Mary at Godsongs posted about this lovely song by Michael Joncas. It is his paraphrase of Psalm 23 and a prayerful response to the Covid 19 epidemic.
The text and music have been posted here for now but I think I’ll have to take the lyrics I printed below down in a year.
His beautiful piano arrangement is well beyond me so I simplified the structure and found chords to make a BIAB arrangement.
- Shepherd and sheep, my God and I:
to fresh green fields you led my steps in days gone by.
You gave me rest by quiet springs
and filled my soul with peace your loving presence brings.
Chorus:
O shelter me, O shelter me:
the way ahead is dark and difficult to see.
O shelter me, O shelter me:
all will be well if only you will shelter me.
- Yet now I tread a diff’rent way;
death dogs my path with stealthy steps from day to day.
I cannot find your peaceful place
but dwell in dreary darkness, longing for your face. - I will look back in days to come
and realize your faithfulness has led me home.
Within your house I’ll find my peace,
trusting that in your mercy you have sheltered me.
© The Jan Michael Joncas Trust 2020
This is more like it:
Another master piece and so well written for what we are experiencing. Thank you Fr. Michael Joncas! God bless you in all you write for us!
I am looking for written harmony to this song. At least 3 parts would be good.
Will you please let me know if I can attain SSA or SATB?
Thanks
G’day Dianne.
Wouldn’t that be lovely.
My first suggestion is always to contact the song writer directly. At the moment all the music available is the piano arrangement that has been provided. It is likely an arrangement for choir would become available when the song is commercially released.
In the mean time, I suppose, if anyone with talent in that area has made a choral arrangement it would be nice if they can let us know.
cheers
Geoff
Thanks for giving us another great song! I am so happy you made it available to those of of in music ministry!!
Fr. Michael,
I rejoice in your God given inspiration to compose Shelter Me. I have lived in the Twenty-Third Psalm for many years. In dark days, I find solace in the verse “In the presence of my enemies, God sets a table before me.” In the midst of the trials, there is always a song, a sign, a word to comfort me-and so your song. Blessed are you! Thank you.
We have written a TTBB arrangement here at St. Laurence’s in Brisbane. It sounds like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZyeloK9rE8
Just contact me at school for a copy.
Keep on singing,
Anthony Young.
Good day,
May I ask if it is possible to acquire your chords for this lovely hymn, please?
I would personally like to thank you for all the hard work you put in to this website. It has been a tremendous help to me (I somehow have been landed with looking after our parish music ministry despite having absolutely no music background whatsoever – just imagine that if you can!). Your work is greatly appreciated. God bless you.
G’day Megan
I wish you luck in your difficult role in music ministry. If you haven’t seen this post of mine before I would recommend it to you:
https://www.sixmaddens.org/music-liturgy-for-the-marginally-musical/
The good news with this song is that there are now commercial versions with chords available for download quite cheaply, so my approximations are no longer needed and we can honour his copyright:
https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0211736
best of luck
Geoff
Thank you very much, Geoff 🙂
Kia kaha.