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.
Versions of
this song:
original,
first chorus,
second chorus.
Not three gods but one
The Father is God
The Father is God,
The Son is God,
and yet our God is one!
United are they
as they do and say,
so may their kingdom come.
The Father is cause:
he made the laws
by which all things can be.
He caused his Son
to this world to come:
the Only Begotten is he.
God's nature resides
in the Son, and besides
in the Spirit through him, the same.
And so from above
we perceive the love
of the one who calls us by name.
So let us adore,
do theology more,
and ascribe to him his worth:
The God of all art,
who enters our heart,
and came by humble birth.
So hear, you Jews,
and Gentiles, choose
to join with Gregory's song:
For God our Lord.
has said in his word:
"The Lord your God is one".
Copyright © John Hartley 2005.
Story behind the song
This song came about when on St Gregory of Nyssa's day (19th July) I read part of Gregory's writings on the Trinity. As set out in "Creeds, Councils and Controversies" (ed J Bettenson, SPCK), Gregory quotes Deuteronomy 6:4 - Hear O Israel: the Lord your God, the Lord is one - and expounds why this means the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God, not three Gods. Part of the passage runs like this:
The Father is God, the Son is God, and yet ... no difference of nature or operation is contemplated in the Godhead. ... The divine nature rejects all diversity of essence. ...One is the Cause, and another is of the Cause; and again in that which is of the Cause we recognise another distinction: one is directly from the first Cause, and another (is) through that which is directly of the first Cause. So the attibute of being only-begotten abides without doubt in the Son, and does not call into dispute that the Spirit is from the Father and the interposition of the Son.
This reading generated blank stares from the assembled congregation, and I came home wondering if the truths would be better expressed in song rather than prose. So here it is. You'll notice that Deuteronomy gets a mention in the last verse, and there is a slight amount of "padding" in speaking of God's love and other attributes of his, which Gregory doesn't mention in this particular piece of writing.
The song is dedicated to Suzanne Irvine.
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.