Saturday, January 19, 2008

Dear Lord and Father of Mankind

I told you that I loved the score to the film Atonement, and I was listening to the "For Your Consideration" cd I have, which includes some of the music. (I get Daily Variety because some of my airline points were about to expire and rather than waste them I used them on magazine subscriptions)

It really is very gorgeous and haunting music. One of my favorite parts contains a fragment of a hymn that I had never heard before. (it helps that this music plays during a breathtaking and gut wrenching shot in the film)

So I hopped on the ole handy dandy internet to find out what hymn it was. And thus discovered one of the most beautifully written lyrics I have ever read. I guess being evangelical I never heard it, because it's Anglican or something. But that's a SHAME! Anyway, I'm sharing my favorite stanza with you and including this youtube video of the song being sung at Westminster Abbey. I hope you enjoy it and find it as edifying as I did.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.


Words by John G. Whittier.

3 comments:

Lisa said...

That's beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

euphrony said...

Love the song. We sang it regularly when I was younger (in an evangelical church). It is a gorgeous sound. Don't here it as much today, as we've tended to sing more from the radio than from the centuries-old hymns. We're missing out by being forgetful.

Amy said...

Wow Euphrony, that's cool.

The churches I grew up in mostly sang hymns, but I guess this one wasn't in our hymnal. You're right it has a beautiful sound. (and the lyrics seem very timely to me as well)

I love hymns...granted there are some that say a whole lot of nothing with a lot of words, but most of them are so rich. It's like a Bible study in a song.

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