God, We Have Come from Our Families and Homes

Representative Text

God, we have come from our families and homes,
Seeking the things that will make us all one.
For we know now— the things that divide
And how divisions have hurt us inside.

You sent us Jesus, who prayed for his own:
“Make them all one so your love will be known.”
Making new friends— may we understand
We are love’s bearers throughout every land.

Great strength and might will not bring us success—
Yet by your Spirit our lives will be blest!
Give us new dreams— of what life can be;
Help us to work for a new harmony.

Lord, as we worship and sightsee and play,
And as we listen to what others say,
Days turn to weeks— until this time ends;
Gathered as strangers, may we leave as friends.


Source: Songs of Grace: new hymns for God and neighbor #54

Author: Carolyn Winfrey Gillette

Carolyn Winfrey Gillette has been a pastor in rural, small town, suburban, and city churches; she has also served as a hospice chaplain, a hospital chaplain, and a school bus aide helping children with special needs. She and her husband Bruce are pastors of the First Presbyterian Union Church in Owego, NY. Carolyn is a gifted hymn writer who has written over 400 hymns. These hymns have been sung by congregations throughout the United States and around the world — from the Washington National Cathedral to St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland to St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa to small town churches and small household congregations; they have also been sung at national church and international ecumenical meetin… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: God, we have come from our families and homes
Title: God, We Have Come from Our Families and Homes
Original Language: English
Author: Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (2005)
Meter: 10.10.9.10
Language: English
Publication Date: 2005
Copyright: Copyright © 2005 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved

Tune

SLANE

SLANE is an old Irish folk tune associated with the ballad "With My Love on the Road" in Patrick W. Joyce's Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (1909). It became a hymn tune when it was arranged by David Evans (PHH 285) and set to the Irish hymn "Be Thou My Vision" published in the Church Hymnary (1927).…

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Text

Songs of Grace #54

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