The Hymnal 1982 does not have a section for hymns dedicated to the season after Pentecost, also known as ordinary time. Instead, the Hymnal has several sections with hymns that may be appropriate for the themes of the day. These themes include the Holy Trinity, Praise to God, Jesus Christ our Lord, the Holy Spirit, the Church, the Church’s Mission, Christian Vocation and Pilgrimage, Christian Responsibility, the Kingdom of God, Holy Scripture, and the Christian Life. Many of these hymns are also appropriate during other seasons of the Church Year.
I have chosen to group together all of my hymns with these various themes into this one seasonal page, organized alphabetically by first line. I note the particular theme, as well as other seasons during which the hymn may be appropriate.
Born into a Love Eternal
This is one of those very personal hymns, close to my heart. It was written in 2020 in memory of my friend and sister priest, the Rev. Melissa Kean (1990-2020). Melissa was a seminary classmate, a loving priest, and an exceptional friend. Melissa loved to sing big, so this text is set to one of the best tunes of the 20th century, Abbot’s Leigh. The themes in the text also invoke the wonderful text by Timothy Rees, “God is Love,” also set to Abbot’s Leigh.
Melissa believed, lived, taught, and preached the love of God for all people. She believed, lived, taught, and preached that the essence of God is love, and that this love is always reaching out to us. It is no surprise, then, that her Facebook page cited that famous quote from the Most Rev. Michael Curry: “If it’s not about love, then it’s not about God.”
This hymn takes us from baptism, our birth into the Body of Christ, to glory, our end as the Body of Christ. We are born, live, and die, all in the love of God; and it is indeed our destiny to bask forever in that love of God. We know by faith that Melissa is there now, along with all those whom we love but see no longer.
Given its arch from baptism to glory, I have put this hymn in this section, for it speaks of the Christian Life in its fullness. It might also be appropriate as a baptismal hymn or a funeral hymn.
Born into a love eternal,
into Christ’s own death and life;
waters troubled for our healing,
stirred to free the soul from strife:
formed into a new creation,
washed by Jesus’ saving blood,
made a child of God forever,
plunged beneath a gracious flood.
Through our life may Love preserve us,
ever present guide and stay;
in our pain our consolation,
source of joy from day to day;
all our life a vow and offering,
homage to the God of peace,
sanctified, a gift made holy
in the Eucharistic feast.
Then in death may Love embrace us,
in our hearts God’s peace abound,
in our souls one hope sustain us,
glory’s brilliance clothe us round;
may the angels lead us homeward
as we go from strength to strength
into Christ’s own arms of mercy,
healed, restored, made whole at length.
Glory be to God the Father,
glory be to God the Son,
glory be to God the Spirit:
Trinity whose love is One.
In this love divine, enrapturing,
we shall feast and ever reign;
in this love, with saints and angels,
raise the alleluia strain!
Words: Mark Nabors (b. 1990)
Music: Abbot’s Leigh, Cyril Vincent Taylor (1907-1991)
87. 87. D
God our Father, Guide and Lead Us
This simple hymn is a hymn to the Holy Trinity, with the traditional language of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The traditional pattern is observed: a stanza for each person of the Trinity, and a stanza for the fullness of the Godhead. The final line of the hymn encapsulates the prayer of the hymn: We pray that God would incline us to share and participate in the very life of God that is love unbounded. The tune is Stainer’s familiar Cross of Jesus.
God our Father, guide and lead us
as you reign o’er all the world;
bless and guard creation’s goodness;
mold our hearts with love unfurled.
God, Messiah, come to save us,
ransom for humanity;
suffering Christ raised up to glory,
your new life our hope shall be.
God the Spirit, breathe upon us,
sanctify the cares of life;
bring the Kingdom to our nightmare;
raise the world above our strife.
Holy triune God united:
Persons three, one Will divine.
Life of God that’s Love unbounded,
to this life our souls incline.
Words: Mark Nabors (b. 1990)
Music: Cross of Jesus, John Stainer (1840-1901)
87. 87
God Our Refuge, Our Redeemer
This hymn employs various scriptural metaphors for talking about God, many of which are found in the psalter: refuge, redeemer, crag, rock, stronghold, only hope, beacon, and sanctuary in the wilderness. It ends by identifying God completely and essentially with true love and true justice. At the heart of this hymn is a simple prayer: help your Church. I find myself returning time and again to this simple prayer as the world around us shakes. Given that this prayer is at the heart of this hymn, we might categorize it under the Church’s Mission.
The hymn is set to Bruce Neswick’s hauntingly beautiful Tomter. The structure of the tune matches the structure of the text perfectly. The first part of each stanza describes God using a scriptural metaphor. At the key change, we see the disturbance in our world, and we pray that God would help us respond faithfully as the Church.
This hymn was written for the Macalester Plymouth United Church hymn contest in 2017. It won honorable mention.
God our refuge, our redeemer,
saving grace in times of need:
in this world of fear and violence,
help your Church your call to heed.
God our crag, our rock, our stronghold,
shelter from the sinking sand:
as earth’s empires fall and crumble,
help your Church on you to stand.
