Sunday Worship from the United Reformed Churchfor Sunday 1 January 2023 Today’s service is led by The Revd Nicola Furley Smith Call to Worship The Psalmist says: Praise God from the heavens! Praise Him from the skies above! Praise God, angels and all the hosts of heaven! Praise Him, sun and moon, and shining stars! Praise […]
URC Daily Devotion Saturday 31 December 2022
This is the Truth Sent From Above “The truth sent from above” is an English folk carol of unknown authorship usually performed at Christmas. Collected in the early part of the 20th century by English folk song collectors in Shropshire and Herefordshire, a number of variations on the tune exist, but the text remains broadly […]
URC Daily Devotion 30th December 2022
“In the Bleak Midwinter” is a poem by the English poet Christina Rossetti, commonly performed as a Christmas carol. The poem was published in 1872. In 1906, the composer Gustav Holst composed a setting of Rossetti’s words (titled “Cranham”) in The English Hymnal which is sung throughout the world. You can hear it sung here: […]
URC Daily Devotion Thursday 29 December 2022
“Masters in This Hall” (alternative title: “Nowell, Sing We Clear”) is a Christmas carol with words written around 1860 by the English poet and artist William Morris to an old French dance tune. The carol is moderately popular but has not entered the canon of most popular carols and has a sixteenth-century feel, harking back […]
URC Daily Devotion 28 December 2022
Leanabh an àigh Leanabh is a Gaelic hymn rendered Child in the Manger in its English translation by Lachlan MacBean to fit the tune Bunessan (Morning has broken). The Gaelic was written by Màiri Dhòmhnallach, well known as a poet and singer, from the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides. Born in 1817 at […]
URC Daily Devotion Tuesday 27 December 2022
“Adam lay ybounden”, originally titled Adam lay i-bowndyn, is a 15th-century English Christian text which uses a variety of languages and linguistic puns. It is of unknown authorship and relates the Biblical events of Genesis, Chapter 3 on the Fall of Humanity. Originally a song text, no contemporary musical settings survive, although there are many […]
URC Daily Devotion 26 December 2022
Of the Father’s love begotten is a doctrinal hymn based on the Latin poem “Corde natus” by the Roman poet Aurelius Prudentius. The ancient poem was translated and paired with a mediaeval plainchant melody “Divinum mysterium” to which it is most often sung today. You can hear this carol herehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOF9JLJkPis Of the Father’s love begotten,Ere […]
Christmas Day Worship 2022
Sunday Worship from the United Reformed Churchfor Christmas Day Today’s service is led by The Revd Alex Clare-Young Scripture Sentences Psalm 96 & Call To Worship O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and […]
Christmas Eve Worship 2022
Sunday Worship from the United Reformed Churchfor Christmas Eve Today’s service is led by The Revd Andy Braunston Call to Worship Good evening and welcome to worship on this most holiest of nights when, with Christians around the world we gather in the dark to welcome the light. We listen again, in music and words, to […]
URC Daily Devotion Friday 23rd December 2022
Friday 23rd December 2022 O Emmanuel (O With Us is God) O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,the hope of the nations and their Saviour:Come and save us, O Lord our God. “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14)“We have our hope set […]