Today's addition to the hymn-book Edifying Hymns – now only seven hymns away from completion, give or take – is a long-planned but deceptively simple little ditty that works the rhyming possibilities of the word "love" to death. It'll be sectioned under "Giving Thanks." I'm pairing it with an original tune, titled EX NIHILO, that I wrote weeks ago before I had any definite plans what to do with it. Perhaps appropriately, both the text and the tune were written in the wee hours during fits of sleeplessness.
And made all things here and above,
Creating God, what did You see
But that You reckoned good in love?
And You forbore to bring an end
When sin invaded Eden’s grove;
You vowed the woman’s Seed to send
And to repay our fall with love.
And when with evil man was rife,
His drowning You devised, whereof
Eight souls You spared, all kinds of life
Delivered through an ark of love.
And when Your holy line You drove
With desert manna to be fed,
You carried them with Shepherd’s love,
Redeemed, from bitter bondage led.
And when Your Son with Satan strove,
A full account for sin to give,
The world beheld High Priestly love,
That many by His death might live.
And when the Spirit opens hearts
To grasp by faith Your treasure trove,
We owe it not our own, weak parts
But to Your sanctifying love.
Therefore we thank You, loving God,
For all Your gifts here and above,
Including Your chastising rod
That trains us with a Father’s love.
We thank You for the mighty word,
And for the men whom You behove
To spread it, till all flesh has heard
The tidings of transforming love.
We thank You that we live and move
And are in You, and can confide
That Your defending, sending love
Will all we need each day provide.
We thank You for the life we lead,
You working with us hand-in-glove,
That we may show by living deed
Our faith in Your still working love.
Wherever history may rove,
We seek with joy the end of days
When we will see unveiled the Love
To Whom we owe all thanks and praise.
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