crossbeams

Psalm 29 rjg

Give to the Lord, you heavenly hosts,

The glory due his name,

Sing of his awesome holiness,

His majesty acclaim.

Wild waters heed his powerful word

His thunderous voice obey

Great towering cedars crash to earth,

As soft as new-mown hay.

2 Flashes of lightening cleave the skies,

When God his silence breaks,

Proud nations jump like new born calves,

The untamed desert quakes;

Oaks quickstep to their master’s call,

Great forests shrink unclad,

And in the temple one and all

Cry “Glory“, and are glad.

3 Lord God enthroned above the flood

You sit in sovereign power

King of the universe, you reign

All glorious evermore.

Strong in the strength that works for peace

Lord strengthen those, by whom

Your voice is hallowed in their lives

And grant them your shalom.

Psalm 42, 43

Why are you full of sorrow and heaviness

why so disquieted within

Trust in your God for he will deliver you

sing songs of praise have faith in him.

I am so thirsty like a deer in the desert

I long for refreshment O life-giving God,

Enemies mock me - denying your presence;

all feasting forgotten - salt tears are my food.

This I remember - the temple so splendid

processions of triumph - those glad hymns of praise

now they are past - all their glory long vanished

like dreams half forgotten, my hopes all betrayed.

Once in the mountains, where cataracts thunder,

your power overcame me like torrents in spate

Drowned in your mercy dark nights shone like morning.

Why have you forgotten - left me to my fate?

God, you're my refuge, don't leave me to perish;

outside your safe keeping - I've nowhere to hide.

Bring me back to you, all banishment ended,

Lord, send forth your light, let your truth be my guide.

hymn psalm 104 rjg

O bless the Lord my soul

enthroned in heaven’s height

bedecked in majesty and awe

your very robes are light.

2 The starry skies above

to you are but a tent

the clouds your car - your messages

on tongues of fire are sent,

3 Beneath the ocean depths

you sculpted all the land

then sent the waters foaming back

and fringed the seas with sand.

4 The silver throated stream,

the plangent sapphire pool,

the tumbling torrent, slake our thirst

with living waters cool.

5 Tall trees give storks their homes

wild crags, the marmots holes;

the jungle heeds the lions= roar

and zebras guard their foals.

6 Our people rise to work

as sun announces day

while beasts seek shadows, deep and soft

to snooze the heat away.

7 From crocodile to flea

blue whale and humming bird

your hand sustains earth’s teeming life

no creature dies unheard.

8 For everything that breathes

inhales its life from you

your spirit is the breath of life

creating worlds anew.

9 All glory be to God

while I have breath I sing

for he who fills the earth with good

is Lord of everything.

Psalm 118 bicentenary hymn words rjg, tune © John Barnard

O give thanks to the Lord,

his mercy endures for ever,

O give thanks to the Lord,

his righteousness wins the day.

Let all of the peoples on earth proclaim,

his mercy endures for ever,

though princes and presidents shame his name:

his faithfulness never fails.

When swarming like bees with their deadly sting,

the powers of evil muster,

we trust in the Lord and defiantly sing,

his faithfulness never fails.

The stone that was dumped at the back of the yard

now has the place of honour

Christ comes to save in the name of the Lord:

his faithfulness never fails.

With shouts of salvation and waving of palms

we celebrate his triumph;

death’s evil dominions have been disarmed:

his faithfulness never fails.

For this is the day that the Lord has made

we celebrate its splendours:

God’s justice - the answer for all that we’ve prayed,

has proved that it never fails.

From the latin of St Thomas Aquinas

O hidden God, I worship and adore you

Concealed beneath these earthly shades of truth

To you I give, in faith, my life, my being

My hopes, my will, my mind and attitude.

Sight, touch and taste will surely fail to find you,

Yet faith can open ears to hear your word,

that word expressed in God’s own Son, so truly,

its truth and beauty shone though all we heard.

Upon the cross your deity lay hidden

But here humanity seems absent too,

Yet I believe, bear witness to your presence,

And like the dying thief beg hope of you.

Not privileged with sights of wounds like Thomas,

Yet would I make his testimony mine

That ever, Lord my God, my faith increasing

May grow in me fresh hope and love divine.

O rich memorials of the death of Jesus

The living bread with breath my life restore

Grant me this life, that I may live to please him

And your rich sweetness savour evermore.

Lord Jesus, fabled pelican of mercy

So wash me wholly with your cleansing blood

Of which one precious drop can bring salvation

Can change the whole wide world from bad to good.

Jesus, thus veiled, yet now by faith appearing

I pray you grant my ardent suppliant cry

That when at last I may behold your glory

Complete, before you I may stand in joy.

