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Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost

One of my favourite hymns, written by Christopher Wordsworth [nephew of the poet William Wordsworth].

Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost,
taught by thee we covet most,
of thy gifts at Pentecost,
holy heavenly, love.

Love is kind and suffers long,
love is meek and thinks no wrong,
love than death itself more strong;
therefore, give us love.

Prophecy will fade away,
melting in the light of day;
love will ever with us stay;
therefore, give us love.

      Faith will vanish into sight;
hope be emptied in delight;
love in heaven will shine more bright;
therefore give us love.

Faith and hope and love we see,
joining hand in hand agree,
but the greatest of the three,
and the best, is love.

From the overshadowing
of thy gold and silver wing
shed on us, who to thee sing,
holy, heavenly love.

Kerensa asked about the tune: I know it to Guildford Cathedral, but Cyber Hymnal and Oremus Hymnal have different tunes: ah! the joy of hymnody.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 01:03 and is filed under Hymns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost”

  1. Kerensa Says:
    June 16th, 2008 at 13:22

    It’s lovely. Which tune is it sung to?

  2. Ian Says:
    June 16th, 2008 at 23:51

    "Guildford Cathedral" is the tune I know it too, but CyberHymnal and Oremus know nothing of it. I’ll have a look and edit my blog entry.