Above:  Icon of Christ Pantocrator

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Hymn Source = The Parish School Hymnal (1926), United Lutheran Church in America

Text (1844) by William Henry Furness (1802-1896)

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1.  Feeble, helpless, how shall I

Learn to live and learn to die?

Who, O God, my guide shall be?

Who shall lead Thy child to Thee?

2.  Blessed Father, Gracious One,

Thou hast sent Thy Holy Son;

He will give the light I need,

He my trembling steps will lead.

3.  Through this world, uncertain dim,

Let me ever lean on Him,

From His precepts wisdom draw,

Make His life my solemn law.

4.  Thus in deed, and thought, and word,

Led by Jesus Christ, the Lord,

In my weakness, thus shall I

Learn to live and learn to die.

Christ Episcopal Church, Macon, Georgia, April 3, 2011:  The Right Reverend Keith Whitmore, Assistant Bishop of Georgia, Giving the Benediction

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Hymn Source #1 = The Parish School Hymnal (1926), of the United Lutheran Church in America

Hymn Source #2 = The Hymnal (1941), of the Evangelical and Reformed Church

This hymn goes by different titles in various hymnals.  An alternative title is “O Thou Who Makest Souls to Shine.”  The number of stanzas, as well as the first stanza, vary according to hymnal, also.

Words by John Armstrong (1813-1856), poet, priest, and Anglican Bishop of Grahamstown, South Africa (1853-1856)

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O Thou who makest souls to shine

With light from brighter worlds above,

Now send Thy glistening dew divine

On all who seek a Saviour’s love.

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O Lord, thy benediction give

On all who teach, on all who learn,

That so Thy Church may holier live,

And ev’ry lamp more brightly burn.

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Give those that teach pure hearts and wise,

Faith, hope, and love, all warmed by prayer:

Themselves first training for the skies,

They best will raise their people there.

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Give those that learn the willing ear,

The spirit meek, the guileless mind;

Such gifts will make the lowliest here

Far better than a kingdom find.

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O bless the shepherd, bless the sheep,

That guide and guided both be one,

One in the faithful watch they keep,

One in the joy of work well done.

Rays of Light

Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = The Parish School Hymnal (1926), of the United Lutheran Church in America

Words by George Edward Lynch Cotton (1813-1866), Anglican Bishop of Calcutta (1858-1866), who drowned in the Ganges River after consecrating a cemetery

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1.  We thank thee, Lord, for this fair earth,

The glitt’ring sky, the silver sea;

For all their beauty, all their worth,

Their light and glory, come from Thee.

2.  Thine are the flow’rs that clothe the ground,

The trees that wave their arms above,

The hills that gird our dwellings ’round,

As Thou dost gird Thine own with love.

3.  Yet teach us still how far more fair,

More glorious, Father, in Thy sight,

In one pure deed, one holy prayer,

One heart that owns Thy Spirit’s might.

4.  So while we gaze with thoughtful eye

On all the gifts Thy love has given,

Help us in Thee to live and die,

By Thee to rise from earth to heaven.

The Big Dipper

Image Source = Wikipedia

Hymn Source = The Parish School Hymnal (1926), of the United Lutheran Church in America

Words by Mary A. Lathbury (1841-1913), in 1877

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1.  Day is dying in the west;

Heaven is touching earth with rest;

Wait and worship while the night

Sets her evening lamps alight

Through all the sky.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts!

Heaven and earth are full of Thee!

Heaven and earth are praising Thee,

O Lord most high!

2.  Lord of life, beneath the dome

Of the Universe, Thy home,

Gather us who seek Thy face

To the fold of Thy embrace,

For Thou are nigh.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts!

Heaven and earth are full of Thee!

Heaven and earth are praising Thee,

O Lord most high!

The Constellation Orion, At Which I Have Been Staring Off and On for Years

Image Source = Mouser

Original Latin words from the 600s C.E.; an English composite translation dated to 1890

Hymn Source = The Parish School Hymnal (1926), of the United Lutheran Church in America

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1.  O light, O Trinity most blest!

True God, supreme and ever best;

As now the sun of day departs,

Outpour Thy beams upon our hearts.

2.  To Thee at morn our hymns we raise,

At evening offer prayer and praise;

And Thou our glorious theme shalt be

Now and through all eternity.

3.  As darkness deepens, Lord, do Thou

A night of quiet rest bestow;

From all our sins grant us release,

And bless us with Thy perfect peace.

Easter Vigil, 2010:  Entering the darkened St. Peter and St. Paul Episcopal Church, Marietta, Georgia

Image Source = Bill Monk, Diocese of Atlanta

(https://picasaweb.google.com/atldiophotos/EasterVigilAndEucharistAtStPeterAndStPaulMarietta#5456441189831192594)

Hymn Source = The Parish School Hymnal (1926), of The United Lutheran Church in America (1918-1962), a forerunner of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (1987-)

Words by John Mason Neale (1818-1866), a priest of The Church of England and a leading light of the Oxford Movement, plus the author of many hymns

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1.  O Thou, Who through this Holy Week

Did’st suffer for us all;

The sick to heal, the lost to seek,

To raise up them that fall.

2.  We cannot understand the woe

Thy love was pleased to bear;

O Lamb of God, we only know

That all our hopes are there.

3.  Thy feet the path of suff’ring trod;

Thy hands the victory won;

What shall we render to our God

For all that He hath done?

