Hymns About Work

Less Familiar Hymns Related to Work

The following hymns are not readily accessible to most Christians, as they are not included in standard hymnals. Being possibly otherwise unobtainable (e.g. because they are found in rarer books or in books that are now out of print), we give the texts in full. Information about sources, dates, and copyright holders is provided where known. In some instances a suitable tune has been suggested. The hymns are in alphabetical order.

All My Hope Is Firmly Grounded (Hymn)

ALL MY HOPE IS FIRMLY GROUNDED

All my hope is firmly grounded
In the great and living Lord;
Who, whenever I most need him,
Never fails to keep his word.
Him I must
Wholly trust,
God the ever good and just.

Tell me, who can trust our nature,
Human, weak, and insecure:
Which of all the airy castles
Can the hurricane endure?
Built on sand,
Nought can stand,
By our earthly wisdom planned.

But in every time and season,
Out of love's abundant store,
God sustains his whole creation,
Found of life for evermore.
We who share
Earth and air
Count on his unfailing care.

Thank, O thank, our great Creator,
Through his only Son this day;
He alone, the Heavenly Potter,
Made us out of earth and clay.
Quick to heed,
Strong in deed,
He shall all his people feed.

(Fred Pratt Green (1903- ). Suggested tune: Meine Hoffnung)

All Who Love And Serve Your City (Hymn)

ALL WHO LOVE AND SERVE YOUR CITY

All who love and serve your city,
All who bear its daily stress,
All who cry for peace and justice,
All who curse and all who bless.

In your day of loss and sorrow,
In your day of helpless strife,
Honour, peace and love retreating,
Seek the Lord, who is your life.

In your day of wealth and plenty,
Wasted work and wasted play,
Call to mind the word of Jesus,
'Work ye yet while it is day'.

For all days are days of judgement,
And the Lord is waiting still,
Drawing near to those who spurn him,
Offering peace from Calvary's hill.

Risen Lord, shall yet the city
Be the city of despair?
Come today, our Judge, our Glory,
Be its name, 'The Lord is there!'.

(Eric Routley c.1969 Galliard)

As We Break The Bread (Hymn)

AS WE BREAK THE BREAD

As we break the bread
And taste the life of wine,
We bring to mind our Lord
Man of all time.

Grain is sown to die:
It rises from the dead,
Becomes through human toil
Our common bread.

Pass from hand to hand
The living love of Christ!
Machine and man provide
Bread for this feast.

Jesus binds in one
Our daily life and work:
He is of humankind
Symbol and mark.

Having shared the bread
That dies to rise again,
We rise to serve the world,
Scattered as grain.

(Fred Kaan c.1968 Galliard)

Bring to God Your Gifts for Harvest (Hymn)

BRING TO GOD YOUR GIFTS FOR HARVEST

Bring to God your gifts for harvest,
Celebrate God's love with praise.
God has filled the earth with good things
in their seasons, year by year:
Field and forest, mine and ocean
yield their crops for all to share,
given for human life's enrichment,
tokens of our Maker's care.

Bring to God your gifts for harvest,
Celebrate God's love with praise.
Gifts of mind and hand and talent
echo God's creative power.
Human hands tend God's creation;
body, mind and soul are fed.
Work and rest and worship offer -
at God's feet may all be laid.

Bring to God your gifts for harvest
- every day's activity!
Worship God in home and office,
boardroom, classroom, factory.
Join the song of adoration,
Join the symphony of praise.
Bring to God your gifts of harvest,
Bring the fruits of all your days.

(Heather Pencavel, 1995. Suggested tune: Beethoven's Ode to Joy)

God Who Spoke in The Beginning (Hymn)

GOD WHO SPOKE IN THE BEGINNING

God who spoke in the beginning,
Forming rock and shaping spar,
Set all life and growth in motion,
Earthly world and distant star;
He who calls the earth to order
Is the ground of what we are.

God who spoke through men and nations,
Through events long past and gone
Showing still today his purpose,
Speaks supremely through his Son;
He who calls the earth to order
Gives his word and it is done.

God whose speech becomes incarnate
- Christ is servant, Christ is Lord! -
Calls us to a life of service,
Heart and will to action stirred;
He who uses man's obedience
Has the first and final word.

(Fred Kaan c.1969 Galliard)

Inspired by Love and Anger (Hymn)

INSPIRED BY LOVE AND ANGER

Inspired by love and anger, disturbed by need and pain,
Informed of God's own bias, we ask him once again:
"How long must some folk suffer? How long can few folk mind?
How long dare vain self-interest turn prayer and pity blind?"