Translated rjg

Easter hymn

This is a day of joy:

a day to spend in glorious celebration;

for Christ has risen on high,

the living guarantee of our salvation.

Let Easter bells peal out -

repeat earth's greatest story;

cast off all anxious doubt;

Christ Jesus shines in glory,

in glory, in glory, in glory.

2 This is a day of life:

death's icy fingers melt in Easter sunlight;

the Lord has healed our strife,

his resurrection life dispels hell's midnight.

God's love casts out all fears

transfigures all our sadness;

he wipes away all tears

and turns despair to gladness,

to gladness, to gladness, to gladness.

3 This is a day of hope:

Now God in love brings forth his new creation;

When human strength can't cope

His spirit drives us on in expectation;

for Christ has burst through death

destroying hell's bleak prison;

so sing with all your breath

"Lord Jesus Christ is risen, is risen, is risen is risen!" RJG

rewriting of Jesu lover of my soul

Lord in whom all love is found

Cuddle me in your embrace

While the raging waters pound,

Wave on wave in frenzied race.

Hide me, loving Saviour, hide,

till the storm of life is past;

Safe into the haven guide;

Then receive me home at last.

Other refuge have I none,

All my hope in you I place

Never leave me lost alone

Still support me in your grace.
All my trust on you is laid,

all my help from you I bring;
Cover my defenceless head

with the shadow of your wing.

Will you not regard my call?

Will you not accept my prayer?
See, I sink, I faint, I fall—

Going under in despair

Reach me out your gracious hand!

your great strength let me receive,
Hoping against hope I stand,

in the midst of death to live.

You O Christ, are all I want,

more than all in you I find;
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,

heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is your Name;

I am fraught with weaknesses
frail of faith and steeped in shame;

You are full of truth and grace

Grace abundant, rich and free,

grace to cover all my sin;

Let its streams pour into me

make and keep me pure within.

Source of life, creative Word,

fill me freely with your love;
Rise again within me Lord;

till I reign with you above

commissioned by Baptist Peace Fellowship

Great God of justice, mercy, peace

Who rules the world in matchless grace

How could it be your sovereign will

That evil men should take and nail

Your son upon a cross of wood

Shatter his body, drain his blood

Release a terrorist instead

Happy to see your Jesus dead?

Is this the way you punish sin

Condemn to death earth’s greatest man?

Leave him, rejected with the poor

Naked, unloved, alone, unsure

Forsaken by his Father God

To die in darkness like a dog?

Surely our sins were multiplied

As yet another good man died.

Or was it you we killed that day,

Your blood we coldly poured away?

Slaying in hate like Cain of old

Our brother sent to love and hold;

Holding the world in terror’s thrall

By bomb and bullet, loveless law,

Condemning millions to your fate

Seeking to strangle love with spite.

Was it not nails but love that tore

Open your body, like a door

Through which, by faith, we see your way?

To turn earth’s hells to heavenly day

Renouncing violence, hate and war

To walk more humbly, finding power

In patience, kindness, loving care

Till justice makes this sad world fair.

Hymn for Good Friday vigil

How long O Father must your Jesus suffer?

How long must violence keep the upper hand?

The rich grow fat while millions die of hunger

and cynical Pontius Pilates rule our lands?

Why do you wait? Come quickly to his rescue

You promised that your love would never cease.

Don't let him die in pain, betrayed, forsaken,

Come down and save your son, our prince of peace.

So where on earth's salvation, God of heaven?

Where can we find your justice, Lord of Lords?

Our deep-held hopes expire on cruel crosses.

When will your saving actions match your words?

The weary world still waits in lonely anguish

for the deliverance, Lord God you vowed.

Is death the only end of all our loving,

our wounded bodies crushed, our spirits cowed? RJG

RJG (on a prayer by Stepen Brown))

The tale is told, the deed was done,

the Christ was killed, but rose again.

And now we know the words to say,

Christ is the truth, the life, the way.

2 Eternal God, we crave that life,

living in hunger for that truth

in all we think, or do, or say

to follow you, you are the way.

3 Cross-shadow, resurrection-light,

the pain, the purpose, cost and gift,

our love, our hope, for this we pray

Christ be the truth, the life, the way

4 Our faith embracing all you send

grace upon grace, life without end

we follow on, trust and obey

for you’re the life, the truth, the way.

Elizabeth Clephane. altd RJG

Beneath the cross of Jesus

is where I take my stand

the shadow of a mighty rock

within a weary land!

a home within the wilderness

a rest beside the way,

from the burning of the noontide heat

and the burden of the day.

3 There lies beneath its shadow

but on the other side,

the darkness of the vale of death

that yawns both deep and wide

and there between us stands the cross

two arms outstretched to save

like a watchman set to guard the way

from that eternal grave.

