A hymn for Sunday

WHAT was it, O our God,
led You to give Your Son,
to yield Your well-beloved
for us by sin undone?
Unbounded love led You to give
Your well-loved Son that we might live.

What led the Son of God
to leave His throne on high,
to shed His precious blood,
to suffer and to die?
Unbounded love for sinners lost
led Him to suffer at such cost.

What moved You to impart
Your Spirit from above,
that He might fill our heart
with heavenly peace and love?
Unbounded love moved You to send
the Spirit as our guide and friend.

What love to You we owe,
our God, for all Your grace!
Our hearts may well o’erflow
in everlasting praise:
then let us raise our songs on high
such boundless love to magnify.

Ann Gilbert, 1782-1866

Incidentally, this hymn has been rescued, revived, revitalised by the editors of CHII. Previously the final two lines of all but the last verse were

'Twas love, unbounded love to us
led thee to ............................. thus.

The last verse did it in reverse. ".... thus ..... us". To rhyme us with thus once is weak. To do it repeatedly seems like gross negligence. Bravo, editors !

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A bit about music exams in UK and France

They're really different. I think I have already mentioned that while in the UK people generally find a private teacher for their instrument, or do it through a school scheme, here there are municipal music school, conservatoires and so on. The situation is a little more complex than I had first understood, because the schools vary in the rigidity of their organisation: the most, the conservatoires, next the municipals, then the associations. Our music school is an association, but it tends to apply the standards of the municipal schools with its programme of cycles, etc. Britain - grade 1 to 8, grade 8 being roughly equivalent to A-level, pre university/conservatoire. France - 3 cycles, each taking about 4 years, with 3ème cycle being roughly equivalent to grade 8. Theory of music - UK to take grade 8 you need theory grade 5. In France you study theory alongside your instrumental studies, very slowly. Catrin's flute music is MUCH more difficult than the stuff she does in theor
Read more

The Kitchen

 Our new apartment will be equipped with toilet and bathroom etc. but not with anything at all in the kitchen. Not even a sink. So we need to purchase a kitchen and engage a kitchen fitter. A friend who knows how to fit kitchens suggested buying an Ikea kitchen. "They're guaranteed twenty years and they honour their guarantee", he said. "I've proved it". Well I don't know any other kitchen laces in France, and I can't imagine there's much that's cheaper than Ikea, so I was happy to accept his advice. So it was that on Monday I booked an appointment with the Ikea Kitchen Planning Service in the centre of Bordeaux. The woman was friendly. "You've already started the process", she said, (have we?) "so that will save us lots of time". "What are you aiming for?" Something not too country, something discreet, something that can adapt to whatever colours we put in the rest of the room. She understood our dislike of
Read more