This page is provided so that you can hear the tunes of items which we use in church. Mostly they are written by the vicar. Please note that they are copyright - we are very happy to give permission to you to use them, but we would like to hear about it. Please include any use on your Christian Copyright Licence returns.
Down this page:
- the words,
- the story,
- the sheet music,
- media player.
Gather your children
Gather your children
Gather your children to you, O God,
O gather us under your wing.
In your compassion bring grace and forgiveness,
O gather us under your wing.
Jesus, how like a mother,
you tenderly draw us from pride:
teaching us not to judge others
for whom you have died.
Gather your children ...
Jesus, you by your passion
have brought us to joyful new birth:
your love within us can fashion
a new sense of worth.
Gather your children ...
Jesus, touch and re-make us,
in gentleness change and renew:
fit us for when you will take us
to beauty with you.
Gather your children ...
Words and tune copyright © John Hartley 2007.
Based on "A song of St Anselm"
Story behind the song
This song arose when a friend from Christian Songwriting Organisation asked me if I'd written a metrical version of "A song of St Anselm" to a well-known secular tune, as it would come in very useful for Mothering Sunday. And the answer was ... no I hadn't.
The text of "A song of St Anselm", set out as a liturgical canticle, can be found as one of the texts for a funeral service by following this link, and I confess that I had never heard of it before it was mentioned to me. Anselm (born 1033 or 1034 and died in 1109) was Archbishop of Canterbury, and a brief account of his life can be found on Wikipedia.
The canticle, is of course suitable for Mothering Sunday because of its use of motherhood imagery for the way that Jesus corrects our behaviour, gives us new birth, and restores our self-image ... hence the themes of the three verses. The biblical roots of the imagery are verses like Luke 13:34.
John Hartley.
Windows Media Player. When you click the left-hand "play" button your computer should have started to play the tune. If it didn't, you might be able to get the tune by clicking here, or by right-clicking the link, choosing "save target as", saving it onto your computer, and then opening it with a music-playing program.
Please remember that a midi file of a tune isn't supposed to be a state-of-the-art musical arrangement - it is only supposed to give a basic idea of how the tune goes. Any reasonable organist / keyboard player / music group could make it sound far better.