Above:  World Map, 1570

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1864) by George Thomas Coster (1835-1912)

Hymn Source = The Pilgrim Hymnal (1904)

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From north and south and east and west,

When shall the peoples, long unblest,

All find their everlasting rest,

O Christ, in thee?

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When shall the climes of ageless snow

Be with the gospel light aglow,

And all men their Redeemer know,

O Christ, in thee?

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When on each southern balmy coast,

Shall ransomed men, in countless host,

Rise, heart and voice, to make sweet boast,

O Christ, in thee?

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O when in all the Orient lands,

From cities white and flaming sands,

Shall men lift dedicated hands,

O Christ, to thee?

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O when shall heathen darkness roll

Away in light, from pole to pole,

And endless day by every soul

Be found in thee?

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Bring, Lord, the long-predicted hour,

The ages’ diadem and flower,

When all shall find their refuge, tower,

And home in thee!

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Above:  Icon of PIetà

Image in the Public Domain

Text by George Thomas Coster (1835-1912); written for The Fellowship Hymnbook, National Council of Adult School Unions (founded in 1899)

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927)

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O God our Father, throned on high,

Enrobed in ageless splenour,

To Thee, in awe and love and joy,

Ourselves we would surrender–

To live obedient to Thy will

As servants to each other,

And show our faithfulness to Thee

By love to one another.

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To serve by love! O teach us how;

Be this our great vocation–

To comfort grief, to seek the lost

With message of salvation;

In loving may our full hearts beat,

Our words be wise and winning;

In helping others may our joy

Have ever new beginning.

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Thee, Lord, for Thy dear Son we bless;

His heart for us was broken;

O love! upon the bitter Cross

Thy deepest word was spoken;

The echo of that word is heard

In love for every brother;

So test we, Lord, our love for Thee,

By loving one another.

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Above:  The New Jerusalem and the River of Life

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1897) by George Thomas Coster (1835-1912)

Hymn Source = The Methodist Hymnal (1935)

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King of the City Splendid,

Eternal in the height,

May all our country’s cities

Grow holy in Thy sight;

Cleansed from the deeds of darkness–

Cities of light.

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Teach love to gladden children

That know not childhood’s mirth,

Wronged of their rights–no beauty

In their scant reach of earth;

To hope’s large sunshine give them

A second birth.

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Give joy to all the joyless,

Song’s voice to sorrow’s dumb,

May light invade with blessing

Each dark and deathly slum;

Into earth’s realms of horror

Thy kingdom come!

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Soon may our country’s cities

Thy robe of glory wear;

Each place of toil a temple,

Each house a home of prayer;

Each city’s name of beauty–

The Lord is there!

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Above:  Ursa Major

Image in the Public Domain

Text by Albert H. Bayly (1901-1984)

Text Source = The Hymn Book of the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada (1971)

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O Lord of every shining constellation

that wheels in splendour through the midnight sky:

grant us thy Spirit’s true illumination

to read the secrets of thy work on high.

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And thou who mad’st the atom’s hidden forces,

whose laws its mighty energies fulfil:

teach us, to whom thou giv’st such rich resources,

in all we use, to serve thy holy will.

+++++

O Life, awaking life in cell and tissue,

from flower to bud, from beast to brain of man:

O help us trace, from birth to final issue,

the sure unfolding of thine ageless plan.

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Thou who hast stamped thine image on thy creatures,

and though they marred that image, lov’st them still:

uplift our eyes to Christ, that in his features

we may discern the beauty of thy will.

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Great Lord of nature, shaping and renewing,

who mad’st us more than nature’s sons to be:

help us to tread, thy grace our souls enduing,

the road to life and immortality.

Above:  An Offering Plate

Image Source = ForestWander

Text by Albert F. Bayly (1901-1984)

Hymn Source = The Hymn Book of the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada (1971)

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Lord of all good, our gifts we bring to thee,

use them thy holy purpose to fulfil,

tokens of love and pledges they shall be

that our whole life is offered to thy will.

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We give our mind to understand thy ways,

hands, eyes, and voice to serve thy great design;

heart with the flame of thine own love ablaze,

till for thy glory all our powers combine.

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Father, whose bounty all creation shows,

Christ, by whose willing sacrifice we live,

Spirit, from whom all life in fullness flows,

to thee with grateful hearts ourselves we give.

Above:  Icon of St. Luke

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1905) by Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley (1851-1920)

Hymn Source = The English Hymnal (1906), The Church of England

A hymn for the Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist (October 18)

I detect a theme of medical missions, one of Rawnsley’s favorite causes.

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Saviour, who didst healing give,

Still in power go before us;

Thou through death didst bid men live,

Unto fuller life restore us;

Strengthen from thee the fainting found,

Deaf men heard, the blind went seeing;

At thy touch was banished sickness,

And the leper felt new being.

