God, Beyond All Names (AOV 2/23)

This is beautiful piece by Bernadette Farrell, which you can listen to here. I’m not at all sure it is able to be sung effectively by the assembly, but I’d love to hear otherwise. This UCC church gets around that by doing it as a solo.

It can be purchased for download at OCP.

I also wonder whether a church traditional enough to have the choral expertise for this, is likely to go for the challenging text. Who knows.

Verse 1

God, beyond our dreams, you have stirred in us a memory,
you have placed your powerful spirit in the hearts of humankind.

Refrain

All around us, we have known you;
all creation lives to hold you,
In our living and our dying
we are bringing you to birth.

Verse 2

God, beyond all names, you have made us in your image,
we are like you, we reflect you, we are woman, we are man.

Refrain

Verse 3

God, beyond all words, all creation tells your story,
you have shaken with our laughter, you have trembled with our tears.

Refrain

Verse 4

God, beyond all time, you are laboring within us;
we are moving, we are changing, in your spirit ever new.

Refrain

Verse 5

God of tender care, you have cradled us in goodness,
you have mothered us in wholeness, you have loved us into birth.

Refrain

© Bernadette Farrell 1990.

Another trial with a VST instrument: