Notes on the Notes – October 13, 2019
Thanksgiving Sunday
To Really Give Thanks!
This week’s scripture readings:
Psalm 100 Philippians 4:4-9 John 6:25-35
This week’s music:
“Bless the Lord” (MV #46)
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, bless God’s holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, bless God’s holy name.
Remember the kindness of our God,
Who showers us with blessing all our days.
Remember the justice of our God,
Who stands with those forgotten and confused.
Remember the healing love of God,
Who calls us to be whole and to be free…”
This song, based on Psalm 103, was “accidentally” written by a youth group praise band in 1994. It reminds us to remember all that God has done for us. To hear the song go to, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1iMlNH8VG4
“We Praise You, O God” (VU #218)
The title for our hymn book, Voices United, comes from the third stanza of this hymn. The words were written by Julia Cory in 1902 at the request of the organist, for a Thanksgiving service at Brick Presbyterian Church in New York. The words of the second verse remind us of the timelessness of God, and that God is with us even in the difficult times. The melody, KREMSER, was arranged by the Viennese conductor Eduard Kremser from a tune published with the earlier text in a 17th-century collection of Dutch folk songs.
“We praise you, O God, our Redeemer, Creator;
In grateful devotion our tribute we bring.
We lay it before you; we kneel and adore you;
We bless your holy name, glad praises we sing.
We worship you, God of our mothers and fathers,
Through trial and tempest, companion and guide.
When perils o’ertake us, you will not forsake us,
But faithful to your promise, you walk by our side.
With voices united our praises we offer
And gladly our songs of thanksgiving we raise.
Our sins now confessing, we pray for your blessing,
To you, our great Redeemer, forever be praise!”
Hear the hymn played on organ at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPlPtJ0iZW8
“Now Thank We All Our God” (VU #236)
“Now thank we all our God, with heart, and hands, and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mother’s arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us,
And keep us strong in grace, and guide us when perplexed,
And free us from all ill in this world and the next.
All praise and thanks to God for all that has been given,
The Son, and Spirit blest who dwell in highest heaven,
The one eternal God, whom heaven and earth adore;
For thus is was, is now, and shall be evermore.”
Watch a video about the history of this traditional Thanksgiving hymn and hear it sung at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHhU7ikZoXc
“All Praise and Thanksgiving”
“All praise and thanksgiving to God of all glory,
To God the Almighty we offer our praise.
For all of creation, for all of our blessings,
All praise and thanksgiving we offer to God.
We thank thee for all we are given,
The world that we live in,
For family and friends.
We praise thee for all of your mercy
And offer up to thee our grateful Amen.
Sing Amen.
Sing praise, Hallelujah,
Our voices raise to you for time without end.
Sing Amen.
All praise and thanksgiving,
As long as we’re living, our worship we send.”
This new song of thanksgiving was written by Dave Goodwin (2015).
“I Thank You, Lord”
“Lord, when I think upon the music of my life,
Your songs of joy, your love songs in the night,
I’m filled with wonder and with praise at the beauty of your grace.
I thank you, Lord, I thank you, Lord.
And when I gather in this house, your sacred place,
And when I sing the hymns and anthems of my faith,
I’m filled with hope and gratitude as I lift my heart to you.
I thank you, Lord, I thank you, Lord.
O, how can I keep from singing?
How can I keep from lifting up my voice?
Since Christ is Lord of heav’n and earth,
How can I keep from singing?
How can I help but praise the Lord?
How can I keep from praising Christ, my Saviour,
When he has done so much for me?
I will exalt his name and not be silent,
God’s love has set my music free!
God’s love has set my music free!
Now when I think upon the blessings of this life,
The forest deep, the glory of the skies,
The promise of the rising sun and the moon when day is done,
I thank you, Lord, I thank you, Lord.
And when I look into the eyes of those I love,
Or when I gaze upon the starry night above,
My heart is filled with joyful praise, and I bless your holy name.
I thank you, Lord, I thank you, Lord.
O, how can I keep from singing?
How can I keep from lifting up my voice?
Since Christ is Lord of heav’n and earth,
How can I keep from singing?
How can I help but praise the Lord?
How can I help but praise the Lord?
I will praise the Lord.”
This week’s anthem was written by Joseph M. Martin (2009) and was purchased in 2010 in memory of Lily Robinson.
“In Gratitude and Humble Trust” (VU #544)
In gratitude and humble trust we bring our best today
To serve your cause and share your love with all along life’s way
O God, who gave yourself to us in Jesus Christ, your Son,
Teach us to give ourselves each day until life’s work is done.
Our offering response text is the third verse of the hymn “As Those of Old Their First-fruits Brought” (VU #518). It was published in 1961 and is set to the tune FOREST GREEN, a traditional English folk tune arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1906.
“Let All Things Now Living” (VU #242)
“Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving
To God our Creator triumphantly raise;
Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
By guiding us on to the end of our days.
God’s banners are o’er us, pure light goes before us,
A pillar of fire shining forth in the night;
Till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished,
As forward we travel from light into Light.
By law God enforces, the stars in their courses
And sun in its orbit obediently shine;
The hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains,
The depths of the ocean proclaim God divine.
We, too, should be voicing our love and rejoicing
With glad adoration a song let us raise:
Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving,
To God in the highest, hosanna and praise.”
This hymn in an arrangement of an anthem published in 1939 by Katherine Kennicott Davis under the pseudonym John Cowley. She wrote the text sometime in the 1920s for the Welsh folk melody, LLYNN ONN, or “The Ash Grove.”
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