Transfiguration of Jesus. Photo: Creative Commons, Armando Alemdar Ara
A selection of traditional and modern hymns. It's Transfiguration Sunday this week, and we begin the programme with Charles Wesley's hymn Christ, whose glory fills the skies. Also in the programme, some hymn tunes by Lowell Mason. He was a leading figure in American church music in the 1800s, and responsible for the tune to Joy to the world.
SONG: CHRIST, WHOSE GLORY FILLS THE SKIES
Artist: St Michael’s Singers
Words/Music: C Wesley/Smart
Recording: Kingsway KMCD 891
Christ, whose glory fills the skies,
Christ, the true, the only light,
Sun of righteousness, arise,
Triumph o’er the shades of night;
Dayspring from on high, be near;
Day star, in my heart appear.
Dark and cheerless is the morn
Unaccompanied by thee;
Joyless is the day’s return
Till thy mercy’s beams I see;
Till they inward light impart,
Glad my eyes, and warm my heart.
Visit then this soul of mine,
Pierce the gloom of sin and grief;
Fill me, radiancy divine,
Scatter all my unbelief;
More and more thyself display,
Shining to the perfect day.
SONG: PRAISE GOD, FOR HE IS KIND
Artist: Scottish Philharmonic Singers
Words/Music: Anon/Croft
Recording: Abbey 282830
Praise God, for he is kind:
His mercy lasts for aye.
Give thanks with heart and mind
To God of gods alway:
For certainly
His mercies dure
Most firm and sure
Eternally.
The Lord of lords praise ye,
Whose mercies still endure.
Great wonders only he
Doth work by his great pow’r
For certainly
His mercies dure
Most firm and sure
Eternally.
Which God omnipotent,
By might and wisdom high,
The heav’n and firmament
Did frame, as we may see:
For certainly
His mercies dure
Most firm and sure
Eternally.
Who hath remembered
Us in our low estate;
And us delivered
From foes which did us hate:
For certainly
His mercies dure
Most firm and sure
Eternally.
SONG: MY FAITH LOOKS UP TO THEE
Artist: Norwich Cathedral Choir
Words/Music: Palmer/Mason
Recording: Priory PRCD 705
My faith looks up to thee,
thou Lamb of Calvary,
Saviour divine!
Now hear me while I pray;
take all my guilt away;
O let me from this day
be wholly thine!
May thy rich grace impart
strength to my fainting heart,
my zeal inspire;
as thou hast died for me,
O may my love to thee
pure, warm, and changeless be,
a living fire!
While life’s dark maze I tread
and griefs around me spread,
be thou my guide;
bid darkness turn to day;
wipe sorrow’s tears away;
nor let me ever stray
from thee aside.
When ends life’s transient dream,
when death’s cold, sullen stream
shall o’er me roll;
blest Savior, then, in love,
fear and distrust remove;
O bear me safe above,
a ransomed soul!
SONG: NEARER MY GOD TO THEE (instrumental version)
Artist: I Salonist
Words/Music: Adams/Mason
Recording: London 458 382
Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
still all my song shall be,
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
yet in my dreams I'd be
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
There let the way appear, steps unto heaven;
all that thou sendest me, in mercy given;
angels to beckon me
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
SONG: HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS SOUNDS
Artist: Choir of Ely Cathedral
Words/Music: Newton/Reinagle
Recording: Priory PRCD 703
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.
It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
’Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary, rest.
Dear name, the rock on which I build,
My shield and hiding place,
My never failing treasury, filled
With boundless stores of grace!
Jesus! my shepherd, Saviour, friend,
My prophet, priest and king,
My lord, my life, my way, my end,
Accept the praise I bring.
Weak is the effort of my heart,
And cold my warmest thought;
But when I see thee as thou art,
I’ll praise thee as I ought.
Till then I would thy love proclaim
With every fleeting breath,
And may the music of thy name
Refresh my soul in death!
SONG: THERE’S A WIDENESS IN GOD’S MERCY
Artist: Choir of Wells Cathedral, Malcolm Archer (dir), Rupert Gough (organ)
Words/Music: Faber/Bevan
Label: Hyperion 112105
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in his justice,
Which is more than liberty.
There is no place where earth’s sorrows
Are more felt than up in heaven;
There is no place where earth’s failings
Have such kindly judgment given.
For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of man’s mind;
And the heart of the eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.
But we make his love too narrow
By false limits of our own;
And we magnify his strictness
With a zeal he will not own.
There is plentiful redemption
In the blood that has been shed;
There is joy for all the members
In the sorrows of the head.
There is grace enough for thousands
Of new worlds as great as this;
There is room for fresh creations
In that upper home of bliss.
If our love were but more simple,
We should take him at his word;
And our lives would be all goodness
In the joy of Christ our Lord.
SONG: O CHRIST THE SAME
Artist: Choir of Portsmouth Cathedral
Words/Music: Dudley-Smith/Trad
Recording: Herald HAVPCD 205
O Christ the same, through all our story's pages,
our loves and hopes, our failures and our fears;
eternal Lord, the King of all the ages,
unchanging still, amid the passing years:
O living Word, the source of all creation,
who spread the skies, and set the stars ablaze;
O Christ the same, who wrought our whole salvation,
we bring our thanks for all our yesterdays.
O Christ the same, the friend of sinners, sharing
our inmost thoughts, the secrets none can hide;
still as of old upon your body bearing
the marks of love, in triumph glorified:
O Son of Man, who stooped for us from heaven,
O Prince of life, in all your saving power,
O Christ the same, to whom our hearts are given,
we bring our thanks for this the present hour.
O Christ the same, secure within whose keeping
our lives and loves, our days and years remain,
our work and rest, our waking and our sleeping,
our calm and storm, our pleasure and our pain:
O Lord of love, for all our joys and sorrows,
for all our hopes, when earth shall fade and flee,
O Christ the same, beyond our brief tomorrows,
we bring our thanks for all that is to be.
