Shall we gather at the river and other beautiful hymns

Oh these are all so lovely, thanks so much and I so wish they would have them more often. I used to go to an Independent Baptist and they only had these old ones, they used to spontaneously sing in parts,too.

I have had an ear worm all day of Stand up, Stand up for Jesus.
I first sang it at Sunday School 80 years ago.
I went to the Bethesda Methodist chapel.
We had three in our small village, Bethesda, Primative and Wesleyan.
My Father’s family were Wesleyan but my mother was CofE and for some reason decided that Bethesda was closest in beliefs.
Totally irrational but it was her belief.

Allira

Retread

My singing group is doing a beautiful song that I hadn’t heard before: Do You Hear What I Hear? (although not that old).

It's lovely.

A Christmas song

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhTnDaEmA5k

Bing Crosby singing this.

My favourite hymn is The Servant King.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSeW6CSlUEE

“Guide me Oh Thou Great Redeemer,
Pilgrim through this barren land”.

Swing Low Sweet Chariot is one of my favourites .

Father Hear The Prayer We Offer is another primary school hymn that takes me back.

Also Awake My Soul And With The Sun.

(I am back standing in the school hall as I write this).

It was a C of E school, and we always had hymns, prayers and readings every day.

Not popular now, but it was how the day started, a regular routine.

Instilled a sense of order and continuity, sadly lacking in so much nowadays.

How sweet the sound of Jesus name, which was my mothers favourite hymn and sung at her funeral

'Amazing Grace' and 'Just as I am'

Marydoll

My favourite hymn is The Servant King.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSeW6CSlUEE

One of mine, too, Marydoll.

When I was Music Co-ordinator, I used to include it in our school Carol Service and taught my Y5/6 Choir to sing the chorus in two parts in church.

When we sing Do You Hear What I Hear? the men in the group whistle at the beginning (the first words are "Said the night wind ...) and again at the end. I love it.

Thank you for the Bing Crosby version, I don't know it.

We also sing a rousing number called Torches. The words are "Torches, torches, run with torches all the way to Bethlehem! ..." - joyful announcement - then there's a quiet lullaby verse before we run off again with our torches (digital candles!)

Father Hear the prayer we offer
Not for ease that prayer may be
But for strength that we may ever live our lives cour...age...eous...leeee

57 year old memory of the school hall.

‘The day thou gavest Lord is ended’. As a child I loved the idea that while it was dark here and we were tucked up in bed, in other parts of the world it was daytime and life was going on. Also ‘Hills of the North Rejoice’ and the modern ‘Here I am Lord’. Just realised they all have a geographical element.

*O help us to see:
’Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee*

rather apt today perhaps.

We had ‘The Day Thou Gavest’ at my mum’s funeral, as do so many others.

Yes, the ‘As O’er Each Continent And Island’ verse was very hard, as our DD in Australia couldn’t come to her dear gran’s funeral, with two little children, and I pictured her on the other side of the world, thinking of us all.

(This was long before you could video the proceedings and take part virtually).

We sang O love that wilt not let me go, at my grandmother's funeral. It's a beautiful hymn but it was years before I could sing it without weeping.
A favourite of mine is I, the Lord of wind and sky,
a modern hymn written in 1979 but I love the words.

youtu.be/UA2fMeXEKLA?si=DcQ70ZRhuV-B21qI

Our Parish Priest commented today that the hymns this morning were too dreary. He is going to have a meeting with the choir!

MiniMoon, I'm with you on I, the Lord of sea and sky. Amazing words, beautiful melody and a direct challenge to the singer.

I'm not religious but I have to admit I have a soft spot for a tenor singing 'Oh Holy Night', Elvis singing 'Peace in the Valley', and anyone singing 'Jerusalem'. Although I think my liking of Jerusalem is more about a teenage memory rather than the actual song. We had a music teacher who only had one leg. He would play hymns on a very old grand piano. His favourite was 'Jerusalem'. Whenever he played it he really let rip. Pounding on the keys with gusto and knocking the piano with his wooden leg. He was so engrossed in his playing that I don't think he ever noticed the piano shaking and creaking but, believe me, every teenager in that school hall noticed and we prayed for it to collapse. It never did in my time but boy, if wishing and praying had worked, that piano would have collapsed into a heap of splinters whilst leaving the teacher unharmed and still seated looking at where his piano had been. We wanted him to be unharmed because we all had a soft spot for him. He was weird and a bit dotty but he was our weird and a bit dotty

Both my father and brother had Eternal Father at their funerals, both Royal and Merchant Navy. Love it.

Vampirequeen do you mean The Holy City (Jerusalem)?

I never hear that nowadays, a beautiful song. My late mother in law used to sing it often.

At our Advent Carol service today we had
O come, O come Emmanuel
Hills of the north rejoice
Come thou long expected Jesus
Lo he comes with clouds descending
The angel Gabriel from heaven came
On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry

It is a shame not more people came.

Witzend

I love most of the traditional hymns and carols. A special favourite is ‘Eternal Father Strong To Save’ (for those in peril on the sea) - it was my father’s favourite - during WW2 he was in the RN and was lucky to survive 2 years of the Battle of the Atlantic. We played it at his funeral.

I lived in a deep sea fishing community and we sometimes sang it at school when someone's father or brother was lost at sea. Very moving though I've never been a believer, then or now.

To Be a Pilgrim(Who would true valour see)

The Spacious Firmament on High

In the Bleak Midwinter

Be Still my Soul (the tune Finlandia)

For All the Saints

Cabbie21

At our Advent Carol service today we had
O come, O come Emmanuel
Hills of the north rejoice
Come thou long expected Jesus
Lo he comes with clouds descending
The angel Gabriel from heaven came
On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry

It is a shame not more people came.

How lovely. Good choice by whoever made it. I haven’t heard Hills of the North Rejoice since I left the Uk, early 1970s, but I can still remember the words. Funny how that happens. The Holy Spirit ??