Field Stone Cottage Blog

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Sunday's Hymn: The Lord's My Shepherd

The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want;
He makes me down to lie
In pastures green; he leadeth me
The quiet waters by.

My soul he doth restore again;
And me to walk doth make
Within the paths of righteousness,
E'en for his own name's sake.

Yea, though I walk in death's dark vale,
Yet will I fear none ill,
For thou art with me; and thy rod
And staff me comfort still.

My table thou hast furnished
In presence of my foes;
My head thou dost with oil anoint,
And my cup overflows.

Goodness and mercy all my life
Shall surely follow me:
And in God's house for evermore
My dwelling place shall be.

A paraphrase of Psalm 23 from the Scottish Psalter, 1650
Tune: Evan, William Henry Havergal, 1846

I know that I posted this hymn just over a month ago so its a bit of a repeat. However, we sang it in church this morning and I felt so uplifted by it that I am going to post it again. Besides, in December, we sang it to the tune Crimond and today we sang it to Evan. And I just read about William Henry Havergal who composed this particular tune a week ago at Conjubilant with Song. Evan is only one of two William Henry Havergal tunes still in use today and I really like it!

3 comments:

Willow said...

Humming along with you...

AuntE said...

I think Crimond is my favourite tune, but there are many to choose from, aren't there? I don't know EVAN; I will have to look it up. One of my best memories of this hymn is singing it and watching an old Scotsman singing it out, full voice, hymnbook closed up - he didn't need it! Because I know this man, I know he was singing from his heart, and I was blessed by that.

Dorothy said...

I love the memories that are wrapped up in hymns, AuntE. Yours does sound like a true blessing.