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.
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord's holy name,
for he chose you for his own.
Sing to him
with your hearts set aflame:
come in worship to his throne.
He is living and active like a two-edged sword,
he's revealed to his children in his matchless word,
he completely surpasses other 'gods' - he's the Lord,
so bless his holy name.
Praise the Lord!
He is greater than all:
his compassion will endure.
Sing to him,
for all idols will fall,
but in him we are secure.
He has struck down the mighty who were harsh and cruel,
he has given their countries as a crowning jewel
to the ones who respect and take delight in his rule,
so bless his holy name.
Praise the Lord!
He's unlike so-called 'gods':
he defends his chosen ones.
Sing to him!
He defeats all the odds:
he preserves us as his sons.
All the nations have 'gods' of silver, gold, fine stone:
they have eyes, ears and mouths; but cannot see, hear, groan:
those who make them will die, but God the Lord keeps his own,
so bless his holy name.
Words and music copyright © John Hartley 2006. Based on Psalm 135.
Story behind the song
I wrote this song on a train-journey from Bradford to London: it caught my eye as the set psalm for the day, and I felt it could be set to music. I was particularly struck by the way that it establishes that God the Lord is the one genuine God - by contrast with the idols of the heathen nations which are simply creations of carved or cast materials. So they are blind, deaf and dumb, whereas he is alive and active. It's therefore no surprise that he looks after those who follow his ways and conform to his ideals, as expressed in the middle of the psalm. The song was intended to celebrate the contrast between God who made us and 'gods' made by humans.
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.