From those forever victims of heartless human greed,
Their cruel plight composes a litany of need:
"Where are the fruits of justice? Where are the signs of peace?
When is the day when prisoners and dreams find their release?"

From those forever shackled to what their wealth can buy,
The fear of lost advantage provoke the bitter cry:
"Don't query our position! Don't criticise our wealth!
Don't mention those exploited by politics and stealth!"

To God, who through the prophets proclaimed a different age,
We offer earth's indifference, its agony and rage:
"When will the wronged by righted? When will the kingdom come?
When will the world be generous to all instead of some?"

God asks, "Who will go for me? Who will extend my reach?
And who, when few will listen, will prophesy and preach?
And who, when few bid welcome, will offer all they know?
And who, when few dare follow, will walk the road I show?"

Amused in someone's kitchen, asleep in someone's boat,
Attuned to what the ancients exposed, proclaimed and wrote,
A saviour without safety, a tradesman without tools
Has come to tip the balance with fishermen and fools.

(Tune: Sally Gardens (Irish trad.) c. Wild Goose Publications, c/o The Iona Community)

Lord, Look Upon Our Working Days (Hymn)

LORD, LOOK UPON OUR WORKING DAYS

Lord, look upon our working days,
Busied in factory, office, store;
May wordless work thy name adore,
The common round spell out thy praise?

Bent to the lot our crafts assign,
Swayed by deep tides of need and fear,
In loyalties torn the truth unclear,
How may we build to thy design?

Thou are the workman, Lord, not we:
All worlds were made at thy command,
Christ, their sustainer, bared his hand,
Rescued them from futility.

Our part to do what he'll commit,
Who strides the world, and calls us all
Partners in pain and carnival,
To grasp the hope he won for it.

Cover our faults with pardon full,
Shield those who suffer when we shirk:
Take what is worthy in our work,
Give it its portion in thy rule.

(Ian M Fraser c.1969 Galliard)

Lord of Our City (Hymn)

LORD OF OUR CITY

Lord of our city we bring you its pain,
The muggings, the dole queues, the lift's bust again,
The fear of each stranger and no-where to play,
The waiting for buses at the start of each day.

Lord of our homeless we bring you their cry
The waiting on promises - pie in the sky,
The red tape and questions and sent on their way
The sense of frustration at the noon of the day.

Lord of all races, all colours of skin,
Please make us fight racism, help us begin
To see how our prejudice colours the way
We treat friends and neighbours at the end of the day.

Lord of our whole lives, we bring them to you.
We're powerless, defeated, 'til you make us new.
Then powered by your Spirit, we go on once more
With news of your wholeness, good news to the poor.

(Words: Jane Galbraith Tune: Slane c. Jane Galbraith)

Praise With Joy The World’s Creator (Hymn)

PRAISE WITH JOY THE WORLD'S CREATOR

Praise with joy the world's creator,
God of justice, love and peace,
Source and end of human knowledge,
Force of goodness without cease.
Celebrate the Maker's glory,
Power to rescue and release.

Praise the Son who feeds the hungry,
Frees the captive, finds the lost,
Heals the sick, upsets religion,
Fearless both of fate and cost.
Celebrate Christ's constant presence -
Friend and Stranger, Guest and Host.

Praise the Spirit sent among us
Liberating truth from pride,
Forging bonds where race or gender,
Age or nation dare divide.
Celebrate the Spirit's treasure -
Foolishness none dare deride.

Praise the Maker, Son and Spirit,
One God in Community,
Calling us to leave behind
Faith's ghettos and obscurity.
Thus the world shall yet believe
When shown Christ's vibrant unity.

(Tune: Praise my soul the king of heaven. J Goss c. 1986 Wild Goose Publications)

The Earth, The Sky, The Oceans (Hymn)

THE EARTH, THE SKY, THE OCEANS

The earth, the sky, the oceans
And all that they contain;
The world with all its secrets,
It is the Lord's domain.
To rule his great creation
God gives to humankind
The gifts of strength and courage
And an inventive mind.

For quest and exploration,
Our God has given the key
To free the hidden forces
And wealth of land and sea.

To new advance in science,
Research to conquer pain,
To growth in skill and knowledge
We are by God ordained.

To us from birth is given
Our stewardship and brief;
To search for truth and purpose,
To find the heart of life.
God calls us to adventure
With work of hand and brain,
To share with all his people
The profits we may gain.

