Notes on the Notes – October 12, 2025

Thanksgiving Sunday
Sixth Sunday in the Season of Creation 

This week’s music: 

“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

“Glory to the Creator” (TLUS #4)

“Glory to the creator,
and the Christ and the Spirit so near,
as it was from the start so it shall be
forever one God, always here.

Glory to the creator,
and the Christ and the Spirit so near,
as it was from the start so it shall be
forever one God, always here.

One God, always here,
one God, always here.”

Our sung response following the Assurance of Pardon was written by Christopher Grundy (2002) and arranged by Stephen Goers.

Hear the song at: Glory to the Creator (TLUS #4)

“Make a Joyful Noise” (VU #820)

“Make a joyful noise all the earth!
Worship your God with gladness.
Make a joyful noise all the earth!
Come to this place with a song!

Know that your God has made you.
Know it’s to God we belong.
And come to this place with joyfulness and praise.
Worship your God with a song!

Enter these gates, thanks giving.
Enter these courts with praise.
Sing thanks to your God and bless the holy Name.
Worship your God with a song!

Ages through endless ages,
Seasons of endless years,
The love of our Maker ever shall endure.
Worship your God with a song!”

Both the tune and text of this upbeat, joyful psalm are from Stickpeople (1992) by the Vancouver composer Linnea Good.  The tune was arranged by David Kai of Gloucester, Ontario.  The words are a setting of Psalm 100 and offer our praise to God.

Hear the song at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCf_kfiThoA

“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 week’s anthem was written by Dave Goodwin (2015).

“Amen, Amen, Amen” (VU #969)
The music for our sung response following The Song of Faith selection was composed by James A. Kriewald (1985).

“For the Gift of Creation” (VU #538)

“For the gift of creation, the gift of your love,
            and the gift of the Spirit by which we live,
            We thank you and give you the fruit of our hands.
            May your grace be proclaimed by the gifts that we give.”

Our offering dedication is from the United Methodist Book of Worship (1991) and is especially appropriate during the season of Creation.  The composer, Steve Garnaas-Holmes is a United Methodist pastor in Montana.

“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 is 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.”

Hear the hymn at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpMCE1G3N7Q

“Amen” (VU #974)

“Amen, amen, hallelujah, amen!
Amen, amen, hallelujah, amen!”

Our sung benediction response this week was written by Jim Strathdee (1985).