Notes on the Notes – June 18, 2017

This week’s Theme:    Finish Strong

This week’s scripture readings:

Genesis 18:1-15      Romans 5:1-8     Matthew 9:35-10:8

This week’s music:

“Come and Find the Quiet Centre” (VU #374)

“Come and find the quiet centre in the crowded life we lead,
Find the room for hope to enter, find the frame where we are freed:
Clear the chaos and the clutter, clear our eyes, that we can see
all the things that really matter, be at peace, and simply be.

Silence is a friend who claims us, cools the heat and slows the pace,
God it is who speaks and names us, knows our being, fact to face,
Making space within our thinking, lifting shades to show the sun,
Raising courage when we’re shrinking, finding scope for faith begun.

In the Spirit let us travel, open to each other’s pain,
Let our loves and fears unravel, celebrate the space we gain:
There’s a place for deepest dreaming, there’s a time for heart to care,
In the Spirit’s lively scheming there is always room to spare!”

 This hymn was written by Shirley Erena Murray for a Presbyterian Women’s Conference on the theme of “Making Space.”

Listen to a beautiful America-themed rendition of this song by Gabrielle Toledo at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjB5-97zKaw

“God, We Praise You for the Morning” (VU #415)

“God we praise you for the morning;
Hope springs forth with each new day,
New beginning, prayer, and promise,
Joy in work and in play.

God, we praise you for creation,
Mountains, seas, and prairie land.
Waking souls find joy and healing in your bountiful hand.

God, we praise you for compassion,
All the loving that you show;
Human touching, tears, and laughter,
Help your children to grow.

God, we praise you for your Spirit, Comforter and daily friend,
Restless searcher, gentle teacher,
Strength and courage you send.

God, we praise you for the Saviour, come that we may know your ways.
In his loving, dying, rising, Christ is Lord of our days.

Hallelujah! Christ is Lord of our days!”

Jim and Jean Strathdee wrote this song of praise in 1981.

“Jesus, United By Your Grace” (VU #591)

“Jesus, united by your grace, and each to each endeared,
With confidence we seek your face, and know our prayer is heard.

Help us to see in each a friend, each other’s cross to bear;
Let all their friendly aid extend, and feel the other’s care.

Up unto you, our living head, let us in all things grow,
Til you have made us free indeed and faithful here below.

Drawn by the lodestone of your love, let all our hearts unite;
Let us toward each other move, and move toward your light.”

The text of this hymn is taken from the fourth part of Charles Wesley’s “A Prayer for Persons joined in Fellowship,” which was published in Hymns and Sacred Poems in 1742. The tune, ARLINGTON, comes from the overture to Thomas A. Arne’s opera Artaxerxes (1762). It was adapted into a hymn tune by the composer.

“Give to Us Laughter” (VU #624)

“Give to us laughter, O Source of our life.
Laughter can banish so much of our strife.
Laughter and love give us wholeness and health.
Laughter and love are the coin of true wealth.

Give to us laughter as sign of deep joy,
Let us in laughing find Christian employ,
Joining with stars and with bright northern lights,
Laughing and praising and sharing delights.

Why do we worry that we will lose face?
Why act like king for the whole human race?
Often in family and often with friend,
Laughing at pride causes anguish to end.

Even in sorrow and hours of grief,
Laughter with tears brings most healing relief.
God, give us laughter, and God, give us peace,
Joys of your presence among us increase.”

This hymn was first published in Worship the Lord (1977), an anthology of hymn texts by Walter Farquharson and Fred Kaan, set to music by Ron Klusmeier. Ten years later, it was included in Songs for a Gospel People (1987).