Notes on the Notes – February 28, 2016

Lent 3

Hungering and Thirsting for

Generational Connection

This week’s scripture readings:

Psalm 63:1-8       Luke 13:1-9

This week’s music:

“Jesus Loves Me” (VU #365)

“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so,
Little ones to him belong, in his love we shall be strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me!  Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!  The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me, this I know, as he loved so long ago,
taking children on his knee, saying, “Let them come to me.”

Jesus loves me still today, walking with me on my way,
Wanting as a friend to give light and love to all who live.”

This popular song has been loved among children and adults alike since it was written in 1860. Anna B. Warner wrote the original version and later David Rutherford McGuire added stanzas two and three. Anna’s sister Susan had asked her to write a song for a Sunday School teacher who wanted to cheer a dying boy.  The song first appeared in a novel, Say and Seal. In 1862, William B. Bradbury composed the music and added the refrain.

“All Are Welcome” (MV #1)

“Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live,
A place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions, rock of faith and vault of grace;
Here the love of Christ shall end divisions:
All are welcome, all are welcome,  all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where hands will reach beyond the wood and stone
To heal and strengthen, serve and teach, and live the Word they’ve know.
Here the outcast and the stranger bear the image of God’s face;
Let us bring an end to fear and danger:
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where all are named, their songs and visions heard
And loved and treasured, taught and claimed as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter, prayers of faith and songs of grace;
Let this house proclaim from floor to rafter:
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.”

Our opening hymn of welcome comes from the hymn book supplement More Voices.  The supplement serves to introduce congregations to newer music that has been composed in between the publications of our larger, main hymn book. This hymn was written by Marty Haugen in 1994.  Hear the song at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAZC65CwTEA

“Family of God”

“There are old ones, young ones, every size and colour too.
Mingling and sharing what we’ve learned along the road,
Loving laughter, some tears, as we learn what love can do
All of us together in the family of God.

Now the Church is not a quiet place to gather
Hiding from the world where we are called to live,
But a people caring deeply for each other learning of the gifts we have to give.

As a family feels what happens to its members,
Caring for the grief and pain that each one bears,
So with special love and care the Church remembers
Those within the family we share.

Yet the love of God that calls the Church together
In the loving circle of a family’s care,
Sends us out to spread the circle as we gather
Those who need the love we’ve learned to share.”

This song was written by Rev. Fred Styles for a contemporary worship service at West Hill United Church on the theme “What is a Church Family?” in 1978. The melody is an adapted version of the Canadian folk tune, Kelligrews Soiree.

“Song of Fellowship”

“We are here this day to share God’s love;
We have come with burdens and cares,
For within this place we are bound as one
In this fellowship we share.

Whether weak or strong, whether old or young
When we’re feeling lost and alone,
There is comfort here in this family of God
Where love and friendship grow.

Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.

May the peace of God be with us all to guide our hearts and minds,
And help us reach beyond these walls to share the friendship we find.

Blest be the tie that binds.”

This week’s anthem was written by Don Besig and Nancy Price in 1986.  Along with original words and music, the song also incorporates the first verse of the hymn Blest Be the Tie That Binds by John Fawcett and Johann G. Naegeli.    John Fawcett, an English Baptist pastor, school master, and author, spent his entire ministry in Wainsgate, Yorkshire, and most of his hymns were written to follow his sermons.  It is alleged that he wrote the text for this hymn after a last-minute decision not to leave his pastorate to go to a church in London.  It was first published in 1782.

“One More Step Along the World I Go” (VU #639)

One more step along the world I go…from the old things to the new, keep me travelling along with you:

and it’s from the old I travel to the new; keep me travelling along with you.

Round the corner of the world I turn, more and more about the world I learn; all the new things that I see you’ll be looking at along with me…

As I travel through the bad and good, keep me travelling the way I should; where I see no way to go you’ll be telling me the way, I know…

Give me courage  when the world is rough, keep me loving though the world is tough, leap and sing in all I do, keep me travelling along with you…

You are older than the world can be, you are younger than the life in me, ever old and ever new, keep me travelling along with you…”

This folk-hymn by Sydney Carter was written in 1971.  The words of the hymn emphasize that living a faith-filled life is more about the journey than about having all of the answers.  It also speaks of our desire to have God with us as we live and learn.

Hear the song at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PXV3dwaeNU