. J. Irons, and granddaughter of J. Irons, was born at Brompton, Dec. 28, 1855. This hymn, “Drawn to the Cross which Thou hast blessed” (Consecration of Self to Christ) was written in 1880, and printed the same year in the Sunday Magazine. It was afterwards included in her Corpus Christi, 1884. Alluding to this hymn (which was included in the Primitive Methodist Hymnal, 1881) after converting to Catholicism, Miss Irons has written “I always feel that hymn is part of me … I am interested and gratified in knowing that the hymn speaks to the hearts of many who would probably differ from me on most points of doctrine.”1 Enjoy the words as a prayer below, and a piano piece to accompany 🙂

Drawn to the Cross which Thou hast blest,
With healing gifts for souls distressed,
To find in Thee my Life, my Rest,
Christ crucified, I come.

Stained with the sins which I have wrought
In word and deed and secret thought;
For pardon which Thy Blood hath bought,
Christ crucified, I come.

Weary of selfishness and pride,
False pleasures gone, vain hopes denied,
Deep in Thy wounds my shame to hide,
Christ crucified, I come.

Thou knowest all my griefs and fears,
Thy grace abused, my misspent years;
Yet now to Thee, for cleansing tears,
Christ crucified, I come.

I would not, if I could, conceal
The ills which only Thou canst heal;
So to the Cross, where sinners kneel,
Christ crucified, I come.

Wash me, and take away each stain,
Let nothing of my sin remain;
For cleansing, though it be through pain,
Christ crucified, I come.

To share with Thee Thy life divine,
Thy very likeness to be mine,
Since Thou hast made my nature Thine,
Christ crucified, I come.

To be what Thou wouldst have me be,
Accepted, sanctified in Thee,
Through what Thy grace shall work in me,
Christ crucified, I come.

1hymnary.org/text/drawn_to_the_cross_which_thou_hast_blest

Take Me To That Ancient Hill

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“ …and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them” – John 19:17-18. The classic hymn ‘There is a green hill far away’ takes us in our mind’s eye to Golgotha, the hill where Jesus died. Taking up the theme, this song expresses our daily need to be taken to the cross as the place where our guilt and shame are taken away, and our enemy, Satan, is defeated: “But there my wounded victor stood and crushed the serpent’s head that day”1. I hope you enjoy this hymn by Joyful Noise UK 🙂

Take me to that ancient hill
For towering waves of guilt engulf;
But there your steadfast mercy still
Is certain as your wounds of love.

Take me to that sacred tree,
For weary loads of shame oppress’
But there you bore it all for me,
And gave me life and joy and rest.

Refrain
There I stand in awe
At your love for me.
Give my life and all
At the cross of Calvary.

Take me to that splintered wood,
For still the Tempter leads astray;
But there my wounded victor stood
And crushed the serpent’s head that day.

Refrain

Take me to that ancient hill
And stay there all my earthly days.
Rejoicing in your love until
I join with heaven’s eternal praise.

Refrain

1youtube.com/watch?v=ZlSHDRVzsGA