FIFTEEN YEARS AGO TODAY

 Yes! Today is the 15th birthday of The Cross and The Cosmos celebrated here in several ways. First by overlaying one of my acrylic paintings of several years ago, entitled Stellar Flares, with a marker for the day.

Next, I’m celebrating with one of those things that any hymn author hopes for. My hymn, The Glorious Stars of Night’s Dark Sky was written with the tune Puer Nobis Nascitur in mind, used for Come Thou Redeemer of the Earth in the hymnals I’m familiar with (Hymns A&M/ English Hymnal/ Hymns Old and New). This is the tune that I posted in October 2015. Then recently the Choir Director of Stroudburgh United Methodist Church in Pennsylvania, Aram Tchobanian, spotted the hymn and asked permission to set it to a lovely old American hymn tune, Kedron which I had never encountered. It gives the hymn a delightfully ethereal feeling, which was made even more so by the use of chime bars rung by members of the congregation. This tune is shown below and should be able to be manipulated on a desktop to provide a full-size version.

And here is the words only version

The Glorious Stars of Night’s Dark Sky

Tune: Kedron

(Originally set to Puer Nobis Nascitur/Come Thou Redeemer of the Earth)

The glorious stars of night’s dark sky

invite us to conjecture why

the universe took shape and form,

before the life we know was born.

From nothing, it would seem, began

a cosmic moment when there sprang

a plasma that gave matter, space

and time, as particles embraced.

Whilst elements from these emerged,

formations grew and atoms surged

to coalesce, through gravity,

as planets, stars and galaxies.

On earth, in time, life found its form

when cells in complex ways transformed.

Maybe some other planets rare

are also homes to creatures fair.

But humans, as we grew to age,

succumbed to lies and hate and rage,

so God whose Word this all began

redeemed us by Christ, God and Man.

* * * * * * *

Third, on this day of celebration, I’m wondering if anyone in the Cambridge (UK) area would be interested in helping to improve this blog. With fifteen years history, and 700 items, the administrative and promotional aspects of the blog have had to take a back seat to the creative input. If there is anyone who would be interested in helping to improve either or both of these elements as a volunteer (the blog raises no income), please contact me at crossandcosmos@gmail.com  Trevor Thorn.

Trailer: I will be looking at the nature of AI on Saturday (21st June) and the struggle to come to terms with it.

Psalm 24 (Re-imagined) for the Second Space Age

NASA: Colliding Galaxies: arp 143

Psalm 24 For Today.

Verses can be spoken or chanted.

The three Responsories can sung by all to the tune Truro/ Jesus Shall Reign Wherere The Sun.

 

The whole cosmos is the Lord's and everything in it:

every particle of matter throughout the universe.

 

All human beings, the earth’s wild creatures and resources:

and unknown beings who may live on planets far beyond our reach.

(Responsory 1) 

Lift Up your heads, you galaxies, 

Bright Nova form a dazzling path,

That your great King of Glo-o-o-ory 

Through all your realms may nobly pass 

 

It was God commanded the deep realm of space, Come forth:

and it sprang into instant being.

 

He established light and dark; light to see the wonders of our generous planet:

darkness to invite us to see the vastness of creation.

(Responsory 2)

 Who is this great and glorious King?

The Lord, Creator of us all, 

It was His Word establish-ed 

Prime forces and base particles.

Who shall travel beyond, into the eternal presence of The Lord:

or who shall dare to approach that holy place?

 

Even those who have clean hands and pure hearts, 

who love righteousness and Godly justice, and who despise greed and iniquity.

 

These will receive blessings from The Lord: and be welcomed into his kingdom of love.

They will be a renewed generation of those who revere God,

who stand in awe at the unfolding of the magnificence of his creation. 

 

Lift Up your heads, you galaxies, 

Bright Nova form a dazzling path,

That your great King of Glo-o-o-ory 

Through all your realms may nobly pass 

 

 

(c) March 2023

There is a YouTube Video  posted on the Sing of God  and Science channel. You will find it at 

https://youtu.be/4XHgjfVDhlY  

 

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

 

Dear Lord, I Thank You for The Sun (& other clean energy sources)

 Dear Lord, I thank you for the sun

Tune: Fulda (We Have a Gospel to Proclaim ) or many LM tunes

 

Dear Lord, I thank you for the sun

with its amazing energy,

which we can harvest every day

and turn to power reliably.

 

Dear Lord, I thank you for the winds,

unseen as they turn turbine sails

to generate their gusty streams

of pristine power at mighty scale.

 

Dear Lord, I thank you for the ways

that water-power is utilised,

and pray that soon we’ll tame the tides

for widespread use – a precious prize.

 

Dear Lord, please guide those who invest,

to understand; NOW is the hour

for boosting flows of finance to

those who commit to greener power.

Find more Care of the Planet poems, songs and hymns at https://crossandcosmos.blogspot.com/p/care-of-planet-collection.html

 

Spirituality and Science Gallery 4

This is a new enterprise for The Cross and The Cosmos.

Extracts of earlier poems 

have been mounted on attractive backgrounds

 by my Grandson, Thomas Whitehead, 

to whom I am very grateful.

Each picture in the gallery is drawn from either 

NASA, Pixabay or my own images.

 Ruler of The Universe: Background Image Credit NASA

To access this twenty-first century re-imagining

of Psalm 93 CLICK HERE

Full Moon Rises: Background image Credit NASA

To access the whole of this

children’s song CLICK HERE

We Have a Lovely Planet

This children’s song, ‘We Have a Lovely Planet (for Key Stages 1 & 2) is an advance issue of one of the songs which will be incorporated in a new songbook of 30 songs titled ’Sing of God and Science’ due to be published by Kevin Mayhew in June 2020: so watch this site to learn more as the publication date comes nearer.

