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.
The Lord reigns
(also Psalm 93)
Down this page:
- the words,
- the story,
- the sheet music,
- media player.
God is king!
God is king!
God is King! Might in motion:
clothed with power,
and armed with strength.
He designed land and ocean,
set their hours,
and fixed their lengths.
Endless is your throne on high,
God of earth and God of sky.
Oceans speak, shout like thunder,
hurl their sprays,
and crash their storms.
Naked power prompts our wonder
at the ways
the sea performs.
Mightier than the ocean's rage
is our God of endless age.
Set apart, God our Maker,
holiness
adorns your throne.
You make laws, bind all breakers:
righteousness
is yours alone.
Worthy of all honour, praise,
God, our songs to you we raise.
Words copyright © John Hartley 2006. Based on Psalm 93.
Tune: "All Saints" with some slight variations.
Story behind the song
This setting of Psalm 93 was written following critiques of "The Lord reigns" (song 85 on this site), when I was scratching my head for alternative ways of expressing the words in a way which would freshly convey their meaning. I looked closely at Eugene Peterson's translation in "The Message", and borrowed a few phrases from his work.
The hymn tune "All Saints" dates from Darmstadt Gesangbuch 1698, and is therefore out of copyright (although various arrangements of it which have appeared since may be subject to copyright). So far as I know this version, with the third and fourth note combined in lines 1 and 3, and an inverted start to lines 2 and 4, does not appear elsewhere and is not subject to any restrictions.
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.