Notes on the Notes – March 14, 2021

Lent 4

This week’s music:

“Come and Journey with a Savior”

“Come and journey with a Saviour who has called us from our birth,
Who has washed us in the waters, and who loved us on the earth.
Come and journey, come and journey, with a Saviour who has come.
We are all God’s sons and daughters.  In the Spirit we are one.

Come and journey, journey inward, come and seek him deep within.
Where he meets us in our living, in our striving and our sin.
Come and journey, journey outward, where the cross calls us to care,
Where injustice and where hunger and the poor call us to share.

Come and journey, journey upward.  Sing God’s praises, offer prayer.
In the storm and in the stillness, find God’s presence everywhere.
Come and journey, journey onward, all our gifts we now shall bring,
To the building of a city that is holy, Christ its king.”

As we continue on our Lenten journey, our opening hymn reminds us that God is always with us.  The words were written by Herbert O’Driscoll.  We will be using the tune HOLY MANNA, which was written by William Moore in 1825 and arranged by David Kai in 1994.

“Come, Let Us Sing of a Wonderful Love” (VU #574)

“Come, let us sing of a wonderful love,
Tender and true, tender and true,
Out of the heart of the Father above,
Streaming to me and to you
Wonderful love, wonderful love
Dwells in the heart of the Father above.

Jesus the Saviour this gospel to tell
Joyfully came, joyfully came,
Came with the helpless and hopeless to dwell,
Sharing their sorrow and shame,
Seeking the lost, seeking the lost,
Saving, redeeming at measureless cost.

Jesus is seeking the wanderers yet;
Why do they roam?  Why do they roam?
Love only waits to forgive and forget;
Home, weary wanderers, home!
Wonderful love, wonderful love
Dwells in the heart of the Father above.

Come to my heart, O thou wonderful love!
Come and abide, come and abide,
Lifting my life till it rises above envy and falsehood and pride:
Seeking to be, seeking to be lowly and humble, a learner of thee.”

This hymn was written by Robert Walmsley, a jeweler in Manchester and a Congregationalist leader of the Manchester Sunday School Union, in 1900.  Adam Watson’s WONDERFUL LOVE is the tune known to Canadian congregations for Robert Walmsley’s text.  The hymn leads us from the eternal love of God for us, through the coming of Jesus, who tells of us God’s love and searches for the lost, to the yearning for God’s continuing love.

Hear the hymn sung at Strathroy United Church at:  https://youtu.be/AYRsRdZLD64

“You’re Still There”

“Sometimes when I grow weary, and I cannot find my way,
The road is long and winding, and darkness floods my day,
I long to know your presence, yet you seem so far away,
It is only hope that leads me, yet by faith I can say,

You’re still there to guide my way,
And walk beside me ev’ry day.
And when my heart is full of fear,
Your spirit draws near.
You’re still there to heal the pain,
Your joy can make me sing again.
I’m always in your loving care,
My God, you are there.

God of earth and heaven,
God of sun and rain,
Let me feel your loving touch,
When I call your name.

Show me you’re there to guide my way,…”

This week’s anthem was written by Judith Snowdon in 2003.  The words of the verse express our human longing to feel the presence of God in our times of doubt and frailty.  The chorus affirms our belief that God is with us, always.

“He Leadeth Me” (VU #657)

“He leadeth me; O blessed thought!
O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be, still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

Sometimes ‘mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters calm, o’er troubled sea,
Still ’tis his hand that leadeth me…

Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine,
Nor ever murmur nor repine,
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since ’tis my God that leadeth me…

And when my task on earth is done,
When by thy grace the victory’s won,
Even death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me…

He leadeth me! He leadeth me!
By his own hand he leadeth me!
His faithful follower I would be,
For by his hand he leadeth me!

Our closing hymn was written by Joseph Henry Gilmore (1862), with music by William Batchelder Bradbury (1864).  Gilmore wrote this text, based on Psalm 23, in Philadelphia in March, 1862, during the American Civil War. His wife submitted the poem to the Boston journal, Watchman and Reflector, where William B. Bradbury saw it. Bradbury adapted the hymn text to a verse and refrain structure and published his setting in Golden Censer (1864). Gilmore discovered his hymn in a new gospel songbook while visiting another city, and was quite amazed at its growing popularity.

Sing along with the London Fox Singers at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAcgX3Aqo9g