Skipping over songs already blogged gets me to this paraphrase of Psalm 103 by James Montgomery set to ST THOMAS.
This is the text used by OCP.
1 O bless the Lord, my soul, his grace to thee proclaim, and all that is within me join to bless his holy name.
2 O bless the Lord, my soul,
his mercies bear in mind,
forget not all his benefits:
The Lord to thee is kind.
3 He clothes us with his love,
upholds us with his truth,
he heals all our infirmities,
and ransoms us from death.
4 Then bless his holy name
whose grace has made us whole,
whose loving kindness crowns our days;
O bless the Lord, my soul.
We have had weeks of heatwaves and bush fires and thick smoke in the air but last night’s huge storms left us with an uncharacteristically cool wet Christmas day. Delightful.
I strummed along supporting one of our great pianists, who led music at mass last night, with the thunder accompanying us all.
We haven’t changed our songs for a few years, which is a good idea. I’m always interested, though, if parishes have new songs for Christmas or other liturgies.
Best wishes for Christmas from Queensland, Australia.
This is Cyprian Consiglio’s setting of this c17 text for evening reflection by Paul Gerhardt in English translation.
OCP gives us two verses from the Lutheran Book of Worship. There are other translations with many more verses – see Hymnary. It is also set to INNSBRUCK.
Consiglio’s setting is light and tranquil and if you want the sheet music you can buy it at OCP. Their text is the preview.
This is another Advent hymn that was used at Ryan’s parish recently, that I haven’t done before. I would have got to it soon, as it is in the Guitar Accompaniment Book from OCP I’ve been blogging.
It is a fine moody piece by John Foley SJ. A detailed appreciation of the hymn is here.
The text is here (scroll down). The sheet music can be purchased at OCP.
I've worked my way through the As One Voice books and other collections making backings on Band in a Box to help me (& you if you're interested) learn new songs for church. This is aimed at churches and musicians that own the collections but haven't exploited them fully. If you don't have them they are certainly worth buying. This site is educational, nonprofit and designed to enhance the commercial prospects of songwriters. This site does not distribute copyrighted sheet music.
Disclaimer
Any opinions expressed here are personal views and not the responsibility of any Church.
All music backings posted are created by myself and the intention is for them to be used to learn the songs. If any copyright holder wishes me to cease publicising and promoting their wares and directing people to where sheet music can be legally purchased please let me know.
Mason’s “Mass of Glory and Praise”
To access my backings for Paul Mason's mass go to Feb 2011 in the archive.