The New Living Parish Hymn Book is a look back into what Australian Catholics were singing up to the 1980s, collated, occasionally altered and often arranged by the editor John de Luca.
Unsurprisingly after all these years, many of the hymns have been already covered here, but there are still some that are new to me. I have covered this tune but not this text.
This Christmas text is by Anglican cleric Percy Dearmer (after John Mason Neale), and it is set to QUEM PASTORES LAUDAVERE a C14 German tune.
The clever aaab rhyming scheme, where b is the same for each stanza, leads to some fairly stretched word choices to preserve the pattern.
1 Jesus, good above all other,
Gentle child of gentle mother,
In a stable born our brother,
Give us grace to persevere.2 Jesus, cradled in a manger,
For us facing every danger,
Living as a homeless stranger,
Make we thee our King most dear.3 Jesus, for thy people dying,
Risen Master, death defying,
Lord in heaven, thy grace supplying,
Keep us to thy presence near.4 Jesus, who our sorrows bearest,
All our thoughts and hopes thou sharest,
Thou to us the truth declarest;
Help us all thy truth to hear.5 Lord, in all our doings guide us;
Pride and hate shall ne’er divide us;
We’ll go on with thee beside us,
And with joy we’ll persevere.
