Gaudete Sunday
Music Selections
2025-12-14
Preparation Song
JOYFUL, JOYFUL, WE ADORE THEE
Hymn to Joy
1. Joyful, joyful, we adore thee,
God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before thee,
Opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness,
Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
Fill us with the light of day.
2. All thy works with joy surround thee,
Earth and heaven reflect thy rays;
Stars and angels sing around thee,
Centre of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain, Flowery meadow, flashing sea,
Chanting bird and flowing fountain,
Call us to rejoice in thee.
3. Thou art giving and forgiving,
Ever blessing, ever blest,
Well-spring of the joy of living,
Ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our Brother,
All who live in love are thine;
Teach us how to love each other,
Lift us to the joy divine.
4. Mortals! join the mighty chorus
Which the morning stars began;
Father-love is reigning o'er us,
Brother-love binds man to man.
Ever singing, march we onward,
Victors in the midst of strife,
Joyful music lifts us sunward,
In the triumph song of life.
Preparation Song
REJOICE, ALL YE BELIEVERS
Lancashire
1. Rejoice, all ye believers,
And let your lights appear;
The evening is advancing
And darker night is near.
The Bridegroom is arising,
And soon will he draw nigh:
Up, pray and watch and wrestle,
At midnight comes the cry.
2. See that your lamps are burning,
Replenish them with oil;
Look now for your salvation,
The end of earthly toil.
The watchers on the mountain
Proclaim the Bridegroom near:
Go meet him, as he cometh,
With alleluias clear.
3. Ye wise and holy virgins,
Now raise your voices higher,
Until in songs of triumph
They meet the angel choir.
The marriage feast is waiting,
The gates wide open stand:
Up, up! ye heirs of glory;
The Bridegroom is at hand.
4. Our hope and expectation,
O Jesus, now appear:
Arise, thou Sun, so longed for,
O'er this benighted sphere:
With hearts and hands uplifted
We plead, O Lord, to see
The day of our redemption,
That brings us unto thee.
Opening Hymn
LO! HE COMES WITH CLOUDS DESCENDING
Hemsley
1. Lo! he comes with clouds descending,
Once for favoured sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending
Swell the triumph of his train:
Alleluia!
Christ appears on earth again.
2. Every eye shall now behold him
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at nought and sold him,
Pierced and nailed him to the tree,
Deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see.
3. Those dear tokens of his Passion
Still his dazzling body bears,
Cause of endles exultation
To his ransomed worshippers:
With what rapture
Gaze we on those glorious scars!
4. Now redemption, long expected,
See in solemn pomp appear;
All his saints, by man rejected,
Now shall meet him in the air:
Alleluia!
See the day of God appear.
5. Yea, amen, let all adore thee,
High on thine eternal throne;
Saviour take the power and glory,
Claim the kingdom for thine own:
Alleluia!
Thou shalt reign, and thou alone.
Gradual Hymn
WHILE WE ARE WAITING COME
Cloninger/Cason
1. While we are waiting come
While we are waiting come
Jesus our Lord Emmanuel
While we are waiting come
2. With pow'r and glory come
With pow'r and glory come
Jesus our Lord Emmanuel
While we are waiting come
3. Come Savior quickly come
Come Savior quickly come
Jesus our Lord Emmanuel
While we are waiting come
Offertory
COME, THOU REDEEMER OF THE EARTH
Puer Nobis Nascitur
1. Come, thou Redeemer of the earth,
and manifest thy virgin-birth:
let every age adoring fall;
such birth befits the God of all.
2. Begotten of no human will,
but of the Spirit, thou art still
the Word of God, in flesh arrayed,
the Saviour, now to us displayed.
3. From God the Father he proceeds,
to God the Father back he speeds,
runs out his course to death and hell,
returns on God's high throne to dwell.
4. O equal to thy Father, thou!
Gird on thy fleshly mantle now,
the weakness of our mortal state
with deathless might invigorate.
5. Thy cradle here shall glitter bright,
and darkness glow with new-born light,
no more shall night extinguish day,
where love's bright beams their power display.
6. O Jesu, virgin-born, to thee
eternal praise and glory be,
whom with the Father we adore
and Holy Spirit, evermore.
Communion Hymn
WHEN GOD OF OLD CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN
Winchester Old
1. When God of old came down from heaven,
In power and wrath he came;
before his feet the clouds were riven,
Half darkness and half flame:
4. And as on Israel's awe-struck ear
The voice exceeding loud,
The trump that angels quake to hear,
Thrilled from the deep, dark cloud;
5. So, when the Spirit of our God
Came down his flock to find,
A voice from heaven was heard abroad,
A rushing, mighty wind.
6. It fills the church of God; it fills
The sinful world around;
Only in stubborn hearts and wills
No place for it is found.
7. Come Lord, come Wisdom, Love, and Power,
Open our ears to hear;
Let us not miss the accepted hour;
Save, Lord, by love or fear.
Hymn
WHEN LOVE CAME DOWN TO EARTH
Townend
1. When Love came down to earth
And made His home with men,
The hopeless found a hope,
The sinner found a friend.
Not to the powerful
But to the poor He came,
And humble, hungry hearts
Were satisfied again.
[Chorus]
What joy, what peace has come to us!
What hope, what help, what love!
2. When every unclean thought,
And every sinful deed
Was scourged upon His back
And hammered through His feet.
The Innocent is cursed,
The guilty are released;
The punishment of God
On God has brought me peace. [Chorus]
3. Come lay your heavy load
Down at the Master’s feet;
Your shame will be removed,
Your joy will be complete.
Come crucify your pride,
And enter as a child;
For those who bow down low
He’ll lift up to His side. [Chorus]
Closing Hymn
JOY TO THE WORLD
Antioch
1. Joy to the world! The Lord is come:
Let earth receive her King,
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing.
2. Joy to the earth! The Saviour reigns:
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.
3. No more let sin and sorrow grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground:
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.
4. He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness
And wonders of his love.