Hello!

Plymouth Church is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, and they're commissioning a hymn for the occasion. So I'm entering the contest! (just for some creative fun). So here are some couplets, in no particular order, in really rough form. So I thought I'd share them so you could help me find which are diamonds in the rough and which are just gravel. It was written for the tune to "I Sing the Mighty Power of God," but it works with many other tunes, obviously (14 syllables per line).

There are also some lonely one-liners in search of a partner. Help them find their match! Anyway, maybe just a fun project. Suggestions are welcome (as well as brand new couplets and verses, tunes, etc.)!

We gather as the Church of God, at one within this place

The love of God extends to all of every tongue and race

The Spirit searches every heart and grows what God’s begun,

We echo forth resounding praise of all that God has done

For generations come and gone, we give God thanks and praise

May others reap the harvest home, the fruits of all our days.

The earth upon which we have built is but a borrowed land

That testifies each day anew to God’s creative hand

The mighty oaks that tower above were from an acorn sprung

New hope peals o’er the rolling hills each time the bells are rung

(So worlds are formed by faithful lips in every hymn we’ve sung)

(And seeds are planted by our lips with every hymn we’ve sung)

As members in our midst have grown in love and servanthood

So God sparks fire in every heart and moves our minds for good

The graceful bird that shares its song, God calls each one by name

So we are known and loved and called . . .

We bring to You our doubts and fears that plague us still today

We know that out of deepest night breaks every glorious day

We know amid the twists and turns you still remain The Way,

The Shepherd kind, the Shepherd strong that seeks us when we stray.

those gone astray.

Until that day when we shall walk where angels’ feet have trod

We live in love, unite to serve our neighbors and our God

The faithful soul needs only this: the still small voice of God

The spirit of our God

The peace of living well.

The holy peace of God .

The quiet or chaotic space where God is seen and heard.

The life or death, the peace or war, the common and absurd.

Each brings to mind what God has done, and what is left to do,

We join in God’s creative work, as we are made anew.

Who conquers chaos with a Word and carves a space for life.