We pledge ourselves to service,
That with the help of Christ
We may be able stewards
Of all that does exist.
Whate'er we may discover
On earth, in outer space,
God grant that we may use it
To bless the human race.

(Fred Kaan c.1968 Galliard. Tune: Wolvercote)

The Harvest of The City (Hymn)

THE HARVEST OF THE CITY

The harvest of the city
We lift to you today
Who calls us all to celebrate,
To labour and to play.
You only are the maker
In all we make and do
You share with us the labour,
You share the music too

Holy is the maker
Who lives in all we do,
And holy is the liberty
To be a maker too.

We share with you the river,
We share with you the road,
The driving of the lorry and
The lifting of the load.
We share with you the timber,
We share with you the steel,
The lifting of the hammer,
The turning of the wheel.

Holy is the maker...

In hospital and harbour
We meet you night and day.
We share with you the writing and
The acting of a play.
We find you in the teaching
And in the learning too.
In all that we are making
You are the maker too.

Holy is the maker...

The harvest of the city
We bring to you today,
And by the liberty you give
We celebrate and play.
You only are the maker,
You live in all we do,
We share with you the labour,
We share the music too.

Holy is the maker...

(Sydney Carter c. Stainer & Bell)

We Lay Our Broken World (Hymn)

WE LAY OUR BROKEN WORLD

We lay our broken world
In sorrow at your feet,
Haunted by hunger, war and fear,
Oppressed by power and hate.

Where human life seems less
That profit, might and pride,
Though to unite us all in you
You lived and loved and died.

We bring our broken towns,
Our neighbours hurt and bruised;
You show us how old pain and wounds
For new life can be used.

We bring our broken hopes
For lives of dignity;
Workless and overworked you love
And call us to be free.

We bring our broken loves,
Friends parted, families torn;
Then in your life and death we see
That love must be reborn.

We bring our broken selves,
Confused and closed and tired;
Then through your gift of healing grace
New purpose is inspired.

O Spirit, on us breathe,
With life and strength anew;
Find in us love, and hope and trust,
And lift us up to you.

(Tune: Havergal Words: Anna Briggs c. Anna Briggs)

When God Almighty Came to Be One of Us (Hymn)

WHEN GOD ALMIGHTY CAME TO BE ONE OF US

(Suitable for use at Christmas)

When God Almighty came to be one of us,
Masking the glory of his golden train,
Dozens of plain things kindled by accident,
And they will never be the same again.
Sing all you midwives, dance all the carpenters,
Sing all the publicans and shepherds too,
God in his mercy uses the commonplace
God on his birthday had a need of you.

Splendour of Rome and Local Authority,
Working on policy with furrowed head,
Joined to locate Messiah's nativity,
Just where the prophets had already said.
Sing all you tax-men, dance the Commissioners,
Sing civil servants and policemen too,
God to his purpose uses the governments,
God on his birthday had a need of you.

Wise men, they called them, earnest astrologers,
Watching for meaning in the moving stars,
Science or fancy, learned or laughable,
Theirs was a vision that was brought to pass.
Sing all you wise men, dance all the scientists,
Whether your theories are false or true,
God uses knowledge, God uses ignorance,
God on his birthday had a need of you.

Sing, all creation, made for his purposes,
Called by his providence to live and move:
None is unwanted, none insignificant,
Love needs a universe of folk to love,
Old men and maidens, young men and children,
Black ones and coloured ones and white ones too,
God on his birthday, and to eternity,
Took upon himself the need of you.

(Michael Hewlett c. 1969 Galliard)

Worker God Who Planned Creation (Hymn)

WORKER GOD WHO PLANNED CREATION
(suitable for an unemployment service)

Worker God, who planned creation -
complex splendour held in one:
spoke out threads of light and matter
weaving what your word has spun.
Then, with proper satisfaction,
rested when the work was done.

Who are we to spoil the pattern,
make redundant hands and minds,
tarnish pleasure in achievement
which your pleasure undersigned,
crushing lives, and wasting talent,
uncreating humankind?

Many see the sudden ending
of their deeply cherished plans
through the failure of a system
which no longer meets demands,
and the fruit of years of effort
slips away from helpless hands.

Helplessness fuels bitter anger -
friends and loved ones bear the cost.
Voices raised create a Babel,
countermanding Pentecost,
and by this disintegration,
whole communities are lost.

Worker God within creation
weaving what our hands have spun,
give to us consistent strength
to speak your word and see it done.
So though humble human triumphs
may your victory be won.

(Janet Wootton (1952- ). Suggested tune: Oriel or Rhuddlan)