Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying

Lord, listen to your children praying

Author: Ken Medema (1970)
Tune: CHILDREN PRAYING
Prayer Songs
Published in 15 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Sibelius
Audio files: MIDI

Piano/Organ

Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying

Instrumental

CONTEMPORARY PRAISE FOR C & B-FLAT INSTR…

Choral

LORD, LISTEN TO YOUR CHILDREN PRAYING

Author: Ken Medema

Ken Medema (born December 7, 1943 as Kenneth Peter Medema in Grand Rapids, Michigan) is a composer–singer–songwriter who has been performing in the United States, Canada, and Europe for more than thirty years. Ken Medema was born almost blind; his eyes let him tell light from shadow and look at outlines of major objects. He began playing the piano when he was five years old, and three years later began taking lessons in classical music through braille music, playing by ear and improvising in different styles. In 1969, he majored in music therapy at Michigan State University in Lansing, studying both piano and voice. Afterwards he worked as a music therapist in Fort Wayne, Indiana and later at Essex County Hospital in New Jersey.… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Related Texts

First Line: Lord, listen to your children praying
Title: Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying
Author: Ken Medema (1970)
Meter: Irregular
Language: English
Liturgical Use: Prayer Songs
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Notes

Scripture References:
st. = Ps. 55: 1

Author-composer-performer Ken Medema (PHH 259) says the following about his writing of this prayer hymn:

"Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying" came out of my New Jersey years. One night [in 1970], I was with a youth group. We started talking about a young man who was in the hospital and who really needed our prayers. In the middle of our prayer time, the idea for this little chorus came to me. I started humming, then singing. Soon the kids were mumbling along with me. We sang that chorus, "Lord, listen to your children praying," several times over. Then I started adding verses, and the kids quickly joined me in singing the new words. So it was a song born out of our concern and prayer for a friend.
-Reformed Worship 9, Fall 1988, p. 4

The complete song was recorded on Medema's album Son Shiny Day (Word, 1973) and published in an accompanying songbook. As do other recent hymnals, the Psalter Hymnal includes only the chorus, not the various stanzas.

This chorus has become a popular sung prayer for the presence of the Holy Spirit, for the Father's love, and for the grace of Jesus Christ to direct our lives. The words "love," "power," and "grace" in the final line allude to the well-known New Testament benediction (see 2 Cor. 13:14).

Liturgical Use:
As a song that concludes a prayer (for example, a silent prayer) or that frames a time of prayer; prayer meetings; ordination and commissioning services; baptism; a choral invocation at the beginning of worship.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

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Tune

CHILDREN PRAYING

CHILDREN PRAYING is easy to sing from memory, and that should be encouraged. Be sure to keep fairly strict rhythms on the whole and half notes-some congregations may be tempted to cut short the cadences; accompanists could help by improvising with additional rhythmic accompaniment on the longer note…

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Timeline

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Media

Worship and Rejoice #489
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Instances

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