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Thou didst work thy deeds of old

Through the loving hands of others;

Still thy mercies manifold

Bless men by thy hands of brothers;

Angels still before thy face

Go, sweet health to brothers bringing;

Still, hearts glow to tell his praises

With whose name the Church is ringing.

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Loved physician! for his word

Lo, the Gospel page burns brighter,

Mission servant of the Lord,

Painter true, and perfect writer;

Saviour, of thy bounty send

Such as Luke of Gospel story,

Friends to all in body’s prison

Till the sufferers see thy glory.

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Above:  World Map, 1898

Image in the Public Domain

Text (published in 1922) by Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley (1851-1920)

Hymn Source = The Methodist Hymnal (1935), the Methodist Episcopal Church; the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; and the Methodist Protestant Church

A hymn about medical missions

The Methodist Hymnal (1935) is the only hymnal in my collection to have (1) all five stanzas and (2) the unaltered text of this hymn.

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Father, whose will is life and good

For all of mortal breath

Bind strong the bond of brotherhood

Of those who fight with death.

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Empower the hands and hearts and wills

Of friends in lands afar,

Who battle with the body’s ills,

And wage Thy holy war.

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Where’er they heal the maimed and blind,

Let love of Christ attend:

Proclaim the good Physician’s mind,

And prove the Saviour friend.

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For still His love works wondrous charms,

And, as in days of old,

He takes the wounded to His arms,

And bears them to the fold.

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O Father, look from Heaven and bless

Wheree’er Thy servants be,

Their works of pure unselfishness,

Made consecrate to Thee!

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Above:  Icon of the Good Shepherd

Image in the Public Domain

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Lord Jesus Christ, Good Shepherd, thank you for tending to us, members of your flock.

May we, rejoicing in your work of breaking down barriers,

recognize each other as sheep of your flock, and therefore, work together, for your glory.

In the Name of God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Isaiah 49:1-6

Psalm 95

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

John 17:20-26

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 25, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARK THE EVANGELIST, MARTYR, 68

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This is post #1900 of GATHERED PRAYERS.

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/04/25/proper-for-ecumenists/

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Above:  Christ Pantocrator

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Text (1893) by Somerset Corry Lowry (1855-1932)

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927), Presbyterian

This hymn, originally entitled “For Unity,” debuted in the February 1894 issue of Goodwill then graced The Christian Social Union Hymnbook (1895).

Lowry wrote more than 60 hymns, but this text has become the most popular and enduring one.

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Son of God, eternal Saviour,

Source of life and truth and grace,

Son of Man, whose birth incarnate

Hallows all our human race;

Thou, our Head, who, throned in glory,

For Thine own dost ever plead,

Fill us with Thy love and pity,

Heal our wrongs and help our need.

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As Thou, Lord, hast lived for others,

So may we for others live;

Freely have Thy gifts been granted,

Freely may Thy servants give.

Thine the gold and Thine the silver,

Thine the wealth of land and sea,

We but stewards of Thy bounty,

Held in solemn trust for Thee.

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Come, O Christ, and reign among us,

King of love, and Prince of peace;

Hush the storm of strife and passion,

Bid its cruel discords cease.

Ah, the past is dark behind us,

Strewn with wrecks and stained with blood;

But before us gleams the vision

Of the coming brotherhood.

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See the Christlike host advancing,

High and lowly, great and small,

Linked in bonds of common service

For the common Lord of all.

Thou who prayedst, Thou who willest

That Thy people should be one,

Grant, O grant our hope’s fruition:

Here on earth Thy will be done.

Above:  A World Map from 1570

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1928) by Frank Mason North (1850-1935)

Hymn Source = The Methodist Hymnal (1935), Methodist Episcopal Church; Methodist Episcopal Church, South; and Methodist Protestant Church

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O Master of the waking world,

Who hast the nations in Thy heart–

The heart that bled and broke to send

God’s love to earth’s remotest part:

Show us anew in Calvary

The wondrous power that makes men free.

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On every side the walls are down,

The gates swing wide to every land,

The restless tribes and races feel

The pressure of Thy pierced hand;

The way is in the sea and air,

Thy world is open everywhere.

+++++

We hear the throb of surging life,

The clank of chains, the curse of greed,

The moan of pain, the futile cries

Of superstition’s cruel creed;

The peoples hunger for Thee, Lord,

The isles are waiting for Thy word.

+++++

Thy witness in the souls of men,

Thy Spirit’s ceaseless, brooding power,

In lands where shadows hide the light,

Await a new creative hour:

O mighty God, set us aflame

To show the glory of Thy Name.