Hymn of the Week

This week's Hymn of the Week is O Worship the King. It was written by William Kethe in 1561, and the tune is an arrangement of Johann M. Haydn's tune, arranged by William Gardiner in 1815. When I was younger, it was my favorite hymn. Number 2 in the Trinity Hymnal! I remember requesting it one night in Congregational Singing. When the music director asked me which verses were my favorite and I wanted to sing, I just said all of them, causing some of the members of the church orchestra to chuckle and grimace. (I think I described that right?) I didn't understand until I joined the orchestra. It sure is in a hard key, but it is worth it for the words. A call to PRAISE and WORSHIP our KING! Answer it! Read the words, then sing them. Understand what you are singing to the Almighty King, our Shield and Defender.

O worship the King, all glorious above,
O gratefully sing His power and His love;
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.

O tell of His might, O sing of His grace,
Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space,
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.

The earth with its store of wonders untold,
Almighty, Thy power hath founded of old;
Established it fast by a changeless decree,
And round it hath cast, like a mantle, the sea.

Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail;
Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end,
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.

O measureless might! Ineffable love!
While angels delight to worship Thee above,
The humbler creation, though feeble their lays,
With true adoration shall all sing Thy praise.