God our only hope and beacon,
goodness shining in our lives:
when the darkness overwhelms us,
help your Church reflect your light.
God our only sanctuary,
safety in the wilderness:
when the foes of love enrage us,
help your Church the Truth confess.
God whose Name is love and justice,
who makes earth and heaven new:
break down walls that separate us;
help your Church to love like you.
Words: Mark Nabors (b. 1990)
Music: Tomter, Bruce Neswick (b. 1956)
87. 87
Happy Are They Who Walk
This hymn, “Happy Are They Who Walk,” is a paraphrase of Psalm 1. It compares our spiritual lives to a tree that is lovingly pruned and maintained by God. The fruit of our spiritual lives is those theological virtues of faith, hope, and love (I Corinthians 13:13). Given these themes, the text is a Christian Vocation and Pilgrimage hymn. The tune is Nova Vita, the tune for “Breathe on Me, Breath of God.” An alternative tune is Franconia (“Blest Are the Pure in Heart”).
Happy are they who walk
within your law and way;
like trees by living water pure,
you nourish them always.
You send your wind of love
to purify their souls,
to prune their wills and root their hearts
in you in whom they grow.
And day by day they find
your grace makes them anew;
they grow in faith and hope and love,
the fruit of life in you.
May we desire to learn
and love your law, O Lord,
to live steadfastly in your way,
your people in the world.
Words: Mark Nabors (b. 1990)
Music: Nova Vita, Lister R. Peace (1885-1969)
SM
Lord, Give Us Ears to Hear Your Word
One of the more famous collects in the Book of Common Prayer is the Collect for Proper 28. Written by our reformer Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, it says,
Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Collect for Proper 28, BCP page 236
This hymn is a paraphrase of this famous collect, making it especially appropriate for Proper 28. Its theme is Holy Scripture. We should note that there is a veritable dearth of hymns devoted to this theme in our current hymnal, making this (unfortunately) one of the few hymns one could use when preaching on Holy Scripture.
I am grateful to Earth & Altar Magazine for publishing this hymn in November 2020.
Lord, give us ears to hear your word,
your herald of salvation sure:
that you sustain the world in love
and sent your Son our souls to cure. [Refrain]
Blessed Lord, help us embrace
the hope of everlasting life!
Lord, give us eyes to read your word
illumined by your glorious light.
Restore our sight and let us see
your healing vision for our plight. [Refrain]
Lord, give us hearts to mark your word;
conform our wills to your desire.
Incline us now to love your law
and purify us with your fire. [Refrain]
Lord, give us minds to learn your word
and to your promises to cling
as our inheritance from you
by grace through faith in Christ our King. [Refrain]
Lord, let us feast upon your word,
our daily bread and strength from you,
like manna in the wilderness
that feeds our souls and makes us new. [Refrain]
Words: Mark Nabors (b. 1990)
Music: Grand Prairie, Peter Cutts (b. 1937)
LM with Refrain
With Tears and Pain
“With Tears and Pain” was first sung at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Stuttgart, Arkansas, for the last Sunday after Pentecost, or Christ the King Sunday, in 2021. Its theme is the redemption of our own sorrows through the cross, passion, and resurrection of Christ, making it especially appropriate as a hymn to Jesus Christ our Lord. Set to the familiar tune Eventide (“Abide with Me”), the hymn might also be appropriate for other Sundays after Pentecost. I would caution against using this hymn for Holy Week or Lent. Its triumphant words about resurrection and Christ’s reign could distract from the serious themes of atonement in those seasons. Stick with the classics for those Sundays: “O Sacred Head Sore Wounded” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” for starters.
The image of the cross is a familiar one in hymnody. Some of our most familiar hymns meditate on the cross and Christ’s saving death. This hymn does not pretend to be an “O Sacred Head Sore Wounded.” I have observed, however, that while we have many hymns focusing on the atonement work of the cross, we do not have many focused on the cross as Christ’s accompaniment through our “tears and pain.” This theme of accompaniment has become an increasingly important theological theme in recent scholarship about the cross, especially in liberation theology.
With tears and pain we journey in through life,
captive to fear, anxiety, and strife;
we cry for help to stand the testing tide;
our sorrow’s borne by God in Christ who died.
Our suffering hangs upon the cross of shame;
God in the flesh bears all our tears and pain.
Gaze at him there: our agony, his end.
Heaven’s eternal Word to hell descends.
Yet in his death a mystery rings out:
Christ on the cross has cried the Victor’s shout!
Death and the grave are trampled in the strife;
suffering redeemed in resurrection life.
*Christ, by your cross, redeem our tears and pain;
in desolation, lift our souls again;
in our dark hour, bring victory to light;
in times of trial save us by your might.
Sorrow persists, but faith’s conviction grows;
grief spends the night, but hope’s near dawning glows;
evil yet gasps, but love steadfast remains;
death toothless roars, for Christ triumphant reigns!
Words: Mark Nabors (b. 1990)
Music: Eventide, William Henry Monk (1823-1889)
10 10. 10 10
Storied Grace 