I’m excited to share a recording of my most recent anthem, “O Thou, Who Came To Us”, presented so beautifully by the choir at Glen Mar UMC! It was quite a Sunday: Pentecost, Confirmation, Commitment Sunday, and our last Sunday at Glen Mar before Mandy starts a new appointment. It’s been such a great (second!) run at Glen Mar, and we’re both so thankful for this community, its many gifts, and all the support they’ve given both of us beginning way back in 2002.
This anthem is a revision of A Hidden Gem, and it’s been a great learning process working through these changes with help from Robert Sterling. The text based on Charles Wesley’s hymn “O Thou, Who Camest From Above” and the main tune is loosely based on Hereford. Here’s the text:
O Thou who came to us from above
The pure celestial fire to impart,
O kindle a flame of sacred love
upon the mean altar within my heart.
There let it for thy glory burn
With ever bright, undying blaze,
And to its source trembling return
In humble prayer and fervent praise.
O Jesus, confirm my heart's desire
To work and speak and think for thee;
Still let me guard the holy fire
And still stir up thy gift in me.
Stir up in me!
Rise up in me!
Burning in me!
I'm ready for all thy perfect will,
My acts of faith and love repeat,
Till death thy endless mercies seal,
And make my sacrifice complete.
