Church Music

This is a song for children by Michael Mangan that I’ve played at first communions. There’s a fair bit going on rhythmically for a kids song, with triplets and the hanging dotted notes in “shine our light” and “shine shine shine” to contend with, but that makes the song memorable. You can buy it as part of the “Sing Your Joy” collection here, which would be an asset for any church wanting fully conscious and active participation by children.

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Verse 1

We gathered here today, we shared God’s word,

We are chosen children of God, we have been called on to serve.

Chorus

For we are children of the light, going on our way,

Keep it burning bright, we’ve got to shine our light,

We’ve got to shine, shine, shine, ev’ry day.

Verse 2

God’s hands are laid on us, our faith confirmed.

We go to witness now, we are God’s voice here on earth.

Chorus

Verse 3

We remembered Jesus’ life, as we shared His meal,

The Spirit sends us out, open our hearts to God’s will.

Chorus

Download MP3 Backing: Children of the Light

We used this Advent/Christmas sing by Marty Haugen for many years and I still think it is a beautiful piece of music. You can hear a sample at GIA here. I can’t find a single sheet for sale there, but it can be purchased here.

The very last line of the last verse is followed by an echo.

In the middle of a hot summer at Christmas time it is hard to get enthusiastic about lines like “warm our winter night” and that might be why we give it a miss now.

You can hear a choir rehearse the song here.

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1. Holy Child of poverty, so lowly is your birth;
sharing our humanity, embracing all the earth;
Every nation, every race, every person wears your face;
Come anew, O child of our dreams.

2. Joyful Child of mystery, come warm our winter night;
fire our dull complacency and fill us with your light;
Speak the Word that makes us whole, lead each lost and hungry soul;
Come anew, O child of our dreams.

3. Sacred Child of ecstasy, creation sings your love;
light gives back your radiency and fills the skies above;
Gentle glow from candlelight, splendor of the stars of night;
Come anew, O child of our dreams.

4. Child of all eternity, our justice and our peace;
born into our history that hatreds all may cease;
Bring us all to life from death, be our hope, our joy, our breath;
Come anew, O child of our dreams.

Download MP3 Backing: Child of Our Dreams

This Monica Brown song must have been in a school liturgy I helped out with – they really wanted my son the drummer so I carried the drums and strummed a bit. You can hear a sample and buy the music from her website here. This song is written with Australia in mind but I love the idea of Northern hemisphere kids singing about their “southern land”, since we get to sing all the seasonally inappropriate Northern hemisphere songs.

I suspect a teacher objected to the “gonna”s and replaced them with “here to”s – I prefer gonna, which acknowledges participation over proper English.

My backing aims for a 60s girl group flavour.

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Chorus

We’re gonna celebrate, yes we are,

We’re gonna celebrate who we are.

We’re gonna celebrate the spirit here,

The spirit of this southern land.

Celebrate it. Celebrate it.

Celebrate, celebrate, the spirit here.

Verse 1

In the outback town and desert plains,

You can feel it here, the spirit here.

In golden fields and rolling hills,

You can feel it here, the spirit here.

In rivers and seas and mountain tops,

In country towns and city streets.

It’s ev’rywhere you go, in ev’ry place you know.

The spirit’s here.

Chorus

Verse 2

In the people you meet on any street,

You can feel it here, the spirit here.

In the way we live, work and play,

You can feel it here, the spirit here.

In our hearty laugh and silent tears,

In what we hold dear to us,

It’s ev’rywhere you go, in ev’ry one you know.

The spirit’s here.

Chorus (key change)

Download MP3 Backing: Celebrate It ( The Spirit Here)

This is a Marty Haugen song that I like but didn’t catch on locally. It is in his “All Are Welcome” collection and I bought that to get “The Hand of God Shall Hold You” and found the Eucharist song in the collection, well, because I’m always looking for Eucharist songs.

The refrain uses bread, fish, wine or room depending on what was sung in the preceding verse. I can’t imagine anyone doing ten verses, so pick those that fit the liturgy.

It probably should be done call and response, but we did it unison. It goes too high in the verse so guitarists might as well leave the capo off one and bring it down half a tone.

You can hear at sample and buy the music at GIA here. This is a sweet version.

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Refrain

Plenty of bread at the feast of life, plenty of bread to share.
Plenty of bread at the feast of life, there is plenty of bread to share.

1. Bread for every hunger: you have plenty to share.
The bread of joy and gladness: you have plenty to share.
The bread of grace and mercy: You have plenty to share,
you have plenty of bread to share.

