We sang this today as a congregation:
One thing I've noticed is that some of the less familiar verses in familiar hymns often become my favorites, not only as lyrics but as poetry. I was struck by these lines in "Fount":
O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for Thy courts above.
Because I know I am indeed "prone to wander." I've wandered in the past and I'll wander in the future. In fact, I'm wandering right now . . .
I also love these lines from "Our God Our Help in Ages Past":
Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the op'ning day.
Do you have any favorite third, fourth, fifth, etc., verses?
To the same tune as "Angels from the Realms of Glory."
1 You, Lord, are both lamb and shepherd.
You, Lord, are both prince and slave.
You, peacemaker and swordbringer
of the way you took and gave.
You, the everlasting instant;
you, whom we both scorn and crave.
2 Clothed in light upon the mountain,
stripped of might upon the cross,
shining in eternal glory,
beggared by a soldier's toss.
You, the everlasting instant;
you who are both gift and cost.
3 You, who walk each day beside us,
sit in power at God's side.
You, who preach a way that's narrow,
have a love that reaches wide.
You, the everlasting instant;
you, who are our pilgrim guide.
4 Worthy is our earthly Jesus!
Worthy is our cosmic Christ!
Worthy your defeat and victory.Worthy still your peace and strife.
You, the everlasting instant;
you who are our death and life.
—Sylvia Dunstan, ©I 991, from In Search of Hope and Grace, 40 Hymns and Gospel Songs
Posted by: Ann | March 21, 2008 at 10:02 PM