Tunes for Thursday in Easter Octave

Look at the world - John Milford Rutter - The Cambridge Singers
Despite the terrors and the horrors going on it is always right to take time to celebrate and be thankful to God for the wonderful world and majesty of creation.
This is a great video to uplift the spirits. Lyrics below.




Look at the world, everything all around us
Look at the world and marvel every day.
Look at the world: so many joys and wonders,
So many miracles along our way.

Chorus:
Praise to Thee, O Lord for all creation.
Give us thankful hearts that we may see
All the gifts we share, and every blessing,
All things come of Thee.

Look at the earth bringing forth fruit and flower,
Look at the sky the sunshine and the rain.
Look at the hills, look at the trees and mountains,
Valley and flowing river, field and plain.

(Repeat Chorus)

Think of the spring, think of the warmth of summer,
Bringing the harvest before winter's cold.
Everything grows, everything has a season,
Till it is gathered to the Father's fold:

(Repeat Chorus)

Every good gift, all that we need and cherish,
Comes from the Lord in token of His love.
We are His hands, stewards of all His bounty
His is the earth and His the heavens above.


This is a fine blogsite and article on AppreciatingThe Beauty of The Earth from a fellow biologist of faith.


She quotes this from female theologian called Jame Schaefer who outlines five ways of appreciating creation:
  • Affective appreciation – simply delighting in what is seen.
  • Affective-cognitive appreciation – a deeper, scientific study of nature leads to even greater joy for the beholder.
  • Cognitive appreciation – thinking in more abstract ways about the beauty of the whole interconnected universe.
  • Incomprehensibility – being bowled over by the magnitude and complexity of the universe and everything in it.
  • The sacramental quality of the physical world – the world God has created mediates something of God’s presence and character to us.
and I especially like this :
 "That I might train my senses to appreciate the world more is obviously not a new thought to a biologist.  But Schaefer’s very clearly defined connection between science, a more intuitive appreciation of nature, and faith is interesting and extremely relevant today, when much of the world is being lost to the bulldozer. As Schaefer says, ‘At present, sacramental beholders are desperately needed."
Amen to that !!

Wells Cathedral Choir sing Bernadette Farrell's lovely hymn
 O God You Search Me And You Know Me. 


Nice one to start this Thursday morning in The First Octave of Easter
                 (Apologies for some cheesy video images - I chose it for the music !)



O God, You search me and You know me.
All my thoughts lie open to Your gaze.
When I walk or lie down You are before me:
Ever the maker and keeper of my days.

You know my resting and my rising.
You discern my purpose from afar,
And with love everlasting You besiege me:
In every moment of life or death, You are.

Before a word is on my tongue, Lord,
You have known its meaning through and through.
You are with me beyond my understanding:
God of my present, my past and future, too.

Although Your Spirit is upon me,
Still I search for shelter from Your light.
There is nowhere on earth I can escape You:
Even the darkness is radiant in Your sight.

 For You created me and shaped me,
Gave me life within my mothers womb.
For the wonder of who I am, I praise You:
Safe in Your hands, all creation is made new.



and another beautiful song  We Cannot Measure How You Heal from an earlier post here

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