Oasis cool and sweet!

The place of peace where God’s

great grace

and God’s pure justice meet!

As to young Jacob, guilty, lost,

that wondrous dream was given,

so seems my Saviour’s cross to me

a ladder up to heaven.

4 Upon that cross of Jesus,

my eyes, at times, can see

the very dying form of him

who suffered there for me.

And from my heavy heart with tears

two wonders I confess:

the wonder of his glorious love

and my own sinfulness.

Beneath the cross of Jesus

I make my dwelling place,

I ask no other sunshine than

the sunshine of his face;

content to let the world go by

to know no gain nor loss;

my selfishness my only shame

my glory – all the cross.

Cool living water (words RJG music A Wilson Dickson)

Cool living waters flow over my head,

cleansing, refreshing me, washing me through;

as Jesus was raised to new life from the dead,

come, living spirit, my nature renew.

As cloth that is normal becomes something royal

washed in my purple so precious and rare,

seep into my being, transforming my soul

indelibly dyed in your beauty so fair.

Make me like Jesus, compassionate, strong,

his faithful servant, a child of his grace,

my Lord's humble daughter, to him I belong,

living his gospel, revealing his face.

tune St Botolph 557 bhb

Though being in the form of God

he did not seize the throne

but stripped himself of all but love

to take our flesh and bone;

A normal man in all respects

as man he lived and died;

and as a slave he humbly bore

our cross - was crucified.

So God has raised him up on high

and given him such a name

that far outshines the stars of heaven

and sets our hearts aflame;

For Jesus reigns as Christ the Lord,

to him all knees shall bow

and every power in heaven and hell

tells forth his glory now. RJG Church in Wales

To tune 650 (bpw)

O Lord who made this world in grace

and launched it on its way:

whose love commands through earth and space

and over all holds sway:

deliver us, lest we should choose

to please ourselves, your world misuse.

O Lord, revealed in flesh and blood

who taught us what is love

and died in pain to make us good

now glorified above:

deliver us lest we should live

as unforgiv’n and not forgive.

O Lord whose spirit breathing life

into all living things;

who heals our wounded world of strife

and through all nature sings:

deliver us that we may dare

to work for peace by deed and prayer.

Amen (organ) RJG

To tune 429 bpw

Lord Jesus Christ you're waiting now

with outstretched arms and open heart;

I want to come but don't know how;

my doubts and fears keep us apart.

Lord Jesus is it really you

who thrills my soul and calls my name?

Can I resist a love so true?

Will my life ever be the same?

Lord Jesus Christ, I need your love;

I've lived too long for self alone.

Fill me with goodness from above:

release in me the love you've won.

Lord Jesus, Yes, I know it's you.

Embrace me with your nail-pierced hands;

cleanse me from sin, my life renew;

fulfil in me your kingdom's plans.

O Lord, what joys too deep to sing!

What peace too fathomless to plumb!

My Lord, my Life, my Saviour, King -

you're mine, I'm yours till kingdom come. RJG

the O antiphons for advent

Coming God,

coming in our Lord Jesus,

coming for outcasts,

coming to confound the proud,

coming to surprise with joy the sad.

Come amongst us now in the creative power and presence of your Spirit,

as we come into your presence in praise.

O come now wisdom from on high

whose word called forth both earth and sky

creating man from earthen clay

to us reveal salvation’s way.

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to you O Israel.

O Lord of Lords, and ruler of the House of Israel, you appeared to

Moses in the fire of the burning bush, and gave him the law on Sinai:

come with your outstretched arm and ransom us.

O come, O come O Lord most high

who in your glorious majesty

from Sinai's mountain clothed in awe

gave to your people, love's pure law.

Rejoice.....

O shoot springing from the root of Jesse, sign of God’s love for all people, the one before whom all the earth’s leaders will fall silent, and all peoples bow, let nothing delay your coming to save us.

O come green shoot of Jesse’s tree

those gripped in wrong’s iron fist set free

from hell’s grim stranglehold release

and lead us forth to paths of peace

Rejoice……..

O key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel; you open and none

can shut; you shut and none can open; come and free the captives from

prison and break down the walls of death.

O come, the key of David, come

fling open wide our heavenly home,

safeguard for us the heaven-ward road

and bar the way to death's abode.

Rejoice....

O morning star, splendour of the light eternal and bright sun of

righteousness: come and bring light to those who dwell in darkness and

walk in the shadow of death.

O come, O come Lord, dayspring bright

bathe all who wait in healing light

disperse the long nights lingering gloom

dispel depression's shades of doom.

Rejoice……

O king of the nations, you alone can fulfil their desires;

cornerstone, binding us all together; come and save the creature you

have fashioned from the dust of the earth.

O come, desire of nations! show

your kingly reign on earth below.

one cornerstone, uniting all

restore the ruin of our fall

Rejoice.........

O Emmanuel, our king and lawgiver, hope of the nations and their

saviour; come and save us O Lord God.

O come O come Emmanuel!

Redeem your captive Israel

That mourns in exile, lost and lone,

far from the face of God's dear Son!

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to you O Israel

( verses from O antiphons, trans. from latin by R.J. Gardiner.)

litany for pentecost

Lord we are in need of your reviving power:

we have become stale and unimaginative:

sometimes we are afraid of your

creativity and cower in the darkness because we fear the revolution of your kingdom.

Visit us in the deepest parts of our being:

renew us with the sweetness of your grace,

you who are the source of all that lives.

Come Holy Spirit:

Come Holy Spirit from heaven's pure height;

scatter our darkness with your glorious light.

Come, father of poor folk, great giver of all,

light of our being, the fire of our soul.

The Lord says, I shall make you a light to the nations so

that my salvation may reach the remotest parts of earth.

Lord, we need the refreshment you alone can bring:

sick, we need healing, tired we need energy,

bereaved we need comfort:

sometimes we cry in desperation with Jeremiah, why is there no progress in the cure of our people?

Come Holy Spirit

Of all who bring comfort, Lord, you are the best,

to those admitting you, life's welcome guest;

in toil our refreshment, deliciously sweet,

solace in sorrow, cool shade in the heat.

The Lord says: I have seen their ways, but I will heal them, I will repay them with comfort.

Lord we need peace:

In the words of your prophet Isaiah,

we are searching for peace in this world like those without eyes,

feeling our way along the walls, stumbling as though noon were twilight,

waiting for judgment that never comes,

for salvation that seems far away.

Come Holy Spirit.

Bereft of your presence, most blessed pure light,

bound in the darkness, we languish in night;

come, visit your faithful, our hearts fill with peace;

from sin's grim prison grant saving release.

The Lord says: Look I am going to send peace flowing like a

river, and like a stream in spate the glory of the nations.

Lord we need cleansing: we try to do better week by week but

we fail: we need you to forgive us; bend our stubborn wills

to your gentle purpose, melt our ice bound hearts with the

fire of your passion: Come Holy Spirit:

Cleanse all that is dirty, what's arid, refresh:.

heal wounds that fester with healthy new flesh:

make brittle minds supple, make frozen hearts warm:

guide the lost wanderers safely back home.

The Lord says: I shall pour clean water over you and you

shall be cleansed. I shall give you a new heart and put a

new spirit in you: I shall remove your heart of stone and

give you a heart of flesh instead.

Lord we need your life within us: we become discouraged so

easily; we wilt before the powers of evil in the world, we

willingly retreat into the obscurity of religion instead of

carrying your light to all people:

Come holy spirit

Please give to the faithful who serve in this place

your sev'nfold blessing, the gifts of your grace;

give goodness its prize, give safe journeys at last,

life that is endless, a joy unsurpassed.

The Lord says I have loved you with an everlasting love and

so I still maintain my love for you. I shall build you up

once more, yes you will be rebuilt. RJG verses trans from Stephen Langton

Singing in the rain

In the rain staccato rhythms on the window panes

In the west winds’ howls and whines;

In the gentle breeze’s whisper through the cornfield plains

And the lofty forest pines;

When the sun’s bright radiance tans the sandy shore

And the sparkling sea is blue,

God sings to me and you.

In the grey-stained concrete deserts of the tower blocks

Where man’s vandalism reigns;

In the multi-storey car parks and redundant docks

Framed by giant rusted cranes;

In the springtime meadows decked with fragrant flowers

And the clear, crisp mountain air,

We appreciate God’s care.

In the depths of desperation when our life looks black

And we hide our heads in shame;

When we try to bear the whole world’s sorrow on our back

And wallow in the blame,

Jesus stoops to lift us with his radiant smile,

For he’s known depression’s hour -

It’s well within his power.

On a cross of unplaned timber in the noontide heat,

Stripped bare and hung n high,

With three six-inch rivets hammered through his hands and feet

Left to thirst, to bleed, to die,

There Christ Jesus suffered every human pain,

Took all a man can know,

God’s love for man to show.

In the rain staccato rhythms on our window panes

We will praise our Saviour’s love;

In the tower blocks, the car parks and commuter trains

We will sing to God above;

And when life’s wild party swings our days along

In happiness - we’ll sing

To God, our praise to bring!

Tune Magnificat RJG

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour

God's creative genius has changed my life completely