Seasonal Hymns: Lent 241- 253

Lent

241

Forty days and forty nights – G Smyttan

Forty days and forty nights
thou wast fasting in the wild;
forty days and forty nights
tempted, and yet undefiled.

Should not we thy sorrow share
and from worldly joys abstain,
fasting with unceasing prayer,
strong with thee to suffer pain?

Then if Satan on us press,
Jesus, Savior, hear our call!
Victor in the wilderness,
grant we may not faint or fall!

So shall we have peace divine:
holier gladness ours shall be;
round us, too, shall angels shine,
such as ministered to thee.

Keep, O keep us, Savior dear,
ever constant by thy side;
that we thee we may appear
at the eternal Eastertide.

242

Kind Maker of the world, O hear – Gregory the Great / Hymnal 1940 trans

243

Lord, in this thy mercy's day – I Williams

Lord, in this thy mercy's day,
ere for us it pass away,
on our knees we fall and pray.

Holy Jesus, grant us tears,
fill us with heart-searching fears,
ere that awful doom appears.

Lord, on us thy Spirit pour,
kneeling lowly at thy door,
ere it close forevermore.

By thy night of agony,
by thy supplicating cry,
by thy willingness to die,

By thy tears of bitter woe,
for Jerusalem below,
let us not thy peace forego.

Judge and Savior of our race,
when we thee see thy face,
grant us 'neath thy wings a place.

244

Weary of earth, and laden with my sin – S Stone

Weary of earth, and laden with my sin,
I look at heaven and long to enter in,
but there no evil thing may find a home:
and yet I hear a voice that bids me "Come."

I am unworthy; dare I hope to stand
in the pure glory of the heavenly land?
Before the whiteness of that throne appear?
Yet there are hands stretched out to draw me near.

The while I fain would tread the heavenly way
evil is ever with me day by day;
yet on mine ears the gracious tidings fall:
"Repent, confess, thou shalt be loosed from all."

It is the voice of Jesus that I hear;
his are the hands stretched out to draw me near,
and his the blood that can for all atone,
and set me faultless there before the throne.

'Twas he who found me on the deathly wild,
and made me heir of heaven, the Father's child,
and day by day, whereby my soul may live,
gives me his grace of pardon, and will give.

O great Absolver, grant my soul may wear
the lowliest garb of penitence and prayer,
that in the Father's courts my glorious dress
may be the garment of thy righteousness.

Yea, thou wilt answer for me, righteous Lord;
thine all the merits, mine the great reward;
thine the sharp thorns, and mine the golden crown;
mine the life won, and thine the life laid down.

245

Lord, who throughout these forty days – C Hernamen

Lord, who throughout these forty days

for us didst fast and pray,
teach us with thee to mourn our sins,
and close by thee to stay.

As thou with Satan didst contend
and didst the victory win,
O give us strength in thee to fight,
in thee to conquer sin.

As thou didst hunger bear and thirst,
so teach us, gracious Lord,
to die to self, and chiefly live
by thy most holy word.

And through these days of penitence,
and through thy Passiontide,
yea, evermore, in life and death,
Jesus! with us abide.

Abide with us, that so, this life
of suffering over-past,
an Easter of unending joy
we may attain at last!

246

With broken heart and contrite sigh – C Elvan

With broken heart and contrite sigh,
a trembling sinner, Lord, I cry;
thy pard'ning grace is rich and free:
O God, merciful to me.

I smite upon my troubled breast,
with deep and conscious guilt oppressed,
Christ and his cross my only plea:
O God, merciful to me.

Far off I stand with tearful eyes,
nor dare uplift them to the skies;
but thou dost all my anguish see:
O God, merciful to me.

Nor alms, nor deeds that I have done,
can for a single sin atone;
to Calvary alone I flee:
O God, merciful to me.

And when, redeemed from sin and hell,
with all the ransomed throng I dwell,
my raptured song shall ever be,
God has been merciful to me.

247

Wilt thou forgive them that sin, where I begun – J Donne

Wilt thou forgive that sin, where I begun,
which is my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive those sins through which I run,
and do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
for I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin, by which I won
others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did not shun
a year or two, but wallowed in a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
for I have more.

I have a sin of fear that when I've spun
my last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore.
And having done that, thou hast done,
I fear no more.

248

Lord Jesus, Sun of Righteousness – a LaCroy

249

Now quit your care – P Dearmer

Now quit your care,
your anxious fear and worry,
for schemes are vain
and fretting gives no gain.
Bring praise and prayer--
you need no purse or money
for love itself doth cry,
'Come buy, come buy,
come buy, till love shall satisfy'.

To bow the head
in sackcloth and in ashes,
or rend the soul,
such grief is not our goal;
but to be led
to where God's glory flashes,
his beauty to come nigh,
to fly, to fly,
to fly where truth and light do lie.

For is not this
the fast that I have chosen
(the prophet spoke)
to shatter every yoke,
of wickedness
the grievous bands to loosen,
oppression put to flight,
to fight, to fight,
to fight till every wrong's set right?

For righteousness
and peace will show their faces
to those who feed
the hungry in their need,
and wrongs redress,
who build the old waste places,
and in the darkness shine.
Divine, divine,
divine it is when all combine!

Then shall your light
break forth as doth the morning;
your health shall spring,
the friends you make shall bring
God's glory bright,
your way through life adorning;
and love shall be the prize.
Arise, arise,
arise! and make a paradise!

250

Now let us all with one accord – Gregory the Great / Praise the Lord Hymnal trans

251

Creator of the earth and skies – D Hughes

252

Eternal Lord of love, behold your Church – T Cain

253

From deepest woe I cry to thee – M Luther / C Winkworth trans

From deepest woe I cry to thee;
Lord, hear me, I implore thee!
Bend down thy gracious ear to me;
I lay my sins before thee.
If thou rememberest every sin,
if nought but just reward we win,
could we abide thy presence?

Thou grantest pardon through thy love;
thy grace alone availeth.
Our works could ne'er guild remove;
yea, e'en the best life faileth.
For none may boast themselves of aught,
but must confess thy grace that wrought
whate'er in them is worthy.

And thus my hope is in the Lord,
and not in my own merit;
I rest upon his faithful word
to them of contrite spirit.
That he is merciful and just,
here is my comfort and my trust;
his help I wait with patience.