The Bible Starts with Awesome Tale (Sing of God and Science 2)

The Bible Starts with Awesome Tale (Tune: Tyrol)

The Bible starts with awesome tale,

Creation in six days,

And then God rests, encouraging

A day set by for praise.

The marvellous story then goes on

Within a garden fair,

Where Eve and Adam struggle to

Resist the serpent’s dare.

These tales are all by Wisdom shaped,

The Ancients taught them well,

How at God’s Word creation sprang

And human beings ‘fell’.

Today we know God’s shown us that,

There’s further learning still;

A whole cosmos from nothing came

Through God’s almighty will.

It grew from minute particles

To stars and galaxies,

And planets formed round mighty suns.

Life came out from the seas.

Amazing grace! Now brains and faith

and science help us see,

God’s blessings on this wondrous path,

and love for you and me.

© Trevor Thorn: October 2016

Quick view here of the score. To obtain pdfs to print from, go to the links shown at the end of the post

To access an A4 pdf of the music score Click Here
To access an A4 pdf of the words for printing Click Here

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

I have a number of observations about the text which I’d like to share.

First, this is one of a series of songs being developed to encourage churches, schools, para-church groups (and maybe even the general public) to start singing to celebrate that Faith and science can be dynamic partners in reflecting the glory of God evident all around us.

It is to be hoped that the lively tune and the theme will appeal to children and young people particularly (although there are more songs being developed especially for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 children). There is no doubt that many young people, and others, are struggling with the question of whether science and faith are in opposition to each other. If this song can reassure even some such people that it is perfectly possible to see the two in harmony, then it will have achieved what is hoped.

There could be a very interesting use for this song during any local Festivals of Nine Lessons and Carols (made internationally famous by Kings College, Cambridge). If it were to be placed as an ‘interjection’ after the reading about Adam and Eve, which is a traditional reading in the  lovely Festival, it would cast across the remaining story of the unfolding of the coming of Jesus,  an interweaving of the remarkable understandings of contemporary cosmology with all their overtones of glory, wonder and awe. I sense that could be a very thought-provoking moment or two.

Just a word about the genesis of this song: it emerged - almost spilled out during one of the sleepless spells that have been part of the last few days. I like to think of it, at least in part, as an answer to my regularly used ‘Prayer for Creativity’. You can find that from the link at the foot of this entry. 

Finally, if you are in Christian leadership of any kind and want to help others to wrestle with the challenges of science and faith together or apart, then do feel entirely free to send this to others engaged in the same ministry of encouragement. The sooner we start to sing it, the more the idea will blossom and grow.

May God bless you all. Trevor

Find the Prayer for Creativity HERE
There are now six more assembly-friendly in a collection which you can find by clicking HERE
More will be added to this selection in Spring 2017.

Original Introduction to Post read:

 In my last post, I promised to return to the main theme of this blog, rather than dwell on the changing effects of my chemotherapy course. This post will be faithful to that promise but, as there are some readers who are following our story and have made it clear they would like news, here is a very brief update.

I am extremely relieved to say the treatment, now in its sixth day has gone very well so far: none of the horrid side effects we were (properly) warned of and I still have my hair (O vanity!). Now I am off the steroids, which undoubtedly fuelled my energy levels as the course started, we will see to what degree tiredness sets in. From this very short synopsis, you will understand that Pam and I feel VERY thankful for this good start and continue to be grateful for the generous practical and prayer support we are receiving. It is good to be surrounded by, and in contact with so many Christian friends at a time like this.

So, on to the Science and Faith.

With energy levels high, I have been able to produce several new songs – and this one can be sung to the lively  traditional Tyrolean tune, called simply ‘Tyrol’, the score of which follows the words (but see the note which follows the text)