Our Earth is Beset by a Crisis

 

Earth and Space  (imagined): Pixabay free image

This poem was written as a song for the Resound 12 Song Challenge 2022/3. Musicians might like the challenge of writing music for it. If used as a poem, in the chorus use line 1, 3,4,6

Our Earth is Beset by a Crisis 

 

Our earth is beset by a crisis, 

driven by human excess,

through profligate use of resources 

by we who could manage with less.

God surely calls us to be stewards

of the planet where Jesus has lived,

and challenge the fossil fuel behemoths,

to save our Creator’s great gift.

 

chorus

help us be stewards Lord,

help us be stewards Lord,

of this your much-loved home.

help us be stewards Lord,

help us be stewards Lord,

working so justice may come.

 

The evidence for this disaster

spans continents islands and seas:

so Christians in every nation

need pray and protest to relieve

the damage that’s being inflicted

on this ravaged planet, our home,

and bring hope through visionary challenge,

as_we_plead ’Now with justice, Lord, come’

 

chorus

help us be stewards Lord,

help us be stewards Lord, 

of this your much-loved home.

help us be stewards Lord,

 help us be stewards Lord,

 working so justice may come.

 

Re-birth: A Welcome to Eternity.

 

Re-birth: A Welcome to Eternity.

A Funeral song to the tune of How Can I Keep From Singing.

(First two verses for anyone: Last verse for committed Christians)

As I embrace eternity
I’m joined by many others:
Yes! several hundred thousand*: all,
my sisters and my brothers.
I feel my God will look with love
on humble souls and gracious,
whatever faith they’d had or none
if they’d been kind and selfless.

A loving welcome most will share,
though not the vain nor greedy,
nor those who by their power had crushed 
the poor, the sick, the needy. 
So my great hope is, on this day
our God will smile upon me,
welcoming me with unknown friends,
together bound for glory.

And though I know that Jesus Christ
is my path to salvation
I’m sure those who’ve not heard his word
won’t face annihilation.
So may I tread with joyful steps
into the realms of glory
with many humble, righteous souls
who’ve never heard God’s story.

 

*The average global hourly death rate in 2023 is 333,000

 

Turn Off Your Computers (One Day a Week)

Sing this to ‘Streets of Laredo’: sound file at end of song.

Turn off your computers, your tablets, your mobiles,

put them aside for just one day a week:

then in the stillness, ask God to give respite,

and free of this pressure, allow Him to speak.

 

Open your heart and your mind to the moments,

tranquil, without all those constant demands

that FOMO can thrust on you, minute by minute.

Or colleagues cause pressure, so hard to withstand.

 

So: treat yourself gently,

and try not to worry,

even though this

may seem hard at the first.

Once you’re disconnected

from global distractions,

this gives your soul freedom,

With God to converse.

 

Such space God will honour, be sure you can trust him,

remember his pledge to the weary and worn,

‘Cast all of your worries, distress and frustration,

upon me, and I’ll give you rest from life’s storm.’

 

This one day in seven, is God’s holy pattern,

Six days of exertion and one day of rest:

So in your surrender of constant connection,

You’ll give God His space; and the time will be blessed

 

So: treat yourself gently

And try not to worry

Even though this

may seem hard at the first.

Once you’re disconnected

from global distractions,

this gives your soul freedom,

With God, to converse.

 

Refresh me, dear Lord,

Refresh me, dear Lord,

Refresh me, dear Lord, give me peace.

Refresh me, dear Lord,

Refresh me, dear Lord,

Refresh me, dear Lord, hear my plea.

You can listen to this song, sung by the Author by clicking on the title below. You do not need to sign into Dropbox to listen

Turn Off Your Computer... 

You might also like to look at With My Phone in My Hand which celebrates the astonishing range of knowledge and information available to all of us who have a phone - and lays out some cautions/ prayers for wisdom in using our mobiles.

Exoplanets; Thousands of them. Children’s God and Science song.

It is quite a while since I have posted anything new in the ‘Sing of God and Science’ collection (aimed at KS1 & 2 pupils). So, when a song-writers challenge (Organised by Resound!) incorporated that age-group in this month’s challenge, it felt like a good opportunity to write something new. This gave rise to a realisation that many sciences have been and are making huge strides and lots of discoveries. So, in this song I celebrate the rapidly growing number of discoveries of Exoplanets. In simple terms, these are any planets outside our solar system - planets that orbit round other suns (stars). NASA’s site will give much more detail for any teacher or young-peoples’ workers wanting to use this as a teaching song.

Per NASA

Exoplanets come in a wide variety of sizes, 

from gas giants larger than Jupiter to small, rocky planets

 about as big around as Earth or Mars.

 They can be hot enough to boil metal or locked in deep freeze. 

