Hymns on Sunday, 27 July 2025

RNZ News

a day ago

Hymns inspired by Psalm 150,
Praise God in his sanctuary,
feature in this week's programme.
Baptistry ceiling, St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast
Photo:
August Schwerdfeger (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International)
Artist: Choir of Belfast Cathedral
Words/Music: Richard Mant/Joseph Haydn
Recording: Priory PRCD 722
Praise the Lord! ye heav'ns adore him;
Praise him angels, in the height;
Sun and moon, rejoice before him;
Praise him, all ye stars of light.
Praise the Lord! for he has spoken;
Worlds his mighty voice obeyed;
Laws which never shall be broken
For their guidance he has made.
Praise the Lord! for he is glorious;
Never shall his promise fail;
God has made his saints victorious;
Sin and death shall not prevail.
Praise the God of our salvation!
Hosts on high his pow'r proclaim;
Heav'n, and earth, and all creation,
Laud and magnify his name.
Worship, honour, glory, blessing,
Lord, we offer unto thee;
Young and old, thy praise expressing,
In glad homage bend the knee.
All the saints in heav'n adore thee,
We would bow before thy throne;
As thine angels serve before thee,
So on earth thy will be done.
Artist: St Thomas Music Group, Margaret Rizza (dir)
Words/Music: Jacques Berthier
Recording: Alliance Music 1999
Laudate Dominum
Laudate Dominum
Omnes, gentes, Alleluia!
Artist: Harvard University Choir
Words/Music: Francis Palgrave/M Lee Suitor
Recording: HUC 2012
Lord God of morning and of night,
We thank Thee for Thy gift of light;
As in the dawn the shadows fly,
We seem to find Thee now more nigh.
Yet, whilst Thy will we would pursue
Oft what we would we cannot do
The sun may stand in zenith skies
But on the soul thick midnight lies
O Lord of lights, 'tis Thou alone
Canst make our darkened hearts Thine own;
O then be with us, Lord, that we
In Thy great day may wake to Thee.
Praise God our Maker and our Friend;
Praise Him through time, till time shall end;
Till psalm and song His name adore
Through heavens great day of evermore.
Artist: Harvard University Choir
Words/Music: Fred Pratt Green/Charles Villiers Stanford
Recording: HUC 2012
When in our music God is glorified,
and adoration leaves no room for pride,
it is as though the whole creation cried:
Alleluia!
How often, making music, we have found
a new dimension in the world of sound,
as worship moved us to a more profound
Alleluia!
So has the church, in spoken word and song,
in faith and love, through centuries of wrong,
borne witness to the truth in every tongue:
Alleluia!
And did not Jesus sing a psalm that night
when utmost evil strove against the light?
Then let us sing, for whom he won the fight:
Alleluia!
Let every instrument be tuned for praise!
Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise!
And may God give us faith to sing always:
Alleluia!
Artist: Choir of Winchester Cathedral
Words/Music: Psalm 150/Charles Stanford
Recording: EMI 763100
O praise God in his holiness praise him in the firmament of his power.
Praise him in his noble acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Praise him in the sound of the trumpet: praise him upon the lute and harp.
Praise him in the cymbals and dances: praise him upon the strings and pipe.
Praise him upon the well-tuned cymbals: praise him upon the loud cymbals.
Let every thing that hath breath: praise the Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son
And to the Holy Ghost,
As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be
World without end. Amen
Artist: The Redeemer Choir, Austin, Texas
Words/Music: Katherine Davis/Trad
Recording: Redeemer Choir, Austin, Texas
Let all things now living
a song of thanksgiving
to God the Creator triumphantly raise,
Who fashioned and made us,
protected and stayed us,
who guides us and leads to the end of our days.
His banners fly o'er us;
His light goes before us,
a pillar of fire shining forth in the night,
till shadows have vanished
and darkness is banished,
as forward we travel from light into light.
His law he enforces, the stars in their courses
And sun in its orbit obediently shine;
The hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains,
The deeps of the ocean proclaim Him divine.
We too should be voicing our love and rejoicing;
With glad adoration a song let us raise
Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving:
"To God in the highest, Hosanna and praise!"
Artist: Viva Voce, John Rosser (dir), Michael Bell (piano)
Words/Music: Joy Cowley/Barry Brinson
Recording: NZ Hymnbook Trust 941300
Beautiful presence, how can we name you?
Words are too small for the one who is all.
How can we speak of your gentleness in us,
the warmth of our hearts in response to your call?
Refrain:
Beautiful presence, ocean of love,
strong as forever, soft as a dove.
Words often fail us, but this we know true,
you live within us as we live in you.
There have been times of spiritual blindness,
when error and pain have distorted our sight.
Beautiful presence, you were there with us,
to show us how darkness can turn into light.
Refrain:
Nothing that happens to us will be wasted,
all of our living is grounded in grace.
Gently you take down the walls of division,
leading us on to a larger place.
Refrain:
Artist: Titahi Bay Gospel Chapel congregation
Words/Music: Romans Ch 8/Felicia Edgecombe
Recording: Private 2428
Nothing now can separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Not trouble, nor poverty, nor danger, nor death;
For in all these things
we can be conquerors through Jesus;
Nothing can separate us from his love.
Jesus you were human,
and you understand my weakness;
my disappointments, loneliness and fear.
And you've been there before me,
You have suffered all those hard things.
Please turn me around and lead me on.
When I look around me,
l see everyone has troubles,
and all of nature's subject to decay.
So how I long for freedom
from its frailty and its bondage,
now living with Christ in full control.
Spirit comes to help us,
and he bears us up in weakness;
he pleads for us according to God's will.
He gives us faith to see God
working in our lives for good
thus making us sons, setting us free.
Artist: Choir of Westminster Abbey
Words/Music: Joachim Neander trans Catherine Winkworth/Anon
Recording: Hyperion 712801
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation.
O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation:
All ye who hear,
brothers and sisters draw near,
praise him in glad adoration.
Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth
shelters thee under his wings, yea, so gently sustaineth:
hast thou not seen
all that his people have been
granted in what he ordaineth?
Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
surely his goodness and mercy here daily attend thee:
ponder anew
what the Almighty can do,
if with his love he befriend thee.
Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath come now with praises before him!
Let the Amen
sound from his people again:
gladly for aye we adore him.