Hymn: O God, Our Faithful God
This hymn originally in German was written by Johann
Heermann and titled “A Daily Prayer.” Paul Westermeyer writes, “Like Psalm 90
it contrasts the ever-flowing fountain of God—without whom nothing is—with the
speck of humanity who nonetheless confidently ask God to turn with compassion
to us and prosper our handiwork.” Englishwoman Catherine Winkworth, a prolific
translator of German hymns, performed the translation. She promoted women’s
higher education, and wrote a book, Christian
Singers of Germany, which has long been of interest to music scholars. A
tablet on the wall of Bristol Cathedral states that she “opened a new source of
light, consolation, and strength in many thousand homes.”
Hymn: Seek Ye First
Karen Lafferty penned the first stanza of this “biblical
song,” based on Matthew 6:33 and 7:7, in 1972. She wrote the hymn after
attending a Bible study where Matthew 6:33 was studied. When she returned home
she composed the melody for the stanzas on her guitar. Lafferty calls this “a
song in which people can put God’s desire for their lives above their own.”
Hymn: We All Are One in Mission
Rusty Edwards’ hymn calls for Christians throughout the
world to find their call, united in Christ, to “plan and work together that all
may know Christ’s love.” The second stanza comments on the ways in which our
ministries and we are different, yet all fall under one purpose. The third
stanza pictures the “stark reality” of Jesus nailed to the tree, then being
resurrected to inspire service and reconciliation. The hymn ends with a
resolution to united in Christ, and repeats the first two lines of the first
stanza.
Anthem: Every Valley
John Ness Beck wrote
this paraphrase of Isaiah 40:4-5 in 1976. Although he only uses the two verses,
he sets them in such a way as to convey different thoughts with each
repetition. The first verse is a simple statement, first by the men, then the
women, of a peaceful and verdant world redeemed by God. The second is richer in
musical texture, with four-part singing and syncopated rhythms providing good
word painting for “and the crooked straight, and the rough places plain.”
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