They can orbit their stars so tightly  that a “year” lasts only a few days; 

they can orbit two suns at once. 

 Exoplanets (can be sung to Infant Holy, Infant Lowly)

 

Exoplanets; thousands of them,

spin round hugely distant stars:

as new telescopes look further

they’ll uncover more and more 

 

maybe millions,

could be billions,

even trillions,

or quadrillions,

as God’s cosmos they explore,

as God's cosmos they explore.

 

Exoplanets spin their orbits

Out beyond Sun’s mighty sway:

those discovered, dim the brightness

of their host star’s gleaming rays.

 

maybe millions,

could be billions,

even trillions,

or quadrillions,

as God’s cosmos is explored,

as God's cosmos is explored.

 

Myriads of those exoplanets

Will have moons and weather strange.

Their conditions may be more

Extreme than earthly climate change!

 

Yes - more millions!

could be billions!

even trillions!

or quadrillions!

as God’s cosmos is explored,

as God's cosmos is explored.

And to see an index of the full collection of  ‘Sing of God and Science’ songs Click Here

 

 

Carol of The Good News

Picture credit

 faithofourfathersfaith.blogspot.com

I suspect there are many, who like me, delight in those moments when a familiar Bible passage gives rise to an unexpected train of thought. This happened just a few days ago when meeting an Advent invitation to our congregation (Made by my Ordained wife) to read the 24 chapters of Luke through the first 24 days of December. I had scarcely started when the words of Luke 2 17-18 gave me an idea …

¹⁷When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 

 

This led to thoughts about oral story-telling and the thought-provoking idea that God’s plan meant the Shepherds, almost certainly outcasts from respectable society, were the first evangelists. So this carol celebrates the earliest dispersal of the news of Jesus’ birth throughout the locality of Bethlehem. 

 

The Carol of The Good News (Luke 2 17-18)

Can be sung to any 87.87 tune (suggested by author - LOVE DIVINE)

 

Gather round me all you people,

I’ve a wondrous tale to tell;

heard it from my trusted cousins,

told by shepherds round a well.

 

It was just a few days since, those

shepherds watching flocks by night

on the hills surrounding Bethl’em, 

Saw a startling, dazzling light. 

 

There were angels, calling, singing

urging them ‘Go into town,

where a new-born in a manger

is The promised Holy One’.

 

So, let’s tell this story widely,

prophecies attest its truth.

Come! Make every hill and valley

ring with joy at our glad news.

 

December 2021.

More carols, Christmas songs and activities for All Age services can be found HERE

Inspired by Psalm 150 and re-imagined for the Second Space Age

Moth Nebula - (Acrylic: imagined): Gold of

the cosmic background to represent

the sovereignty of our Creator God.

Praise God in his holiness;

Praise him in heaven, his glorious dwelling-place

Praise him from the unknown depths of stars, moons and planets; and from the soaring wonders of the vastness of space.

Praise him for the marvellous gift of matter; and for his extravagant love for all that lives.

Let great aquatic creatures and enormous land-bound mammals, miniscule animals, insects and microscopic cells, praise the Lord.

Let forms of life wholly beyond human comprehension, praise the Lord.

For the neural pathways that birth our imaginations and give rise to all our understandings, give thanks and praise.

Let everything that exists, Praise the Lord.

No better reason for posting this other than it is ‘A new song, to The Lord’ (Psalm 33 v3: Ps 96 v1: Ps 98 v1: Ps 149 v1: Isaiah 42 v10 among other invitations to sing a new song).

Other psalms and Bible passages re-imagined for the twenty-first century can be found as under
Psalm 8 verses 1 and 2 reimagined for C21
Psalm 24 re-imagined for C21
Psalm 93 reimagined for C21
Job 38 verse 4 ff

Introductory Booklet of 11 Hymns and Songs of Faith, Beauty and Science

I have been asked a few times lately to make my introductory collection of congregational hymns and songs of Faith, Beauty and Science available electronically.

A set of JPEGS follow which printed out will make up a 12 page A5 booklet to browse. All the hymns/songs can be sung to the tunes suggested which will be familiar to many fellowships and congregations. The topics covered in these 11 are
As Mighty Glaciers Recede - Climate change & Christian stewardship.
Be Still Small Earth - The cosmic signs attending Jesus’ birth.
Beyond The Farthest - DNA & moral understandings.
Cosmic Doxology - The present-now and cosmic Christ.
Does the God who Lived a Human - Injustice, false news, lies in our corridors of power. NB. The booklet pages suggest using the tune to Through The Night of Doubt and Sorrow. It is the 8.7.8.7 tune called ‘Marching’.
For Amazement by Beauty - Thanksgiving for our brain and our senses.
Give Thanks to God for Human Brains - Brains, Evolution, Age-related brain potential, medical research.
Let The Cosmos Praise its Maker - From the immense to the subatomic, Creation, Salvation.
Make us Good Stewards, Lord - Fossil fuels, plastics, possessions, injustice, the plight of the poor.
Stars and Planets Sing Your Story - The Cosmos, astronomy, the Incarnation, Redemption.
The Glorious Stars of Night’s Dark Sky - Astronomy, The Big bang, Creation. as God’s gift, Evolution, our fall and redemption

Further hymns, songs and meditations can be found at A COLLECTION OF POEMS CELEBRATING THE RICHNESS OF BEAUTY, SCIENCE AND FAITH

Something new amidst the traditional Christmas music?