Refrain

2. Bread for those who sorrow: you have plenty to share.
The bread of life and laughter: you have plenty to share.
The bread of strength and justice: You have plenty to share,
you have plenty of bread to share.

Refrain

3. Bread for every sister: you have plenty to share.
Bread for every brother: you have plenty to share.
Bread for freedom’s journey: You have plenty to share,
you have plenty of bread to share.

Refrain

4. Bread of hope and kindness: you have plenty to share.
Bread of your compassion: you have plenty to share.
Bread of love and welcome: You have plenty to share,
you have plenty of bread to share.

Refrain

5. Fish for those who hunger: you have plenty to share.
Joy for all who sorrow: you have plenty to share.
Faith for unbelievers: You have plenty to share,
you have plenty of fish to share.

Refrain (fish)

6. Wine of our remembrance: you have plenty to share.
Wine of dreams and visions: you have plenty to share.
Wine of celebration: You have plenty to share,
you have plenty of wine to share.

Refrain (wine)

7. Wine of our forgiveness: you have plenty to share.
Wine of redemption: you have plenty to share.
Wine of our tomorrow: You have plenty to share,
you have plenty of wine to share.

Refrain (wine)

8. Room for those forgotten: you have plenty to share.
Room for those rejected: you have plenty to share.
Room for all the outcasts: You have plenty to share,
you have plenty of room to share.

Refrain (room)

9. Room for all the children: you have plenty to share.
Room for all the elders: you have plenty to share.
Room for all the lonely: You have plenty to share,
you have plenty of room to share.

Refrain (room)

10. Room for those who suffer: you have plenty to share.
Room for all the dying: you have plenty to share.
Room that sings of new life: You have plenty to share,
you have plenty of room to share.

Refrain (room)

Download MP3 Backing: Bread to Share

I came across this one when going through Spirit & Song looking for new communion songs.  I was initially taken with the text and was pleased to find the tune was just as good. We have used it, but not frequently unfortunately. You can hear a sample and buy the sheet music here. This choir sings it forever but can only be heard properly from several minutes in. You can hear the original in full here.

We can’t do it quite as slowly as intended – my backing is at 65 bpm.

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Refrain
Bread for the world:
a world of hunger.
Wine for all peoples:
people who thirst.
May we who eat
be bread for others.
May we who drink
pour out our love.

1. Lord Jesus Christ,
you are the bread of life,
broken to reach
and heal the wounds
of human pain.
Where we divide your people,
you are waiting there
on bended knee
to wash our feet with endless care.

Refrain

2. Lord Jesus Christ,
you are the wine of peace,
poured into hearts once broken
and where dryness sleeps.
Where we are tired and weary,
you are waiting there
to be the way which beckons us
beyond despair.

Refrain

3. Lord Jesus Christ,
you call us to your feast,
at which the rich and pow’rful
have become the least.
Where we survive on others
in our human greed,
you walk among us
begging for your ev’ry need.

Refrain

Download MP3 Backing: Bread for the World

This song has always been very popular at our church.  It is by Michael B. Lynch, otherwise known as Ukelele Mike. (To digress, it is a sin not to learn the uke – or to put it another way, buy my brother’s book.)

This is very singable Eucharist song and so will always find a place. I’ve read objections to “symbol of Your love,” as denying real presence, but this is a narrow view of symbol ignoring the idea that symbols are real -much more real than prosaic arguments over the nature of transubstantiation.

You can buy it from OCP here, and listen to an exceptional piano version here.

I fear we haven’t always been as delicate and gentle with this one as we should have been.

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Verse 1
Jesus, you’re the one I love,
You’re the one I know.
You’re the one who makes me strong,
Spirit in my soul.
From the clouds of yesterday,
Through the night of pain,

Teach me, Lord, to know your way

Know it once again.

Refrain
Bread, blessed and broken for us all;
Symbol of Your love from the grain so tall.
Bread, blessed and broken for us all;
Bread of life you give to us, bread of life for all.

Verse 2
May the bread we break today,

May the cup we share,

Lift the burdens of our hearts,
Lift them ev’rywhere.
Passing on to each of us,

A measure of your love

Love to make us whole again,

As we share your Word.

 

Refrain

 

Download MP3 Backing: Bread, Blessed and Broken

This is a hymn from Bob Dufford SJ, and we used to use the first verse and refrain as the the “Lamb of God” when we used his Mass. It had an odd unbalancing effect because, for some reason, it was taken to with surprising vigor and sung more enthusiastically than anything else, so we had a celebration where the high point was the Agnes Dei.

OCP has sample sheet music here and you can hear a sample and buy the music here. They do it very slowly.  This church is doing it more the speed we did it and this piano version fairly rockets along. The whole original can be heard here.

If you get beyond verse one and the chorus the text is for the Easter season.

My backing is a render of an old MIDI I made to try to learn the whole song.

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1. Behold the Lamb of God, Behold the Lamb of God,

who carries our burden, who knows our pain,

who bears the sins of the world.

Refrain:

Behold the Lamb of God,  Behold the Lamb of God,

Jesus, Jesus is the Lamb of God.

 

2. Surely he has borne our grief

and carried the sorrows of us all.

Struck down in our stead, rejected and scorned,

and by his wounds we are healed.

Refrain

3. Father, forgive them; they do not understand.

They do not understand what they do.

Refrain

4. The kingdom of this world

has become the kingdom of Christ,

and he shall reign for endless days.

Worthy is the Lamb.

Refrain

Download MP3 Backing: Behold the Lamb of God

I’m scratching my head to remember this, but it sounds like an advent song and is by Bob Hurd. You can hear a sample and buy the sheet music at OCP.

My backing is fake church organ.

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Refrain

Await the Lord with hope.

Await the Lord with joy.

Keep vigil for the coming of the reign of God.

 

1. Those who wait for God:

They shall not be put to shame.

 

2. Prepare a way for the Lord,

A path of justice for our God.

 

3. Let your hearts be strong,

For the Lord is coming soon.

 

4. Daughter Zion, rejoice;

The Lord your God is in your midst.

 

5. Blessed are those who believe

that God’s promise shall come true.

 

Download MP3 Backing: Await the Lord with Hope

This is one of the highlights of Holy Thursday liturgies for me.  A song that can be as long as you need to have as many feet washed as you could possibly want.  Dan Schutte has written a devious and memorable tune with a text based on John 13-16. OCP has a sample of the music to view here, and you can buy it here.

This is the original. This is a church doing it well.

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Refrain

I, your Lord and Master, now become your servant.

I who made the moon and stars will kneel to wash you feet.

This is my commandment: to love as I have loved you.

Kneel to wash each others feet as I have done for you.

Verse 1

All the world will know you are my disciples

By the love that you offer, the kindness you show.

You have heard the voice of God in the words that I have spoken.

You beheld heaven’s glory and have seen the face of God.

Refrain

Verse 2

I must leave you now only for a moment.

I must go to the Father to make you a home.

On the day of my return, I will come to take you with me

To the place I have promised where your joy will have no end.

Refrain

Verse 3

I am like a vine you are like the branches.

If you cling to my teaching you surely will live.

If you make your home in me, I will come to dwell within you.

You can count on my mercy when you ask for what you need.

Refrain

Verse 4

I have called you friends, now no longer servants.

What I told you in secret, the world longs to know.

There can be no greater love than to give your life for others.

As the Father has loved me, so I love you as my own.

Refrain

Verse 5

You will weep for now while the world rejoices.

But the tears of your sorrow will soon turn to joy.

As a mother cries in childbirth and her pain is turned to gladness,

You will know great rejoicing on the day of my return.

Refrain

Verse 6

I will give you peace; this will be my blessing.

Though the world churns around you, I leave you my peace.

I have told you all these things that my peace may dwell within you.

Let your faith be unshaken and your hope ever strong.

Refrain

Download MP3 Backing: As I Have Done For You

This is a restrained hymn from Estelle White. We’ve used it a lot but it can be very dreary if not done with care. You can listen to a solo vocals of the song here and here.

It was in a collection called 20th Century Folk Hymnal and I recall we had a tattered handwritten copy at church that I transcribed on an ancient notation program in the Win98 era. I gather McCrimmons hold the publishing rights but I’m not sure if you can get it from them.

My backing is at 96 bpm.

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Oh, the love of my Lord is the essence
Of all that I love here on earth.
All the beauty I see, He has given to me,
And his giving is gentle as silence.

Every day, every hour, every moment,
Have been blessed by the strength of His love.
At the turn of each tide, He is there at my side,
And his touch is as gentle as silence.

There’ve been times when I’ve turned from his presence,
And I’ve walked other paths, other ways,
But I’ve called on his name, in the dark of my shame
And his mercy was gentle as silence.

Download MP3 Backing: As Gentle As Silence