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.
Why do the nations?
Why do the nations?
Why do the nations
resist the Lord their God,
and find motivations
in places strange and odd?
"Let's break off his chains"
they shout in their conceit:
"for none should constrain
our lies and our deceit."
God the exalted
has laughed them all to scorn,
exposed where they're faulted,
and left them all forlorn.
"I've placed Christ my king
on Zion's holy hill:
all nations will sing
his praises by my will."
"I am your Father,"
says God to his true Son,
"so ask for my favour:
I give you all I own.
The unruly lands
will down their arms and cower,
for into your hands
I place all sovereign power."
Christ is Messiah:
be warned, you kings of earth,
for God's ways are higher:
acknowledge his true worth.
Draw near, kiss the Son,
let all rebellion cease,
for he is the one
who brings unending peace.
Words copyright © John Hartley 2009. All rights reserved.
Based on Psalm 2.
Story behind the song
This is a straightforward attempt to set a psalm in metrical form. In a way it resembles Psalm 110 in that the early Christians took it as a declaration of Christ's sonship and sovereignty over all creation and all human authorities. It also resembles Psalm 110 in its slightly threatening overtones: that God will trong-arm reluctant nations into submitting to his son - and in the paraphrase I have attempted to highlight the parts of the psalm which point out that this is for everyone's good, as only so can Christ's universal peace benefit everyone on earth. The song tries to be a way of recapturing the psalm for use in church today.
It's a draft at the moment, and suggestions for improvements will be very welcome.
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.