Saturday, August 16, 2008

Come, Precious Lord and Triune God

Today my daughter Sarah and her fiancee Justin are being married here at St. John.  It is a beautiful, sunny day and family, friends and parishioners will be gathering at 3:00 p.m. to share our joy as Justin and Sarah become husband and wife.  The theme verse upon which I will be preaching is 1 Corinthians 13:13, "So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest is love."  The wedding hymn following the homily was written for this special occasion and is set to the tune CLOTH FAIR by John Scott.

1.  Come, precious Lord and triune God,
       O Father, through Your Son,
           Pour out Your Spirit from above,
           Come now with faith and hope and love;
      Come, join these two as one.

2.  Lord, grant them faith that trusts in You
        For all security;
            Faith that will cling to You alone,
            Bearing much fruit when it has grown
       To full maturity.

3.  Lord, grant them hope secure in You,
        An anchor holding sure,
            So that if poorer or in wealth,
            In tears or laughter, sickness or health,
       Their union will endure.

4.  Lord, grant them love, a love like Yours,
        To last throughout their life.
            You on the cross Yourself denied;
            Grant that such selfless love may guide
        Their love as man and wife.

5.  Come, precious Lord and triune God,
        O Father, through Your Son,
            Pour out Your Spirit from above,
            Come now with faith and hope and love;
        Come, join these two as one.

4 comments:

revlittleelmer said...

Congratulations on your daughter's marriage.

The hymn is wonderful. It is such a refreshing change from so much of the shallow Christless stuff that so many couples want at their weddings.

amelithpastor said...

Thank you. It was an absolutely perfect day in every way! Kantor Resch from Concordia Theological Seminary was the organist. For the opening hymn we sang "Gracious Savior, Grant Your Blessing" (with slight modification to stanza one for use at that point in the wedding service) and we also sang the THAXTED Te Deum, "We Praise You and Acknowledge You" as the canticle before the prayers. We are still basking in the afterglow of the happy event.

Mark said...

Where did you find the tune CLOTH FAIR? I've checked about a dozen or so hymn books and cannot locate it.

amelithpastor said...

The tune CLOTH FAIR is by John Scott and was in the hymn festival program from Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland last year or the year before. John was formerly the musician at St. Paul’s in London and is currently the musician at a large Episcopalian parish in downtown New York. I have tried to email you a pdf of how the tune appeared in the HSGBI journal and also a tif of how it was used at my daughter’s wedding. If you did not get that, send your email address to pastor@stjohn-amelith.org and I will send them again.