#673: God, Whose Almighty Word

This is the same tune as 408, and like that one, the first three verses address God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit respectively, and the fourth verse ties them all together. Unlike 408, it has less awkward rhymes, and each verse ends in "let there be light"--here not necessarily referring to creation itself, but to God's word shining forth like light wherever it's needed. Again, there's this awkward tension of "well why is it in this section then, if we're just praising God as the Trinity and asking God's light to shine everywhere, that could fit into any theme." But if it's about "witness" specifically, then there's the implication that maybe we are supposed to be the ones bringing forth that light. Which, slow down, nobody said we wanted to do any proselytizing now.

#691: Accept, O Lord, the Gifts We Bring

Sometimes when the offerings are being brought to the front of the church the congregation sings a relatively short response, maybe only one verse of a longer hymn--it's the kind of thing that they rotate in and out every few months. I'm not sure whether this specific hymn was used this way at one of my churches, but it feels like it certainly could have been; it's brief, and as the title suggests, it's precisely about asking God to accept our offerings!

(Sometimes instead of just copying the text the bulletins screenshot the hymn and then try to crop out the unused verses, which is its own proofreading adventure.)

The arranger, Alice Parker, has done a lot of arrangements, including a choir anthem version of "I Shall Not Be Moved," a gospel song that became the protest song "We Shall Not Be Moved."