February - “For the Beauty of the Earth”
Lyrics
For the beauty of the earth,
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies:
Christ, our God, to Thee we raise
this, our sacrifice of praise.
For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flow'r,
Sun and moon, and stars of light:
Christ, our God, to Thee we raise
this, our sacrifice of praise.
For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above;
For all gentle thoughts and mild:
Christ, our God, to Thee we raise
this, our sacrifice of praise.
For each perfect Gift of Thine
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and Divine,
Flowers of earth, and buds of Heaven:
Christ, our God, to Thee we raise
This our Sacrifice of Praise.
(Folliett S Pierpoint, 1864)
February Bible Memory Verses
Ephesians 5:18b – 20 (ESV)
“…be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”
Hebrews 13:15-16 (ESV)
“Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
Hymn Story
Folliott Sandford Pierpoint was born in 1835 and lived in Bath, England. He was a hymn-writer, poet and teacher. When he was 29 he wrote his most well known hymn ‘For the Beauty of the earth’. The melody used is called ‘Dix' written by Conrad Kocher. It was originally used for another lyric, a Christmas carol called ‘As with Gladness men of old’ (written by William Chatterton Dix). Very often one melody is used for many different hymn lyrics!
Mr Pierpoint wrote the lyrics (the words) while looking out on the beautiful countryside that surrounded his home. It was first published in a book of hymns and poems for Communion (Eucharist). This is why the refrain (the chorus) repeats ‘sacrifice of praise’ as it remembers Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross.
Something to Think About
What does ‘sacrifice of praise’ mean?
It is found in Hebrews 13
‘Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.’
Every day God gives us the ability to think thoughts, to do different things, to speak words. Like everything else, when it comes to our words we are to give as many as we can throughout the day to speak about Him, to praise the Lord. We sacrifice, give away, these words to Him. This is our sacrifice of praise, to Christ who sacrificed Himself for us on the cross.
An excellent way to do this is to sing songs of praise to the Lord. It will help give us words to say and also when we sing something we remember it better. It stays with us longer!
This hymn lyric looks at God’s creation, the earth and the people and the joys He has given to us. Even more it thanks God for the gift of Himself, sending Jesus, a ‘grace divine’, from Heaven to earth. We begin with a thankful heart of praise and it leads us to do many good and wonderful things for the Lord as our continued sacrifice to Him.
Activity
Shamrock and Peach Irish Butter Shortbread
By Judith McLoughlin, Shamrock and Peach
Ingredients:
1 cup (8 oz.) unsalted Irish butter
4 oz. (3/4 cup) powdered sugar
8 oz. (2 cups) all purpose flour
1 oz. (1/4 cup) cornstarch
1 oz. (1/4 cup) rice flour
3 Tbsp. granulated sugar (to sprinkle over baked cookies)
How to make them:
Preheat oven to 325° F.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy in an electric mixer.
Measure the flour, cornstarch, and rice flour together then slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until fully incorporated.
Place the resulting shortbread dough onto a floured surface and use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out the dough to ¼” thick.
Cut into desired shape with a suitable cookie cutter and place on baking sheets.
Bake for 12 minutes until the edges of the cookies are a light golden brown.
Sprinkle with sugar while still warm and leave to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container.
Prayer
Father in heaven,
We thank you for all the good gifts you give to us. We thank you most of all for the gift of the Lord Jesus who gave Himself for us. Lord may you be pleased with our words of praise, our grateful gift, that we bring to you today. May the words from our lips tell others about your glory and grace and remind us to follow you in every way,
In Jesus name
Amen