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 to me, says Jesus
"Come to me," says Jesus
"Come to me," says Jesus,
"Come, all you little ones.
God my Father's kingdom
to such as these belongs.
Never try to stop them;
for if you would live above,
you must be like children
and freely receive his love."
"Come to me," says Jesus,
"Come if you've tears and care.
Take my yoke upon you,
lean on me, come and share.
For my yoke is easy,
my burden is light for you:
if you follow my way
then my strength will help you through."
"Come, if you are thirsty,
come, find what life's about.
I'm the living water:
drink and you'll quench your drought.
You will find a purpose -
a meaning for all you do:
God has planned a pathway
of good things and tasks for you."
"Come to me," says Jesus.
"When I am lifted high
I will draw you to me:
my death will purify
all your sins and evils
and thoughtless things you have done -
all will be forgiven.
By my blood they'll all be gone."
"Come to me," says Jesus,
"Come to my Father's home.
Trust in God my Father,
trust in me - me alone.
If you walk your journey
by holding me by my hand,
at the end I'll be there:
together in heaven we'll stand."
Copyright © John Hartley 2004.
Story behind the song
Baptismal Integrity, a group I've belonged to for many years, held a competition for songwriters to write suitable hymns and songs for use in the service of Thanksgiving and Blessing for the Gift of a Child.
"There are very few suitable hymns in the hymn book," wrote Roger Godin, the chairman, "and on an occasion when lots of people turn up to church, maybe many of them not used to church services, we need to roll out the red carpet with good hymns set to singable tunes."
I couldn't resist the challenge, particularly as we use the Thanksgiving service a great deal at St Luke's. So here was an attempt. The tune is the Eton Boating Song. The first verse expresses the invitation which Jesus gives when he takes children in his arms, puts a hands on them, and blesses them. The other verses are all based on sayings of Jesus, and they are my attempt to flesh out what it might mean if we took him up on his invitation to come.
John Hartley
Notes on the original music. The words of the song were written by William Johnson, a Master at the school. The music was composed by an Old Etonian (i.e., a former Eton student), Capt. Algernon Drummond. It was first perfomed on 4 June, 1863. You can find the original words on Wikipedia (an on-line free encyclopedia). Music copyright expires 50 years after the composer's death, and the above version differs from the original in a few details - so we are assuming we are at liberty to reproduce the notes on this page.
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.