Hymns for August 2, 2026

Jul 28

Hi friends! This Sunday we will be fed by hymns as Mandy brings us a sermon on the Feeding of the 5,000. We will start with Ken Medema’s Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying (Chalice Hymnal, 305). I had the pleasure of attending a workshop last week while at The Hymn Society conference. He is every bit as delightful as his music, and is the most gifted word and song improvisationalist I’ve heard. We likely won’t come up with verses on the fly the way he does in the video below, but we’ll enjoy singing the refrain together.

Hello, World!

Our second hymn one is a newer one. You have heard and sung it at Grace before, once in 2024 as a duet between Theresa and I, and once as a choir-led hymn this past February. Now we will sing the whole thing as a congregational hymn. I love both this text by David Bjorlin, and tune by Ben Brody. We talk a lot about abundance and scarcity, and with good reason we focus on God’s abundance, and having an abundance-mindset. Dave’s text reminds us though, that God’s abundance works even with our scarcity. Even when we struggle to see beyond our scarcity, God is still making those little things grow. Bigger is not always better, and growth can look differently to God than it does to us.

Enjoy these recordings from previous services:

February 22, 2026 (14:30)

September 22, 2024 (11:04)

Lastly we will sing a new text with a familiar tune, Amanda Udis-Kessler’s When Jesus Sets the Table with LANCASHIRE (602 Lead On, O King Eternal; 603 Lead On, O Cloud of Presence). Here is Rev. Udis-Kessler’s clear and comprehensive text on Open Table theology:

When Jesus sets his table, all people find a place.

That table is a promise of blessing and of grace

Refrain:

So set the table fully. Invite the whole world in.

If we would share love’s welcome, in feasting we begin.

Whoever we find troubling and seek to keep outside,

That is the very neighbor who must not be denied

Refrain

No race, no creed, no nation, no love of heart and vow,

No gender is rejected. The table’s waiting now.

Refrain

You can read more of her texts at her website https://queersacredmusic.com/

As an aside, I haven’t watched this yet, but am linking here so we might watch together, because I was drawn by the sermon title “Living Abundantly in Dumpster Fire Times”

Lastly, if you’re trying to remember how LANCASHIRE goes, here’s a lovely recording:

Grace Baptist Church

Hymns for August 2, 2026

“The Seeds of Grace”