Notes on the Notes – November 16, 2025

This week’s music:

“God, We Praise You for the Morning” (VU #415, SFGP #79)

“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, hallelujah,
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Christ is Lord of our days!”

Our opening hymn of praise was written by Jim and Jean Strathdee in 1981. Though the words we praise the many ways we experience God in our lives.

“Come and Fill Our Hearts” (MV #16)

“Come and fill our hearts with your peace.
You alone, O Lord, are holy.
Come and fill our hearts with your peace,
Alleluia.”

Our response to the Words of Assurance is a short song of centering and healing prayer which comes from the Taize Community, with music by Jacques Berthier (1982).

“True Faith Needs No Defense” (MV #139)

“True faith needs no defense, it echoes in the soul;
A faithful life gives evidence of grace that makes us whole.

True faith, like music, soars beyond cathedral walls;
On city streets and ocean shores, from age to age faith calls.

Expect your faith to grow; begin by being still,
And in the quiet come to know God’s living, breathing will.

To live the faith we find, is all that love can ask;
To sing God’s praise with heart and mind, and rise to meet the task.”

The text and music for this hymn are by Daniel Charles Damon (2004). The words encourage us to have patience on our faith journey, but also to act in faith and share our faith with the world.

“Faith That’s Sure”

“Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable,
planted in the soil where God’s love is sown.
Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable.
Jesus is my Lord. I’m his very own!

Complicated ways confuse me.
I praise my God in the simple ways.
Sing and dance and shout for Jesus,
prayin’ to the Lord each and every day!

Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable,
planted in the soil where God’s love is sown.
Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable.
Jesus is my Lord. I’m his very own!

Come and join the celebration,
new in the Lord by the Spirit’s power.
Come on, friend, the Lord’s awaitin’,
waitin’ for your heart this very hour!

Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable,
planted in the soil where God’s love is sown.
Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable.
Jesus is my Lord. I’m his very own!”

This week’s anthem was written by Suzanne Lord (1995).

“Grant Us, God, the Grace of Giving” (VU #540)

“Grant Us, God, the grace of giving,
With a spirit large and free,
That ourselves and all our living
We may offer faithfully.”

The text of our offering response comes from the Mennonite hymn book, “Hymnal: a Worship Book.”  The tune, STUTTGART, is a familiar one which is also used for the Advent hymn “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” (VU #2).

“Forth in Your Name, O Christ” (VU #416)

“Forth in your name, O Christ, we go, our daily labour to pursue,
You, only you, resolved to know in all we think, or speak, or do.

The task your wisdom has assigned here let us cheerfully fulfil;
In all our works your presence find, and prove your good and perfect will.

You may we set at our right hand, whose eyes our inmost secrets view,
And labour on at your command and offer all our works to you.

Help us to bear your easy yoke, in every moment watch and pray,
And still to things eternal look, and hasten to that glorious day.

Then with delight may we employ all that your bounteous grace has given,
And run our earthly course with joy, and closely walk with you to heaven.”

This text, from Charles Wesley’s Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), is one of the few hymns directly about work.  Recognizing the significance of daily work for the Christian, Charles Wesley wrote and sang hymns not only for Sunday but also for daily use.
The text of this hymn reflects Wesley’s views about work: we are to do our work in the name of the Lord (verse 1); God calls us to our work in obedience to his will (verse 2); we may offer all our work to God (verse 3); as we journey from this life to glory, we may always view our work as part of the coming of God’s kingdom (verse 4); we may gratefully use all God’s gifts for his glory (verse 5), (Source: hymnary.org).
The tune, CANONBURY, is one of a number of 19th-century hymn tunes adapted from instrumental works by well-known composers.  The melody is from Robert Schumann’s Nachtstucke, Opus 23, No. 4 (1839) for solo piano.

Hear the hymn tune at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apj1Dgj_6ug

Hear the original piano piece by Schumann at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoWYyOTZU6M

“Danish Amen”  (VU #967)

“Amen, amen, amen.”

Our 3-fold choral amen is also referred to as the Danish Amen, although the composer is unknown.