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS AND LINKS TO ALL THE CONTEMPORARY CAROLS PUBLISHED ON THIS BLOG SINCE ITS START

AN ANGEL TOLD SHEPHERDS WITH GREAT, GREAT JOY (CAROL) (Click here)
A simple-to- learn children's carol which tells of the birth of Jesus and the Salvation story. This is simple enough to teach in a service and the suggested activity which can involve small or large numbers of children - and the grown-ups with them!

AT BETHLEHEM IN BORROWED CATTLE STALL (CAROL) (Click here):
 A carol based on the beautiful French folksong Plaisir D'Amour with a fanfare chorus based on the magnificent  Isaiah prophecy "Wonderful, Counsellor... “

BEFORE THE CREATION, THE WORD WAS WITH GOD (HYMN) (Click Here)
A sung version of The Christmas Gospel (John 1. 1 - 15). Sing it  to the tune 'To God be The Glory’

BE STILL, SMALL EARTH (CAROL) (Click Here),
also known as 'A Carol of the Cosmos' as it celebrates the cosmic disturbances that marked the birth of Jesus. This is written to be sung to the hymn tune from Finlandia (Please observe the copyright note printed with this carol).

GO TO NAZARETH MY GREAT MESSENGER (CAROL) Click Here Imagines God instructing His Angels from The Annunciation to the warning to Joseph to flee with his new family to Egypt. Lively dance-style tune.

OVER PLAINS OF ARABIA ONE CRYSTAL NIGHT (STAR OF JUBILEE) Click Here. Story of the Star sung to the Shaker Tune used for Sidney Carter’s 'Lord of the Dance’

PRAISE THE CREATOR GOD Click Here
Hills of The North Rejoice reframed to start with creation and build to the crescendo of Advent.

STABLE TALK (This Manger’s Well Made) - Click HERE
A  carol that gives Joseph a ‘voice’ in the stable as he imagines the future for his new-born son

STARS AND PLANETS SING YOUR GLORY  (HYMN) (Click here).
This hymn of praise, (can be sung ‘Lux Eoi’ (preferred tune) or to the Beethoven tune used for 'Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee’ or another 8.8.8.8 tune) is suitable as a Christmas hymn but can also be used at other times to celebrate Christ as the Lord of the entire cosmos.

STAR OF HIGH HEAVEN by John B Hobbs (Click Here)

Children’s Carol for the Epiphany to the Low German Folk tune ‘Dat Du min leefste best’.

VIVID WINTER'S MORN (CAROL) (Click here)
This carol is intended to be played and sung in rock style

Whilst this post consists of all the contemporary Carols published on this blog, there are also children’s Christmas activities on this blog which you can access by clicking HERE

Cosmic Doxology (Durham 4)

Post first published for Feast of The Transfiguration (2018)

 and suitable for any occasion to 

recognise the cosmic realm of the Messiah.

Cosmic Doxology (87.87.D)  

Suggested Tune: Blaenwern (Love Divine)

  

Christ  before us, Christ within us,

Christ to left and Christ to right.

Christ whose love enfolds all creatures,

Christ the source of life and light.

Christ the cosmic Lord of glory,

Christ who battled sin’s great curse,

Christ the risen and ascended

Sanctifies the universe.

Other hymns and songs that praise God incorporating the language of science can be found in The Collection of hymns and songs of beauty, faith and science on this blog 

Source of The Fundamental Forces (Hymn)

Source of the fundamental forces,

Jesus Christ our Lord;

Setting primeval plasma coursing

Through His mighty Word.

Called from the womb of the void,

Particles deployed,

Wisdom decreed

These are the seeds

Of creation’s form.

Source of the simple organisms

That evolved on earth.

Deep in the wellsprings, God was minded

To bring life to birth,

Through several billion years

Reasoning minds appeared

Shaped to explore

Wonder and awe,

At creation’s forms.

Source of the love that deep enfolds us,

Saviour, Master, King;

Seeing our wayward human natures

You gave everything

To liberate our race,

By your amazing grace:

Tortured to death;

In your last breaths,

Promised eternal rest.

