All Creatures Of Our God And King

All Creatures of our God and King

I think that most people who know me realize that I love the old hymns. They really reach me and I love to sing them and hear them sung. The biggest criticism that I get about them, though, is that they are so old. So, today I’m not going to write about a 150 year old hymn.

Instead, let’s go back to the year 1225. Yes, you read that right. About 800-850 years ago, the church went to war. War, it seems, reaches all of us at some time or another. In this case, the church of Europe was embroiled in a series of wars called The Crusades.

While the rest of the Christian world was turning militant, a young monk by the name of Francesco Giovanni Bernardone, made a name for himself by his love of nature and all of God’s creatures. It was not unheard of to hear him preaching to the woods and the critters that lived there.

He had renounced his wealth in 1204, and became a preacher, changing his name to Francis. Francis of Assisi would make a huge impact on those around him and his many followers would be organized into an entire order of the faith.

Francis loved all of God’s creatures and in 1225, ill and suffering from an increasingly apparent blindness, he headed back to his home. Stopping to rest at a familiar monastery, he took up his pen and wrote a poem. Drawing his inspiration from Psalm 148, he wrote about the creatures he loved and the nature that he had learned to appreciate so much.

His “Canticle Of The Sun” would be translated into English 700 years later, just before World War I, with music added later. Hundreds of hymnals now include the “new” hymn, “All Creatures of our God and King.”

It is a song of love and peace for a people of God who often forget what those things are all about.

https://youtu.be/TFPyyNNcYP0?si=sA9_fH70HzpczCH9

ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING

1-All Creatures of our God and King,

Lift up your voice and with us sing,

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Thou burning sun with golden beam,

Thou silver moon with softer gleam!

Refrain

O praise Him! O praise Him!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

2-Thou rushing wind that art so strong

Ye clouds that sail in Heaven along,

O praise Him! Alleluia!

Thou rising moon, in praise rejoice,

Ye lights of evening, find a voice!

Refrain

3-Thou flowing water, pure and clear,

Make music for thy Lord to hear,

O praise Him! Alleluia!

Thou fire so masterful and bright,

That givest man both warmth and light.

Refrain

4-And all ye men of tender heart,

Forgiving others, take your part,

O sing ye! Alleluia!

Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,

Praise God and on Him cast your care!

Refrain

5-Let all things their Creator bless,

And worship Him in humbleness,

O praise Him! Alleluia!

Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,

And praise the Spirit, Three in One!

Refrain