Music to end the day for Sunday, 16 August

Dear Friends,

I hope you have been enjoying the hymns in our virtual services over the lockdown period.
Each week, as well as selecting carefully to reflect the theme of the day and the message of the readings,
I have endeavoured to embrace the full range of Christian traditions which make up Cornerstone
and to achieve a balance between traditional and contemporary style.
And I have sought to include both favourite, well-loved hymns and others,
perhaps less well-known, that deliver a strong message, and are well worth adding to our repertoire.

Some of the more striking recent hymns are those which provide fresh words to a familiar tune.
Such is the case with Timothy Dudley Smith’s great hymn ‘Christ is the one who calls’,
a perfect match for John Ireland’s fine tune ‘Love Unknown’ (‘My Song is Love Unknown’).

Before that, by way of prelude, we hear the Aria which forms the basis of Bach’s ‘Goldberg Variations’, one of  his greatest works for keyboard.

Christ is the one who calls,
the one who loved and came
to whom by right it falls
to bear the highest Name:
and still today our hearts are stirred
to hear the word
and walk his way.

Christ is the one who seeks,
to whom our souls are known.
The word of love he speaks
can wake a heart of stone;
for at that sound
the blind can see,
the slave is free,
the lost are found.

Christ is the one who died,
forsaken and betrayed;
who, mocked and crucified,
the price of pardon paid.
Our dying Lord,
what grief and loss,
what bitter cross,
our souls restored!

Christ is the one who rose
in glory from the grave,
to share his life with those
whom once he died to save.
He drew death’s sting
and broke its chains,
who lives and reigns,
our risen King.

Christ is the one who sends,
his story to declare;
who calls his servants friends
and gives them news to share.
His truth proclaim
in all the earth,
his matchless worth
and saving Name.

As I write to you this evening I am enjoying a few days’ break with Jill on the beautiful Pembrokeshire coast, close to the lovely cathedral city of St David’s. So, to end the evening, a prayer from Wales for these challenging times:

O God, you know us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers,
that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright:
grant to us such strength and protection as may support us in all dangers
and carry us through all temptations;
through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Amen

Good night, everyone.

Adrian Boynton