God Is Here

God is here! As we your people

Author: Fred Pratt Green (1977)
Tune: ABBOT'S LEIGH
Published in 21 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Sibelius
Audio files: MIDI

Piano/Organ

As Though the Whole Creation Cried - 50…

Instrumental

Abbot's Leigh (Festive Hymn Setting)

Choral

GOD IS HERE!

Full Text

1 God is here! As we your people
meet to offer praise and prayer,
may we find in fuller measure
what it is in Christ we share.
Here, as in the world around us,
all our varied skills and arts
wait the coming of your Spirit
into open minds and hearts.

2 Here are symbols to remind us
of our lifelong need of grace;
here are table, font, and pulpit,
here the Word has central place.
Here in honesty of preaching,
here in silence as in speech,
here in newness and renewal
God the Spirit comes to each.

3 Here our children find a welcome
in the Shepherd's flock and fold;
here, as bread and wine are taken,
Christ sustains us as of old.
Here the servants of the Servant
seek in worship to explore
what it means in daily living
to believe and to adore.

4 Lord of all, of church and kingdom,
in an age of change and doubt,
keep us faithful to the gospel,
help us work your purpose out.
Here, in this day's celebration,
all we have to give, receive;
we who cannot live without you,
we adore you! We believe!

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Author: Fred Pratt Green

The Reverend Fred Pratt Green (2 September 1903 – 22 October 2000) CBE was a British Methodist minister and hymnwriter. Born in Roby, Lancashire, England, he began his ministry in the Filey circuit. He was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1928 and served circuits in the north and south of England until 1969. During his career as a minister he wrote numerous plays and hymns. It was not until he retired, however, that he began writing prolifically. His hymns reflect his rejection of fundamentalism and show his concern with social issues. They include many that were written to supply obvious liturgical needs of the modern church, speaking to topics or appropriate for events for which there were few traditional hymns available. His… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Related Texts

First Line: God is here! As we your people
Title: God Is Here
Author: Fred Pratt Green (1977)
Meter: 8.7.8.7 D
Copyright: © 1979, Hope Publishing Co.
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Notes

Scripture References:
st. 1 = 1 Cor. 12:27-31
st. 2 = 2 Cor. 4:5
st. 3 = 2 Thess. 2:15
st. 4 = Titus 2:14

Fred Pratt Green (PHH 455) wrote this text early in 1978 in Norwich, England. Russell Schulz-Widmar had requested that Pratt Green write a hymn text to be sung at the closing service of an eight-month festival on worship, music, and the arts, held at the University United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas. In that service on April 30, 1978, the church dedicated its new chancel furniture (thus st. 2), and the people rededicated themselves to God. The text was first published in the British/Methodist supplementary volume Partners in Praise (1979).

"God Is Here" helps us celebrate what it means to be a church: to offer praise and prayer to God with "all our varied skills and arts" (st. 1), to preach the Word and participate in the sacraments (st. 2), to foster faith and service (st. 3), and to live lives ill "church and kingdom" that bring glory to our Lord (st. 4). This text presents a catalog of the central tasks of the church (see also 515) and emphasizes the relationship between Sunday worship and daily living.

Liturgical Use:
Regular Sunday worship; festivals, dedications, anniversaries of the church; worship conferences and missions.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

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Tune

ABBOT'S LEIGH

Cyril V. Taylor (PHH 286) composed ABBOT'S LEIGH in May of 1941 when he was working for the Religious Broadcasting Department of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The BBC had received complaints about the use of AUSTRIA (tune for the Austrian national hymn) during this time of war, a tune…

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All tunes published with 'God Is Here'^ top

Timeline

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Media

The United Methodist Hymnal #660
Worship and Rejoice #1
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Instances

Instances (20)TextImageAudioScore
Celebrating Grace Hymnal #298Image
Chalice Hymnal #280Text
Christian Worship: a Lutheran hymnal #532Text
Church Hymnal, Fifth Edition #330
Evangelical Lutheran Worship #526Image
Gather Comprehensive #741Text
Gather Comprehensive, Second Edition #737
Hymnal Supplement II #19
Hymns Ancient & Modern, New Standard Edition #464
Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #246Image
Presbyterian Hymnal #461TextImage
Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #516TextImageAudio
Renew! #5TextImage
Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal #61
The New Century Hymnal #70Image
The United Methodist Hymnal #660TextImageAudioScore
The Worshiping Church #701TextImage
Voices United: The Hymn and Worship Book of The United Church of Canada #389Text
With One Voice #719Text
Worship and Rejoice #1TextImageAudioScore
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