Old Hymns & Choirs & Love of Creation

 

Mennonite Youth Choir -- photo Ruth Mundy

1 This is my Father's world,
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas--
His hand the wonders wrought.

2 This is my Father's world:
The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker's praise.
This is my Father's world:
He shines in all that's fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.

                                                     (two of three verses)

Yesterday we cycled to downtown Belleville and made a stop at the Farmers Market. We first heard and then saw a choir on the adjacent stage, something we'd never experienced before on a Saturday morning. This was a group of about two dozen mostly tween and teen girls who were singing well in harmony (there were a few guys in the back row). The women were dressed as though they were on the set for a remake of Little House on the Prairie so we figured, correctly, that they Mennonites from a community less than an hour north of town. 

They sang old-time hymns, the second being This is My Father's World. In the United Church we now use the lyrics beginning "this is God's wondrous world" ,which is preferable, yet yesterday these young women reminded us of the imagery of God as loving parent for all Creation. 

We both found listening to this choir unexpectedly moving. As Ruth pointed out, during the pandemic it has been rare to hear a choir, even in the times when gathering for worship was permitted. And there aren't many --any? -- mainline church choirs with that many young voices. 

Ruth was also stirred by the memory of singing this hymn at every meeting of a childhood girls group called Explorers, a church equivalent of Brownies. Her mother would be the piano accompanist as they sang. 

As two people who love the natural world, hearing that lovely hymn sung by a group from a generation which will bear the brunt of climate change was a gift and a call to responsible living as Christians. We're glad we showed up at the market when we did. 

1 This is God's wondrous world,

and to my listening ears

all nature sings, and round me rings

the music of the spheres.

This is God's wondrous world;

I rest me in the thought

of rocks and trees, of skies and seas,

God's hand the wonders wrought.

2 This is God's wondrous world:

the birds their carols raise;

the morning light, the lily white,

declare their Maker's praise.

This is God's wondrous world:

God shines in all that's fair;

in the rustling grass or mountain pass,

God's voice speaks everywhere.