Here
are some of the hymns we particularly recommend for use during a
wedding service. Please note that some of the verses are sometimes
omitted from the longer hymns.
All creatures of our God and king
lift
up your voice and with us sing
Alleluia, alleluia!
Bright
burning sun with golden
beam,
soft shining moon with silver gleam,
O praise
him, O praise him,
Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia!
Swift rushing wind so wild and
strong,
white clouds that sail in heaven along,
O
praise him, alleluia!
New rising dawn in praise
rejoice,
you lights of evening find a voice;
O praise
him, O praise him,
Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia! Cool flowing water, pure and
clear,
make music for your Lord to hear,
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Fierce fire so masterful and
bright
giving to man both warmth and light,
O praise
him, O praise him,
Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia! Earth ever fertile, day by day
bring
forth your blessings on our way,
O praise him,
alleluia!
All fruit and crops that richly grow,
all
trees and flowers God's glory show;
O praise
him, O praise him,
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
People and nations take your part,
love and forgive with all
your heart;
Alleluia,
alleluia!
All who long pain and sorrow bear,
trust
God and cast on him your care;
O praise him, O
praise him,
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Death, once the ancient enemy,
hear now our Easter
melody,
O praise him, alleluia!
You are the pathway
home to God,
our door to life
through Christ our Lord;
O praise him, O praise him,
Alleluia,
alleluia, alleluia! Let all
things their creator bless
and worship him in
lowliness,
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
and
praise the Spirit, Three-in-One,
O praise him, O
praise him,
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! after
Francis of Assisi 1182-1226
W H Draper 1855-1933
All
things bright and beautiful,
all creatures
great and small,
all things wise and wonderful,
the
Lord God made them all. Each little
flower that opens,
each little bird that sings,
he
made their glowing colours,
he made their tiny
wings. The purple-headed mountain,
the
river running by,
the sunset and the morning,
that
brightens up the sky; The cold wind
in the winter,
the pleasant summer sun,
the ripe
fruits in the garden,
he made them every
one: He gave us eyes to see them,
and lips
that we might tell
how great is God
Almighty,
who has made all things well. Mrs
C F Alexander 1848
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
there is no shadow of turning with thee:
thou changest not,
thy compassions, they fail not,
as thou hast been, thou
forever wilt be.
Great is thy faithfulness! Great
is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
all I have needed thy hand hath provided,
great is thy
faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Summer and winter,
and springtime and harvest,
sun, moon and stars in their
courses above,
join with all nature in manifold witness
to thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Pardon
for sin and a peace that endureth;
thine own dear presence to
cheer and to guide;
strength for today and bright hope for
tomorrow,
blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
T O Chisolm
Lead
us, heavenly Father, lead us
o'er
the world's tempestuous sea;
guard us, guide us, keep us,
feed us,
for we have no help but thee;
yet
possessing every blessing
if our God our Father be.
Saviour, breathe forgiveness o'er us;
all our
weakness thou dost know;
thou didst tread this earth before
us,
thou didst feel its keenest woe;
lone and
dreary, faint and weary,
through the desert thou didst go.
Spirit of our God, descending,
fill our hearts
with heavenly joy;
love with every passion blending,
pleasure that can never cloy;
thus provided, pardoned, guided,
nothing can our peace destroy.
J Edmeston 1821
Lord of all
hopefulness, Lord of all joy,
whose trust, ever
childlike, no
cares could destroy,
be there at our waking, and give us, we
pray,
your bliss in our hearts, Lord, at the break of the day.
Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith,
whose
strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe,
be
there at our labours, and give us, we pray,
your strength in
our hearts, Lord, at the noon of the day.
Lord of
all kindliness, Lord of all grace,
your hands swift to
welcome, your arms to embrace,
be there at our homing, and
give us, we pray,
your love in our hearts, Lord, at the eve
of the day.
Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all
calm,
whose voice is contentment, whose presence is balm,
be there at our sleeping, and give us, we pray,
your peace in
our hearts, Lord, at the end of the day.
Jan
Struther
Love
divine, all loves excelling,
joy of heaven, to
earth come
down,
fix in us thy humble dwelling,
all thy
faithful mercies crown:
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
pure unbounded love thou art;
visit us with thy salvation,
enter every trembling heart.
Breathe, O breathe,
thy loving Spirit
into every troubled breast!
Let
us all in thee inherit,
let us find thy promised rest;
take away the love of sinning,
Alpha and Omega be;
end of faith, as its beginning,
set our hearts at liberty.
