St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Carrollton, Georgia, July 17, 2011

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

(https://picasaweb.google.com/atldiophotos/BishopWhitmoreSVisitToStMargaretSCarrollton#5630376095097358722)

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnal (1935), of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ

Words (1719) by Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

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1.  Arise, O King of grace, arise,

And enter to thy rest;

Lo! thy church waits, with longing eyes,

Thus to be own’d and blest.

2.  Here, mighty God, accept our vows,

Here let thy praise be spread:

Bless the provisions of thy house,

And fill thy poor with bread.

3.  Here let the Son of David reign,

Let God’s Anointed shine;

Justice and truth his court maintain,

With love and pow’r divine.

4.  Here let him hold a lasting throne,

And as his kingdom grows,

Fresh honors shall adorn his crown,

And shame confound his foes.

Pentecost Icon

Image Source = Wikipedia

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnal (1935), of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ

Words (1707) by Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

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1.  Come, Holy Spirit, heav’nly Dove,

With all thy quick’ning pow’rs;

Kindle a flame of sacred love

In these cold hearts of ours.

2.  In vain we tune our formal songs,

In vain strive to rise;

Hosannas languish on our tongues,

And our devotion dies.

3.  Dear Lord, and shall we ever live

At this poor dying rate?

Our love so faint, so cold to thee,

And thine to us so great!

4.  Come, Holy Spirit, heav’nly Dove,

With all thy quick’ning pow’rs;

Come, shed abroad a Savior’s love,

And that shall kindle ours.

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/fiftieth-day-of-easter-day-of-pentecost-year-c/

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/fiftieth-day-of-easter-day-of-pentecost-year-b/

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/fiftieth-day-of-easter-day-of-pentecost-year-a/

Communion of Saints

Image Source = Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnal (1935), of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ

Words by Isaac Watts (1674-1748), in 1719

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1.  Our God, our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come,

Our shelter from the stormy blast,

And our eternal home.

2.  Under the shadow of thy throne

Thy saints have dwelt secure;

Sufficient is thine arm alone,

And our defence is sure.

3.  Before the hills in order stood,

Or Earth received her frame,

From everlasting thou art God,

To endless years the same.

4.  A thousand ages in thy sight

Are like an evening gone,

Short as the watch that ends the night

Before the rising sun.

5.  Time, like an ever-rolling stream,

Bears all its sons away:

They fly forgotten, as a dream

Dies at the op’ning day.

Rays of Sunlight

Image Source = Wikipedia

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnal (1935), of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ

Words (1719) by Isaac Watts (1674-1748), author of a plethora of hymns

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1.  From all that dwell below the skies,

Let the Creator’s praise arise;

Let the Redeemer’s name be sung,

Thro’ ev’ry land, by ev’ry tongue.

2.  Eternal are thy mercies, Lord;

Eternal truth attends thy word;

Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore,

Till suns shall rise and set no more.

3.  In ev’ry land begin the song;

To ev’ry land the strains belong;

In cheerful sounds all voices raise,

And fill the world with loudest praise.

Dawn

Image Source = Wikipedia

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnal (1935), of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ

Words (1874) by Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879), a British poet from a family with  a high proportion of Church of England priests in it

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1.  Another day is dawning;

Dear Master, let it be,

In working or in watching,

Another day with thee.

2.  Another day of service,

Of witness of thy love;

Another day of training

For holier work above.

3.  Another day is dawning;

Dear Master, let it be,

On earth, or else in heaven,

Another day for thee.

St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, Atlanta, Georgia, May 8, 2011

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnal (1935), of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ

Words by Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

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1.  Welcome, sweet day of rest,

That saw the Lord arise!

Welcome to this reviving breast,

And these rejoicing eyes!

2.  The King himself comes near,

And feasts his saints today;

Here we may sit and see him here,

And love, and praise, and pray.

3.  One day in such a place,

Where thou, my God, art seen,

Is sweeter than then thousand days

Of pleasurable sin.

