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.
Come and bless the Lord
Come and bless the Lord
Come and bless the Lord,
all you servants of the Lord,
keeping watch through the night-time
in his presence;
lift your hands up high,
as you're standing here close by
to the Lord, as you're drinking
in his radiance.
For great is the Lord, and his love endures,
great is the Lord, and his love endures,
great is the Lord, and his love endures;
so praise him and worship in his presence.
ENDING:
May blessings be yours from his holy place,
blessings be yours from his holy place,
blessings be yours from his holy place;
from God, who has made the earth and heavens.
Words and tune copyright © John Hartley 2008.
Based on Psalm 134.
Story behind the song
I've always very much admired the song "Come bless the Lord" (Mission Praise 88 - which says "Words: from Psalm 134, Music: Anon arranged by Roger Mayor © Jubilate Hymns), as it seems combines simplicity with an easy response idea. Perhaps its only fault is that it does not go on from verses 1-2 of the psalm to verse 3, which would have been extremely easy to do if the author had only thought of it - simply by returning to the half-way point of the tune for the last four lines: "May the Lord bless you / bless you from Zion / he who made heaven / he who made earth."
I aspire to write such a simple setting of the psalm one day, but in the mean time, this is a first effort at setting the sentiments to music. As in the Mission Praise version, verses 1-2 of the psalm can be repeated, and verse 3 returns to the second half of the tune to provide a coda at the end of any repetitions.
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.