Come, almighty, to deliver,
let us all thy grace
receive;
suddenly return, and never,
never more thy
temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing;
serve thee as thy hosts above:
pray, and praise thee, without
ceasing;
glory in thy perfect love.
Finish then thy new creation,
pure and spotless let us be:
let us see thy great salvation,
perfectly restored in thee.
Changed from glory into glory,
till in heaven we take our
place;
till we cast our crowns before thee,
lost in
wonder, love and praise.
C Wesley 1707
Now thank we all our God
with hearts and hands and voices,
who wondrous things hath
done,
in whom his world rejoices;
who from our
mother's arms
hath blessed us on our way
with
countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts
and blessèd peace to cheer us;
and keep us in his grace,
and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills
in this world and the next.
All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be
given,
the Son, and Holy Ghost,
supreme in highest
heaven,
the one eternal God,
whom earth and heaven
adore
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be
evermore.
M Rinkart c.1647
O worship the King,
all
glorious above;
O gratefully sing
his power and his
love:
our Shield and Defender,
the Ancient of Days,
pavilioned in splendour
and girded with praise.
The earth with its store
of wonders untold,
Almighty, thy power
hath founded of old;
hath
'stablished it fast
by a changeless decree,
and
round it hath cast,
like a mantle, the sea.
O tell of his might,
O sing of his grace,
whose
robe is the light,
whose canopy space;
his chariots
of wrath
the deep thunder-clouds form,
and dark is
his path
on the wings of the storm.
Thy
bountiful care
what tongue can recite?
It breathes
in the air,
it shines in the light;
it streams from
the hills,
it descends to the plain,
and sweetly
distils
in the dew and the rain.
Frail
children of dust,
and feeble as frail,
in thee do
we trust,
nor find thee to fail;
thy mercies how
tender,
how firm to the end,
our Maker, Defender,
Redeemer and Friend.
R Grant 1833 based on metre
of W Kethe 1561
Praise,
my soul, the King of heaven,
to
his feet thy tribute bring.
Ransomed, healed, restored,
forgiven,
who like thee his praise should sing?
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise the everlasting King.
Praise him for his grace and favour
to our fathers in
distress;
praise him still the same for ever,
slow
to chide and swift to bless.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Glorious in his faithfulness.
Father-like, he
tends and spares us,
well our feeble frame he knows;
in his hands he gently bears us,
rescues us from all our foes.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Widely as his mercy flows.
Angels, help us to adore him,
ye behold him face to face;
sun and moon, bow down before him;
dwellers all in time and
space.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise with us the God
of grace.
John Goss, 1800-80
Praise to the Lord, the
Almighty, the King of creation;
O my soul, praise
him, for he
is thy health and salvation:
come 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 is needful hath been
granted in
what he ordaineth?
Praise to the Lord, who doth
prosper thy work and defend thee,
surely his goodness and
mercy shall daily attend thee:
ponder anew all the Almighty
can do,
he who with love doth 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.
J Neander 1680
tr. C Winkworth 1863 and P
Dearmer 1906
The
King of love my Shepherd is,
whose
goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his
and he is mine for ever.
Where streams of living
water flow
my ransomed soul he leadeth,
and, where
the verdant pastures grow,
with food celestial feedeth.
Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
but yet in
love he sought me,
and on his shoulder gently laid,
and home, rejoicing, brought me.
In death's dark
vale I fear no ill
with thee, dear Lord, beside me;
thy rod and staff my comfort still,
thy cross before to guide
me.
Thou spreadst a table in my sight;
thy unction grace bestoweth;
and, O, what transport of delight
from thy pure chalice floweth!
And so through all
the length of days
thy goodness faileth never:
Good
Shepherd, may I sing thy praise
within thy house for ever.
H W Baker 1868
The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want,
he makes me down to lie
in pastures green; he leadeth me
the quiet waters by.
My soul he doth restore again
and me to walk doth make
within the paths of righteousness,
e'en for his own name's sake.
Yea, though I walk
through death's dark vale,
yet will I fear no ill;
for thou art with me, and thy rod
and staff me comfort still.
My table thou hast furnishèd
in presence of my
foes;
my head thou dost with oil anoint,
and my cup
overflows.
Goodness and mercy all my life
shall surely follow me;
and in God's house for evermore
my dwelling-place shall be.
W Whittingham c.
1524-79,
F Rous 1641 and
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