O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing (Charles Wesley, 1739)
1O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise
The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace
2Jesus! the name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease
'Tis music in the sinners ears, 'tis life and health and peace
3He breaks the power of cancelled sin, he sets the prisoner free
His blood can make the foulest clean; his blood availed for me
4He speaks, and listening to his voice, new life the dead receive
The mournful, broken hearts rejoice, the humble poor believe
5My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim
To spread through all earth abroad the honors of thy name
A thousand, a million, a trillion tongues (Walter Brueggemann, 1998)
O for a thousand tongues to sing
our great redeemer's name;
To sing beyond ourselves, extravagantly,
with abandonment,
beyond all our possibilities,
and all our fears,
and all our hopes...
to our redeemer dear, the antidote to our death,
the salve to our wounds,
the resolve of our destructiveness...
A thousand, a million, a trillion tongues,
more than our own,
more than our tradition,
more than our theology,
more than our understanding,
tongues around us,
tongues among us,
tongues from our silenced parts.
Tongues from us to you in freedom and in courage,
Finally ceding our lives and our loves to your good care. Amen.
