new hymn about love

. Tune: Londonderry Air. Based on 1 Corinthians 13
‘And now I will show you the most excellent way’

If we could speak all tongues of earth and heaven
But have not love our prophecy is vain;
Though every mystery to us is open
All talk of love will be an empty claim.
But love is swift to clear misunderstanding,
Love is not proud, insisting on display
And love is rich in patient understanding:
Grant us, oh Lord of love to seek the better way.

If we should give to others when we prosper
But have not love, we fail the final test
If we should place our substance on the altar
Our sacrifice if boastful is unblessed.
For love is clean and clear in its intentions,
Lifts up its face to face the light of day,
Love is pure harmony without pretension:
Grant us, oh Lord of love to find the better way.

If by our faith we make the mountains tremble
But have not love, then nothing do we win:
We are but noisy gongs or clanging cymbals
Condemned to sink to silence in the end.
But love is always faithful in rejoicing,
Lifts up a song of hope that never fails
Love is a choir of perfect blended voices
Grant us, oh Lord of love to choose the better way.

When we were young we fought for worldly glory,
But youthful ways in time all have to die.
We see in part as in a mirror darkly
And wait in hope for love’s bright sun to rise.
Faith, hope and love, these three remain our story
But faith and hope will vanish in the day;
As we await love’s triumph in the glory
Grant us, oh Lord of love to love the better way.

Copyright 2003 Robert Atkins; all rights reserved

 

Thanks for the encouragement

 

Well for all practical purposes I don't suppose it means much anyway. People can sing it as much as they like without printing thousands of copies, putting it in a book or making a record of it as far as I'm concerned. If they wanted to do any of those it'd be nice to know and probably only right to have some kind of agreement. Does that sound OK?

 

Yes, I've got a few more hymns to familiar tunes so I'll post them one at a time whenever the discussion runs out of steam.

I posted one based on Isaiah 46:3 and 4 and the famous 'Footprints' text but didn't have any feedback here. It was found on a different site by a very nice lady from Victor Harbor South Australia though. They sang it at a ladies conference they held. Here it is again. Once again, it's to Londonderry Air/Danny Boy aka The World's Finest Tune:

Upon the shore, I walked with Him at even
And I looked back upon the path we’d trod
And in the sand I traced our way at even
And I was glad I’d walked through life with God:
For side by side we’d journeyed through together
All through the world’s wide wilderness of care
And side by side we’d journeyed through to even
Safe at his side the Lord my God had brought me here.

But in my joy I caught a strain of sadness
To give me pause when thinking of my way
For on the shore I saw he’d left me lonely
When I had most the need of him to stay:
When I was tried he’d left me worn and wandering,
He’d left me lone when I was fighting fears
He’d let me tread the steepest slopes in solitude
Before he came back to my side to dry my tears.

But then the Lord drew near to me in comfort
And in his tenderness he made it plain
That in the times when dread and darkness threatened
He was my shield and shelter from the pain:
For on his shoulders he was gently bearing
And on his shoulders I from harm was free:
The single trace of footprints of the Master,
The single trace of footprints shows he carried me.

So on the shore I walk with Him at even
I face the latter days of life secure,
For if my pilgrimage reserves me sorrow
The footprints show that He is strong and sure:
If I am near the gates of heaven weary,
No longer strong enough to stride alone
The footprints show that he is there to carry me:
The footprints show the Lord my God will bear me home.