Source of all holy inspiration,

Spirit of the Lord,

Breathe into us desire and urge to

Worship and adore.

You, Lord, who formed all things, 

Hear us as we now sing.

Giver of light,

Giver of life,

Praise to you, Lord of all.

(c) Trevor Thorn, April 2018.

Her’s a quick look at the tune

Let The Cosmos Praise its Maker. (A hymn/ song)

Cross-stitch bookmarks designed to represent

Christ’s involvement in the early universe

(through the image) and his sovereignty

over all nations in the several languages

of the quote from Revelation.

Let the Cosmos praise its maker,
In its known and unknown tongues, 
Giving thanks for all existence
In its multitude of forms;
From immense to subatomic,
From primaeval to new-born.

All the fundamental forces
Dance before his heavenly throne, 
Giving praise with saints and angels 
For the mighty deeds he’s done; 
Bringing matter out of nothing 
As the universe was formed. 

Let us, as his much loved creatures
Seek how we might understand
All the glory of creation, 
All the beauty that he planned, 
And his cosmic gift, salvation 
Through Christ Jesus, God in man.

This hymn/ song was written with the meditative tune in mind to which ‘Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence’ is usually sung (Picardy), and with the idea that it provides a short, thought-provoking time for reflection on the immensity of the cosmos and what that says about God.

It could equally well be sung as a celebratory song of the glory of the universe and there are numerous hymn tunes with 87.87.87 metre which could be used for this such as the well known 'Praise My Soul'

There are three lines of the song that warrant brief explanation for those not familiar with current scientific understandings.

Although the cross-stitch bookmarks illustrated above the first verse are limited to English, Spanish and French, the expression 'known and unknown tongues’ is intended to allow not only for lesser known terrestrial languages but also for ‘ tongues' which may be used on planets or moons far beyond our amazing solar system. Thousands of stars are now known to have ‘exoplanets’ and ‘exomoons’ circling them similarly to our solar system, and many astronomers/cosmologists think it is more, rather than less likely, that some of these support life that thinks and communicates in ways comparable to the way we humans do.

The first line of the second verse, ‘All the fundamental forces’  could  easily refer to storms, winds and floods and it is likely most people will understand it as such. But it also has a more scientific meaning. In this sense it refers to the four fundamental forces. These are the gravitational force, the electromagnetic force, the strong interactive force and the weak interactive force which between them hold matter in its place, from the component parts of atoms and molecules to galaxies.

Finally, the penultimate line of the song specifically points to the cosmic significance of Christ’s coming to us here on earth: this is a proposition which many thoughtful scientist/ Christians have written on persuasively and enthusiastically.

I hope this ‘shorthand’, note will encourage both those who use this language readily and enable those who don’t, to be drawn into the glorious mysteries of our faith, complemented by the scientific explorations and understandings of so many awe inspiring aspects of ‘our’ amazingly benign cosmos in which our planet has its being.

Further songs with similar faith and science themes can be found in the ‘Wonders of Creation’ found in the right hand column of this collection

Alleluia! Christ is Risen. He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!

Calvary Redeemed

Re-posted from Easter 2014 with thanks that we here can celebrate freely year after year - and with thoughts and prayers for the many who will greet Easter with fear in their hearts.

This song celebrates the bread and wine of the Risen Lord and can be sung to the lovely traditional  Scottish Tune which has been set to ‘The Mingulay Boating Song’ **

Come among us, Risen Jesus,

pour your Holy Spirit on us 

as we gather round your table

taking bread and drinking wine

Bread of life, which ever strengthens

wine his blood, our sweet refreshment:

by our Saviour, freely given,

sacrifice, for you and me.

Double click on the image below to get a printable score

To find other poems, meditations and hymns for LENT, HOLY WEEK and EASTER, Click Here

At the time of posting this was Dedicated to friends-in-Jesus in The Ukraine: that still feels appropriate in September 2014, September 2015 and 2017.

On the morning of original publication we greeted The Day of Resurrection a little after sunrise in the grounds of the ruins of Denny Abbey, which has been a Benedictine Abbey (C12th), A Preceptory of the Knights Templars (C13th) and a House of Poor Clares (14^th). The early morning service included members of two Baptist churches, a Salvation Army Corps and our two local Anglican (C of E) churches. So between the history and the inter-church morning fellowship we are reminded of the breadth of Christ’s church.

But the international dimension was not represented. So I would like to re-dedicate the following song to those friends in Ukraine who I have noticed have recently been visiting The Cross and The Cosmos’ more regularly than usual.

Ukranian Friends, here in the UK, we understand only what the media shows us of the complexities of your country’s present situation, but we pray for all of those of you who long for a lasting peace in your land.

**You can listen to The Corries singing The Mingulay Boating Song at This link to sense how the tune fits the communion song above. In due course.