Local composer John Lawson Baker, whose compositions for hymns have won national acclaim, has been kind enough to compose a new tune for my hymn “Open to God!”, and called it St Dunstan after the chapel in the cathedral where it was written. If you’d like to try out the tune as an alternative to Woodlands (which was the one in my mind as I wrote), John would be delighted to give you permission if you email him at john.baker9@ntlworld.com.
You can find more of John’s work at http://www.jubilate.co.uk and http://www.hymnsocietygbi.org.uk
Open to God! Lord, open wide our lives;
Let roots of faith reach deep into Your love.
Ground of our being, Father, Lord of all:
In you we live the new life from above.
Open our lives? Then open wide our hearts;
Let shoots of life spring up on every side.
As Christ in each, so each for other lives,
One vine, together all in him abide.
Open our hearts? Then open wide our doors;
Let fruits of love feed enemies and friends.
The Spirit comes to open up God’s store;
We share its riches to the world’s wide ends.
I was chuffed by the way to hear that the hymn has already been sung at St George’s Chesterton with two more outings planned that I’ve been told of.
Filed under: Hymns, Resources, Worship, Diocese of Ely