Credit NASA: Blue Marble

The purpose of the book is to make it better understood that science and faith can complement each other in showing the glory of God in his Universe. There are a few more songs in the same vein on this blog they can be found at the address shown below.

However, it is very appropriate to post this this particular song on this, the day of protest by children across the world demanding that politicians take the issues surrounding climate chaos seriously. So this song is published in solidarity with that youthful generation who are going to have to live with the mistakes of the older post-war generations: they deserve all the support and encouragement they can get. Well done! all of you.

Why not ask for this hymn to be sung in collective worship times in school to help keep the issues sharply in focus. And, Oh Yes! Some of you might be able to write better songs on the subject - which could be one of your contributions to keep the profile of the issue where it needs to be: top of the political and economic agenda

We have a lovely planet

For God’s creatures all to share

He asked us to be kind to it,

Look after it with care:

There’s lots of things we can do

To tend to God’s creation;

Look after plants and animals

And people of all nations.

Cars and things with engines

Are harmful to the air.

We can walk and cycle,

Help save the world we share.

And as we look around us

At birds and bugs and trees

We thank God for creation

Asking ‘Help us love it, please’.

Now pricey bottled water

Is the same as from the tap

Both of them are H₂0

So why the costly gap?

The charge is for the bottles

Which at sea disintegrate

Into a billion fragments

Sealing birds’ and fishes’ fates.

Then in a spoken chant

You could buy a flask, to fill as you need,

Your water stays cool,

It’s a ‘Save God’s Earth’ deed.

Further Care of The Planet songs, hymns and poems can be found at https://crossandcosmos.blogspot.com/p/care-of-planet-collection.html

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 

Give Thanks to God for Human Brains (Hymn) (Durham 3)

Catch a Wave: Credit ScienceNews Org

Visit the site at

 https://www.sciencenews.org/article/brain-waves-may-focus-attention-and-keep-information-flowing

The article referred to  reflects particularly the last two lines of verse 4

Give Thanks to God for Human Brains,
(8.7.8.7 D) Suggested tune ‘Harvest Hymn’/ ‘Golden Sheaves’: ‘To Thee. O Lord, Our Hearts we Raise’) (Durham 3)

Give thanks to God for human brains,

Great gift of evolution,

Enabling us to find our ways

From problems to solutions.

Our brains let us communicate,

To think through fact or story,

Control our senses, move our limbs,

And comprehend God’s glory.

Give thanks to God for children’s brains

Which wonderfully develop;

First forming in their mothers’ wombs,

expanding as they grow up:  

This pattern builds a vital base,

With myriad brain cells forming. 

And in this phase, parental love

a child’s self-worth is forging.

Give thanks for youth with agile brains

who can bring new perceptions,

As neurons and synapses fire,

Suggesting fresh directions,

from those which were established by

their former generations,

and help society make sense

of rapid innovation.

Give thanks to God for brains mature

Which cope with complex matters,

In every human path of life,

that need considered answers:

they draw on information that

their full-grown brains can process

through electronic signalling

And chemical responses.

Give thanks to God that much research

Is focused on the ageing,

Whose brains can lose ability

As links and cells are failing.

With neuroscience opening up 

Much greater comprehension,

Maybe dementia’s sadnesses

Will soon be overtaken.

This is another hymn that stems from my term at St John’s College as a Visiting Fellow at the invitation of the Principal, Prof. David Wilkinson, astrophysicist, theologian and broadcaster.

This time enabled me to speak with scientists on their own subjects and frame some hymns and songs with the benefit of having one of the University staff cast their eye over my writing. For this particular hymn, I am indebted to Prof. Amanda Ellison in the Psychology Dept at the University for looking at the stages of the brain I selected to express thanksgiving, awe and wonder at the nature and development of the human brain.

Other hymns, songs and poems of faith and science can be found on this blog HERE

A celebration of all our senses can be found HERE

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

Wicken Fen: November.

A poem inspired by two visits to Wicken Fen, a National Trust wetland reserve between Cambridge and Ely in the UK.

Photo by Pam, my wife

 which prompted part of this poem

Wicken Fen: November.

Stillness had wrapped the fen in her embrace,

nothing moved save the occasional reed

nudged at its base by creature unseen,

a brief, barely imperceptible interruption

of the enormous silence.

Above us, lazy clouds stole quietly across the vast sky,

punctuating the blue with subtle hues

of grey and white, with edges tinted

orange, pink and cream

as the sun drifted lower in the early winterscape.

We sit, eliminating even the faint sound of our footfall on the boardwalk,  

and our souls rest content in this Divinely given, cherished flatland.

'Now The Earth is Spinning': Sing of God and Science Song to The Queen of The County Down

Let the children sing!

Ninth (and final) in the series of ‘ Sing of God and Science’ songs from Ely cathedral - ’Now The Earth is Spinning'

Find another eight ‘Sing of God and Science’ song video-clips at http://bit.ly/2tZyC8L 

And eleven more scores and words at http://crossandcosmos.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html

All songs in these two series are covered by Creative Commons Licence

I Believe: Lots of reasons to believe - in this NEW song of God and science

Let the children sing!

Eighth in the series of ‘ Sing of God and Science’ songs from Ely cathedral - ‘I Believe'

Find another eight ‘Sing of God and Science’ song video-clips at http://bit.ly/2tZyC8L 

And eleven more scores and words at http://crossandcosmos.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html

All songs in these two series are covered by Creative Commons Licence