Daniel and I probably were a little nontraditional in our wedding march. I walked down the aisle to hymn versus an instrumental piece. Who knows the reasoning behind that, probably in all likeliness it was to save time and keep it simple. Presbyterian/Anglican what have you services can be long if you have this or that song of response and communion- so we kept all flourishes to a minimum. Sung two songs, said vows, exchanged rings, and got out of there to go to the after party (somewhat in that order). Whoo-hoo.
And the reason for singing this hymn? Besides it being extremely beautiful and profound? It was in "Little Women". Meg got married to this song. I loved her wedding in the film. It's only after the fact has the hymn gained in deeper spiritual meaning for me. It can without fail send me to tears. It's full of beautiful images, full of life giving images, full of God's grace. It's all to easy to get bogged down by negativity and sin and what's wrong and broken nowadays. This hymn is a reminder that there's a lot of love and grace around, too, if we care to look around us!
For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above,
Pleasures pure and undefiled,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
For each perfect gift of thine,
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flowers of earth and buds of heaven,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
For thy Church which evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above,
Pleasures pure and undefiled,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
For each perfect gift of thine,
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flowers of earth and buds of heaven,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
For thy Church which evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
No comments:
Post a Comment