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/sunday-of-the-passion-palm-sunday-year-a/

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/thirty-fifth-day-of-lent-monday-in-holy-week/

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/thirty-sixth-day-of-lent-tuesday-in-holy-week/

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/thirty-seventh-day-of-lent-wednesday-in-holy-week/

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/thirty-eighth-day-of-lent-maundy-thursday/

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/thirty-ninth-day-of-lent-good-friday/

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/fortieth-day-of-lent-holy-saturday/

A Meadow in the Swiss Alps

Image Source = Wikipedia

Hymn Source = The Parish School Hymnal (1926), of the United Lutheran Church in America

Words by Frances Jane Douglass (born 1829) in 1848; revised by her brother, William Walsham How (1823-1897), Anglican Bishop of Wakefield England, in 1871 for Church Hymns

This is a Spring hymn.

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1.  For all Thy love and goodness,

so bountiful and free,

Thy Name, Lord, be adored!

On the wings of joyous praise

our hearts soar up to Thee:

Glory to the Lord!

2.  The springtime breaks all round about,

waking from winter’s night:

Thy Name, Lord, be adored!

The sunshine, like God’s love,

pours down in floods of golden light:

Glory to the Lord!

3.  A voice of joy is in all the earth,

a voice is in all the air:

Thy Name, Lord, be adored!

All nature singeth aloud to God;

there is gladness ev’rywhere:

Glory to the Lord!

4.  The flowers are strewn in field and copse,

on the hill and on the plain:

Thy Name, Lord, be adored!

The soft air stirs in the tender leaves

that clothe the trees again:

Glory to the Lord!

5.  The works of Thy hands are very fair:

and for Thy bounteous love,

Thy Name, Lord, be adored!

But what, if this world is so fair,

is the better land above?

Glory to the Lord!

6.  O to awake from death’s short sleep,

like flowers from their wintry grave!

Thy Name, Lord, be adored!

And to rise all glorious in the day

when Christ shall come to save!

Glory to the Lord!

7.  O to dwell in that happy land,

where the heart cannot choose but sing!

Thy Name, Lord, be adored!

And where the life of the blessed ones

is a beautiful endless spring!

Glory to the Lord!

Alleluia!

A View from My Front Door, in Athens, Georgia, the Afternoon of Sunday, March 1, 2009

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Hymn Source = The Parish School Hymnal (1926), of the United Lutheran Church in America (1918-1962)

Words (1871) by the Right Reverend William Walsham How (1823-1897), first Bishop of Wakefield (1889-1897), in the United Kingdom; he was a priest in 1871

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1.  Winter reigneth in the land,

Freezing with its icy breath;

Dead and bare the tall trees stand;

All is chill and drear as death.

2. Sunny days are past and gone;

So the years go, speeding fast,

Onward ever, each new one

Swifter speeding than the last.

3.  Life is waning, life is brief;

Death, like winter, standeth nigh;

Each new one, like the falling leaf,

Soon shall fade, and fall, and die.

4.  But the sleeping earth shall wake,

And the flow’rs shall burst in bloom;

And all nature rising, break,

glorious from its wintry tomb.

5.  So the saints, from slumber blest

Rising, shall awake and sing;

And our flesh in hope shall rest

Till there breaks the endless spring.

Lutheran Church of the Ascension, Savannah, Georgia, U.S.A.

Image Source = http://coulterorgans.com/projects/ascension.html

Hymn Source = The Parish School Hymnal (1926), of the United Lutheran Church in America

A Sabbath hymn; words by the Rev. John Newton (1725-1807)

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1.  Safely through another week,

God has brought us on our way;

Let us now a blessing seek,

Waiting in His courts today;

Day of all the week the best,

Emblem of eternal rest;

Day of all the week the best,

Emblem of eternal rest.

2.  Mercies multiplied each hour

Through the week, our praise demand;

Guarded by Thy mighty power,

Fed and guided by Thy hand;

Though ungrateful we have been,

Only made returns of sin;

Though ungrateful we have been,

Only made returns of sin.

3.  While we pray for pardoning grace,

Through the dear Redeemer’s Name,

Show Thy reconciled face,

Take away our sin and shame;

From our worldly care set free,

May we rest this day in Thee;

From our worldly cares set free,

May we rest this day in Thee.

4.  Here we come, Thy Name to praise;

Let us feel Thy presence near;

May Thy glory meet our eyes,

While we in Thy house appear:

Here afford us, Lord, a taste

Of our everlasting feast;

Here afford us, Lord, a taste

Of our everlasting feast.

5.  May the Gospel’s joyful sound

Conquer sinners, comfort saints;

Make the fruits of grace abound,

Bring relief for all complaints.

Thus may all our Sabbaths prove,

Till we join the Church above;

Thus may all our Sabbaths prove,

Till we join the Church above.

Autumn Tree

Image Source = Wikipedia

Hymn Source = The Parish School Hymnal (1926), of the United Lutheran Church in America

Autumn is here now, according to both the calendar and the weather.  So I share the following seasonal hymn (from 1871) by the Rt. Rev. William W. How (1823-1897), first (Anglican) Bishop of Wakefield, in England.  One of the great pleasures of my life is exploring the pages of old hymnals and finding hymns new hymnals no longer include.  As a student of history and liturgy, I consider many of these old sacred songs as treasures to preserve.

KRT

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1.  The year is swiftly waning;

the summer days are past;

And life, brief life, is speeding;

The end is nearing fast.

2.  The ever-changing seasons

In silence come and go;

But Thou, Eternal Father,

No time or change canst know.

3.  O pour Thy grace upon us,

That we may worthier be,

Each year that passes o’er us,

To dwell in heaven with thee.

4.  Behold the bending orchards

With bounteous fruit are crowned;

Lord, in our hearts more richly

Let heavenly fruits abound.

5.  O by each mercy sent us,

And by each grief and pain,

By blessings like the sunshine,

And sorrows like the rain.

6.  Our barren hearts make fruitful

With every goodly grace,

That we Thy Name may hallow,

And see at last Thy face.