David Haas adapted several bible passages for the text of this song (I John 1:5, 3:2, 4:15, Psalm 33:6 and Gal 3:28). Any liturgy with a theme of “light” in the readings would be suitable for this hymn.
This is another with enough variation in the verses to suggest the use of a cantor.
The text is at Hymnary and the sheet music can be purchased at GIA.
My backing is at 85 bpm.
This is another Michael Joncas song, this time based on John 15:9-17. It is another song with a lot of variation in the verses, so drag out a cantor for this one.
It is part of a mass setting available at GIA. It’s also available as a single sheet at J W Pepper. The text is at Hymnary.
My backing is at 65 bpm.
This is a Michael Joncas song that I haven’t heard before that is in Gather Australia. It is based on Psalm 27, but also has a refrain for funerals (“May the angels lead you into paradise…)
The verses are fiddly and go high enough to threaten the assembly so a cantor would be advisable. but the refrain sounds manageable.
The sheet music can be purchased at OCP where the text is in their preview.
This is actually the refrain from Christopher Walker’s setting of the Apostles Creed. He has several other songs called “We Believe”.
You can hear it and buy the sheet music at OCP.
The text is from the Roman missal:
We believe in one God.
We believe in one Lord.
We believe in one Spirit.
GA has just the refrain for which I have made a backing:
For Lent we will continue Taylor’s Mass of St Francis and use Paul Mason’s Lenten Gospel Acclamation from the Mass of Glory and Praise.
Entrance: A New Heart For a New World (O’Brien/Watts) AOV 1/158
Responsorial Psalm for Lent: Be With Me (Haugen)
Gifts: God of Second Chances (Haas)
Communion: On Eagles Wings (Joncas) AOV 1/153
Tree of Life (Thompson) AOV NG 138
Thanksgiving: Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days (Hernamen – tune Amazing Grace)
Recessional: Come to Set Us Free (Farrell) AOV 1/39
The next song from Gather Australia that is new to me is by Australian Jesuit composer, Christopher Willcock. As usual the tune is distinctive and lovely so use it wherever a blessing is liturgically apt.
You can hear what it is meant to sound like at OCP. They have it for sale here where you can also see the text in the preview.
My backing is not in his style but it seems to work OK.
This song has another of John Bell’s extraordinary texts. He writes lyrics that are blunt and brave and unlike anyone else, except maybe Shirley Erena Murray. He uses each of the five senses until he gets to knowing and the punch line “will you carry on as if he’s dead.”
It is not a well known song and deserves to be better known so here are the lyrics:
1 Once you’ve seen the baby in the manger,
Will you go to tell the jealous king?
Will you trade the safety of the Saviour,
Sell your soul and ruin everything?
Chorus
Go home (Go home) Go Home (Go Home)
Go home by another way!
Go home (Go home) Go Home (Go Home)
Go home by another way!
2 Once you’ve heard the teacher in the temple,
Will you take offence at what he says?
Will you call him saved and yet misguided
When he claims that profit seldom pays.
3 When you feel the handshake of the healer,
Will you let him take your deepest pain?
Will you dare release the hurt you’re feeling
Or ensure his interest is in vain?
4 When you taste the wine from heaven’s waiter,
Will you celebrate his presence here?
Will you shout with joy instead of anger
or suspect God’s presence in good cheer?
5 When you smell the death of the redeemer,
Will you realise he died for you?
Will you see the suffering and forgiving
Are the work of grace he came to do?
6 When you know that Jesus Christ is risen,
Will you carry on as if he’s dead?
Will you recognise that love has triumphed,
Hell has lost and Heaven is her instead?
© 1988 WGRG, The Iona Community, Glasgow.
I also have a copy in the collection Enemy of Apathy, which can be purchased at Wild Goose where you can hear a snippet of the song. It is also available at GIA.
RS’s parish used this song of thanksgiving a couple of weeks ago. It is a stirring modern traditional hymn by Stephen Dean and I have a copy in OCP’s Guitar Accompaniment Book at 485.
The sheet music can be purchased at OCP where the text is in their preview.
This is ropey backing I made with fake BIAB organ:
Fortunately this sounds much better:
This one is a surprise. The lovely tune is by Jane Wood, the general editor of Gather Australia and the text is by a Mark Coleridge who I have to assume went on to become the current Archbishop of Brisbane. I can’t confirm this so if anyone knows different do let me know.
Assuming it is his text, I will risk putting up the words, as this song is really pretty obscure, and it also isn’t bad at all. It has a touch of the John Bell about it.
They say Archbishop Coleridge is destined for a red hat and is the pick of the Bishops in Australia (but only if you don’t count the Most Reverend Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv DD of Parramatta who is an absolute gem) but whenever I listen to him you get the idea that Coleridge wants to open out the discussion and widen perspectives on the Gospel until it impinges on matters of authority and then he slams shut all discussion in terror. That’s just my opinion of course.
Who knows perhaps he really will become a Cardinal and help “bring to birth the new world we await.”
In the mean time why not sing along with my backing using BIAB’s harp:
- Shaping Spirit of God, lighting the dark with a word,
Turning mounds of silent death, to shining night of stars:
Move over us! Make us new! Move over us! Make us new!
2. Shaping Spirit of God, moulding the child of old age,
Turning Sarah’s buried cry to laughter’s song of joy:
Move over us! Make us new! Move over us! Make us new!
3. Shaping Spirit of God, guiding the slaves to a land,
Parting seas of failing hope to open freedom’s way:
Move over us! Make us new! Move over us! Make us new!
4. Shaping Spirit of God, leading the Lord from a tomb,
Turning wounds to living springs that water barren earth:
Move over us! Make us new! Move over us! Make us new!
5. Shaping Spirit of God, crying in hope from our heart:
Come, Lord Jesus! Bring to birth the new world we await!
Move over us! Make us new! Move over us! Make us new!
© Mark Coleridge 1987.
This is a Marty Haugen song I hadn’t come across before which is a gathering rite with a baptismal theme. It usefully comes with a sprinkling rite additional to the song itself.
The text and melody line is at Hymnary. The sheet music can be purchased at GIA and the preview there gives more details on the sprinkling rite’s text. The tune must be inspiring as there are several excellent instrumental versions on You Tube.
My backing is just the song itself and allows BIAB’s strings to have some fun.
The original:
These are marvellous instrumental versions:
A lovely solo:
A guitar tutorial:
