Praised Be the Father

Representative text cannot be shown for this hymn due to copyright.

Author: Calvin Seerveld

Calvin Seerveld (b. 1930) was professor of aesthetics at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto from 1972 until he retired in 1995. Educated at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan; the University of Michigan; and the Free University of Amsterdam (Ph.D.), he also studied at Basel University in Switzerland, the University of Rome, and the University of Heidelberg. Seerveld began his career by teaching at Bellhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi (1958-1959), and at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois (1959-1972). A fine Christian scholar, fluent in various biblical and modern languages, he is published widely in aesthetics, biblical studies, and philosophy. His books include Take Hold of God and Pull (1966), The Gr… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Praised be the Father
Title: Praised Be the Father
Author: Calvin Seerveld (1957)
Meter: 5.5.6.5.6.5.6.5 with refrain
Language: English
Refrain First Line: Praised be the Father
Copyright: Text © 1974, CRC Publications

Notes

Calvin Seerveld (PHH 22) wrote this celebratory text for his own wedding ceremony (he married Ines C. N. ten Cate on Sep. 8, 1956, in Den Haag, the Netherlands). Because George F. Handel's JUDAS MACCABEUS was his fiancee's favorite tune, Seerveld wrote this text to fit that tune. A church choir from Hoorn, the Netherlands, helped the Dutch congregation sing the hymn during the ceremony. Set to Handel's tune, the text was first published in the Psalter Hymnal Supplement (1974).

"Praised Be the Father" is a wedding prayer that fittingly combines praise and petition. The stanzas are in a trinitarian pattern. Each one is structured in the design of a liturgical collect: the divinity is praised for some attribute or quality, petitions are made, and a doxology is sung.

Liturgical Use:
As a processional or initial hymn at wedding services; for renewal of wedding vows in family services with a marriage renewal emphasis.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune

JUDAS MACCABEUS

JUDAS MACCABEUS is an arrangement of a tune from the chorus "See, the Conquering Hero Comes" in Handel's oratorio Judas Maccabeus (first performed without this chorus in 1746). Handel initially used the tune in his oratorio Joshua (1747) but transferred it to Judas Maccabeus in 1751; such changes we…

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Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #582

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