Notes on the Notes – October 22, 2017

This week’s theme:  To Know God!

This week’s scripture readings:

Exodus 33:12-23         1 Thess. 1:4-5

This week’s music:

“We Sing to You, O God”

“We sing to you, O God, the Rock who gave us birth,
Let our rejoicing sing your name in all the earth.
To you, O God, let songs be raised, in joyful hymns, our feast of praise.

We wandered far from home out in a desert land,
You shielded with your love our fearful pilgrim band.
You kept us safe within your arms and sheltered us against the storm.

You bear us through the world, an eagle to her young,
Who rises on her wings and bears us toward the sun.
We ride the vaults of light and air and trust in your unfailing care.

O God, eternal God, we hide within your wings,
The everlasting arms to whom our praises ring.
Your word is true, you way is just, you are the God in whom we trust.”

The words for thy hymn were written by Gracia Grindal, based on Deuteronomy 32:11, 18, 33:27, and Psalm 57:1, 66:2 and 96:1-2.  This song is one featuring new words to an old tune!  The melody is best known as the tune for the hymn “To Show By Touch and Word,”  written by Ron Klusmeier in 1974.

“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise” (VU #264)

“Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
Thy justice like mountains high soaring above,
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all, life thou givest, to both great and small,
In all life thou livest, the true life of all,
We blossom and flourish like leaves on the tree,
Then wither and perish; but naught changeth thee.

Thou reignest in glory, thou rulest in light;
Thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
All praise we would render, O help us to see
‘Tis only the splendour of light hideth thee!”

Walter Chalmers Smith published the original 6 stanzas of this hymn, based on 1 Timothy 1:17, in his Hymns of Christ and the Christian Life in 1867.   ST. DENIO is a traditional Welsh melody adapted into a hymn tune during the Welsh revivals at the turn of the 19th century.    It was arranged by John Roberts (Henllan) and published in the Welsh hymnal Caniadau y Cyssegr (1839).

Hear an up-tempo version of this hymn by Steve Green at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0_vB1dFtC4

Hear a traditional chorale prelude on the melody at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcWDS1yTkxM

“Speak, O Lord”

“Speak, O Lord, as we come to You,
To receive the food of Your holy Word.
Take Your Truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness;
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all Your purposes for Your glory.

Teach us, Lord, full obedience, holy reverence, true humility.
Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see
Your majestic love and authority.
Words of power that can never fail;
Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds,
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us.
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time,
That will echo down through eternity;
And by grace we’ll stand on Your promises;
And by faith we’ll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, ’til Your church is built,
And the earth is filled with Your glory.”

This week’s anthem is by Stuart Townsend and Keith Getty.  It has been arranged by Fred and Ruth Coleman and comes from the collection “In Christ Alone.”

Hear the original version at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my90e3a_nlM

“Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” (VU #651)

“Guide me, O though great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but thou art mighty, hold me with thy powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more,
Feed me till I want no more.

Open now the crystal fountain, whence the healing stream doth flow;
Let the fire and cloudy pillar lead me all my journey through.
Strong deliverer, strong deliverer, be thou still my strength and shield,
Be though still my strength and shield.

When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of death, and hell’s destruction, land me safe on Canaan’s side;
Songs of praises, songs of praises I will ever give to thee
I will ever give to thee.”

William Williams was a hymn writer (in Welsh and English) and an itinerant preacher during the Welsh revival of the 1740s. The theme of this hymn, written in Welsh in 1745, is the Israelites’ return to the promised land.  More generally, the hymn confesses our human weakness, and trust in God’s divinity to bring us through the wilderness of life to a home in heaven.  The tune CWM RHONDDA was composed in 1905 by John Hughes, the precentor at Llantwit Fardre chapel, for a Baptist Cymanfau Ganu (Singing Festival) in Pontypridd.

Read more about the hymn’s history at: http://www.challies.com/articles/hymn-stories-guide-me-o-thou-great-jehovah

Hear the hymn sung by choirs and congregation at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT4n1hGjDDg

Video of this hymn from the wedding of Prince William and Kate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwvpTl88jwI