4.  My willing soul would stay

In such a frame as this,

And wait to hail the brighter day

Of everlasting bliss.

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, Trion, Georgia, June 27, 2010

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnal (1935), of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ

Words by William Cowper (1731-1800), the great English poet, in 1769

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1.  Jesus, where’er thy people meet,

There they behold thy mercy seat;

Wher-e’er they seek thee, thou art found,

And ev’ry place is hallowed ground.

2.  Dear Shepherd of thy chosen few,

Thy former mercies here renew;

Here to our waiting hearts proclaim

The sweetness of thy saving name.

3.  Here may we prove the pow’r of prayer

To strengthen faith and sweeten care,

To teach our faint desires to rise,

And bring all heav’n before our eyes.

4.  Lord, we are few, but thou art near;

Nor short thine arm, nor deaf thine ear:

Oh, rend the heav’ns, come quickly down,

And make a thousand hearts thine own.

St. Matthias Episcopal Church, Toccoa, Georgia, May 15, 2011

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

(https://picasaweb.google.com/atldiophotos/StMatthiasToccoa#5607407785186512898)

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnal (1935), of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ

Words by Helen Maria Williams (1761/62-1827), in 1786; She was a poet, novelist, and political radical (an English defender of the French Revolution)

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1.  While Thee I seek, protecting Pow’r,

Be my vain wishes stilled,

And may this consecrated hour

With better hopes be filled.

2.  Thy love the pow’rs of thought bestowed;

To thee my thoughts would soar;

Thy mercy o’er my life has flow’d;

Thy mercy I adore.

3.  In each event of life, how clear

Thy ruling hand I see;

Each blessing to my soul more dear,

Because conferred by thee.

4.  In ev’ry joy that crowns my days,

In ev’ry pain I bear,

My heart shall find delight in praise,

Or seek relief in prayer.

Two Acolytes at St. Mary and Martha Episcopal Church, Buford, Georgia, June 5, 2011

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

(https://picasaweb.google.com/atldiophotos/StMaryAndStMartha#5615055687450926834)

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnal (1935), of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ

Words by William Hammond, an Englishman who was, in turn, a Calvinistic Methodist (1843-1845) then a Moravian; He translated from Latin into English and left his autobiography in Greek

http://neatnik2009.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/feast-of-william-hammond-august-19/

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1.  Lord, we come before thee now,

At thy feet we humbly bow;

Oh, do not our suit disdain;

Shall we seek thee, Lord, in vain?

2.  Lord, on thee our souls depend;

In compassion now descend;

Fill our hearts with thy rich grace,

Tune our lips to sing thy praise.

3.  In thine own appointed way,

Now we seek thee, here we stay;

Lord, we know not how to go,

Till a blessing thou bestow.

4.  Send some message from thy word,

That may joy and peace afford;

Let thy spirit now impart

Full salvation to each heart.

A Lyre

Image Source = Dr. Stephen Plunkett

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sutton_Hoo_lyre_(reconstruction).jpg)

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnal (1935), of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ

Words by John Pierpont (1785-1866)

Robert Guy McCutchan, in Our Hymnody:  A Manual of The Methodist Hymnal, Second Edition (1937), notes what happened on Pierpont’s eightieth birthday.  William Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., sent him original birthday poems.  That is one way to celebrate in style.

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1.  O Thou to whom, in ancient time,

The lyre of Hebrew bards was strung,

Whom kings adored in song sublime,

And prophets prais’d with glowing tongue;

2.  Not now on Zion’s height alone

The favored worshiper may dwell,

Now where, at sultry noon, the Son

Sat weary by the patriarch’s well.

3.  From ev’ry place below the skies,

The grateful song, the fervent pray’r,

The incense of the heart, may rise

To heav’n and find acceptance there.

4.  O Thou to whom, in ancient time,

The lure of prophet bards was strung,

To thee at last in ev’ry clime

Shall temples rise and praise be sung.