Sunday musical offering

May 7, 2023

Sweet rivers of redeeming love
Lie just before my eyes;
Had I the pinions of a dove,
I’d to those rivers fly.
I’d rise superior to my pain,
With joy outstrip the wind;
I’d cross cold Jordan’s stormy waves,
And leave the world behind.

A few more days or years at most
My troubles will be o’er;
I hope to join the heavenly host
On Canaan’s happy shore.
My raptured soul shall drink and feast
In love’s unbounded sea,
The glorious hope of endless rest
Is ravishing to me.

O come, my Savior, come away, 
And bear me through the sky; 
Nor let Thy chariot wheels delay, 
But quickly draw Thou nigh. 
Then I shall join the angel throng 
And circle round Thy throne; 
I’ll sing through all the ages long, 
And joy to be Thine own.

Sweet rivers of redeeming love
Lie just before my eyes;
Had I the pinions of a dove,
I’d to those rivers fly.
I’d rise superior to my pain,
With joy outstrip the wind;
I’d cross cold Jordan’s stormy waves,
And leave the world behind.

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Sunday musical offering

September 18, 2022

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Sunday musical offering

August 14, 2022

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Sunday musical offering

May 1, 2022

Hark, I hear the harps eternal
Ringing on the farther shore,
As I near those swollen waters
With their deep and solemn roar.

Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Hallelujah, praise the Lamb!
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Glory to the great I AM!

And my soul, though stained with sorrow,
Fading as the light of day,
Passes swiftly o’er those waters,
To the city far away.

Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Hallelujah, praise the Lamb!
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Glory to the great I AM!

Souls have crossed before me, saintly,
To that land of perfect rest;
And I hear them singing faintly
In the mansions of the blest.

Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Hallelujah, praise the Lamb!
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Glory to the great I AM!

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Musical offering for the third day of Christmas

December 27, 2021

Where shepherds lately knelt and kept the angel’s word,
I come in half-belief, a pilgrim strangely stirred;
But there is room and welcome there for me,
But there is room and welcome there for me.

In that unlikely place I find Him as they said,
Sweet newborn babe, now frail, and in a manger bed.
A still, small voice to cry one day for me,
A still, small voice to cry one day for me.

How should I not have known Isaiah would be there,
His prophecies fulfilled. With pounding heart I stare:
A child, a son, the Prince of Peace for me,
A child, a son, the Prince of Peace for me.

Can I, will I forget how Love was born, and burned
Its way into my heart—unasked, unforced, unearned,
To die, to live, and not alone for me,
To die, to live, and not alone for me.

—Jaroslav Vajda

 

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Today’s cultural moment

October 14, 2021

In honor of the birthday of e. e. cummings (1894-1962), here is a choral setting by Dan Forrest of one of his poems, sung by the Atlanta Master Chorale.

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Sunday musical offering

May 16, 2021

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Sunday musical offering

February 21, 2021

The latest sun is sinking fast,
My race is almost run;
My strongest trials now are past,
My triumph is begun.
O come, angel band,
Come and around me stand;
O bear me away on your snow white wings
To my immortal home.

I know I’m near the holy ranks
Of friends and kindred dear;
I brushed the dew on Jordan’s banks,
The crossing must be near.
O come, angel band,
Come and around me stand;
O bear me away on your snow white wings
To my immortal home.

I’ve almost gained my heavenly home,
My spirit loudly sings;
The holy ones, behold, they come;
I hear the noise of wings.
O come, angel band,
Come and around me stand;
O bear me away on your snow white wings
To my immortal home.

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Happy birthday, Benjamin

November 22, 2020

In honor of the birthday of Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), here is “A Hymn to the Virgin” performed by The Atlanta Master Chorale.

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Sunday musical offering

August 9, 2020

When memory fades and recognition falters,
When eyes we love grow dim, and minds, confused,
Speak to our souls of love that never alters;
Speak to our hearts by pain and fear abused.
O God of life and healing peace, empower us
With patient courage, by Your graced infused.

As frailness grows, and youthful strengths diminish
In weary arms, which worked their earnest fill,
Your aging servants labor now to finish
Their earthly tasks, as fits Your mystery’s will.
We grieve their waning, yet rejoice, believing
Your arms, unwearied, shall uphold us still.

Within Your Spirit, goodness lives unfading;
The past and future mingle into one.
All joys remain, unshadowed light pervading,
No valued deed will ever be undone.
Your mind enfolds all finite acts and offerings.
Held in Your heart, our deathless life is won.

When memory fades and recognition falters,
Your arms, unwearied, shall uphold us still.

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