Lord, we thank you for the promise

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  • 1112

Lord, we thank you for the promise
seen in every human birth:
you have planned each new beginning–
who could hope for greater worth?
Hear our prayer for those we cherish:
claim our children as your own —
in the fertile ground of childhood
may eternal seed be sown.

2 Lord, we thank you for the vigour
burning in the years of youth:
strength to face tomorrow’s challenge,
zest for life and zeal for truth.
In the choice of friends and partners,
when ideas and values form,
may the message of your kingdom
be the guide, the goal, the norm.

3 Lord, we thank you for the harvest
of the settled, middle years:
times when work and home can prosper,
when life’s richest fruit appears;
but when illness, stress and hardship
fill so many days with dread,
may your love renew the vision
of a clearer road ahead.

4 Lord, we thank you for the beauty
of a heart at last mature:
crowned with peace and rich in wisdom,
well-respected and secure;
but to those who face the twilight
frail, bewildered, lacking friends,
Lord, confirm your gracious offer:
perfect life which never ends.

MARTIN E LECKEBUSCH © 1999 KEVIN MAYHEW LTD
Martin Leckebusch

Christ's Lordship Over All of Life - Families and Children

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A look at the author

Leckebusch, Martin Ernest

b Leicester 1962. King Edward VII Coll, Coalville, Leics; Oriel Coll Oxford; BA/MA (Maths) 1983; Brunel Univ Middx, MSc (Numerical Analysis) 1984. He worked for 16 yrs as a Computer Systems Programmer, followed by 5 as Support Specialist. In 2006 he was redirected to the role of Technical Design Authority for the IBM mainframe platform within Lloyds TSB. He has belonged to various CofE and Free Churches, including 6 yrs as a Methodist Local Preacher (1992–1998); currently a member of Kendal Rd Baptist Ch, Longlevens, Gloucester since 2001. His hymn-writing began in 1987; 144 hymn texts were collected in More than Words, 2000, some of which had appeared in earlier books including NewStart (1999, 6 hymns in a total of 71), Sing Glory (14 hymns), and Praise! A collection of 150 texts based on the Psalms, for singing to well-known tunes, appeared in 2006, giving a total of 275 texts by then in print. 6 of these are in Carol Praise (2006). In that year he also joined the Text Advisory Group (TAG) of Jubilate Hymns which he later chaired, and he also consults regularly with representatives of the more informal songwriters; he is active in the Hymn Soc, and lives with his family in Gloucester. In the 2005 edn of A Panorama of Christian Hymnody, which features 2 of his texts, Paul A Richardson notes their ‘conservative theology, biblical imagery and structural ingenuity’, adding that ML ‘advocates a restoration of hymnody in traditional forms to those who, like him, are in the charismatic wing of the church’. He is also keen to explore some issues often neglected by contemporary writers. By 2010, which saw the publication of a further collection Never Let the Songs End, the total number of his hymns had exceeded 400. Nos.270, 278, 285, 322, 381, 586, 604, 665, 756, 770, 771, 841, 856, 882, 892, 926, 936, 942, 1023, 1029, 1111, 1112, 1113, 1114, 1123, 1124, 1125, 1139, 1140, 1141, 1142, 1167, 1168, 1170, 1171, 1173, 1176, 1177, 1182, 1194, 1196, 1197, 1202, 1206, 1207, 1208, 1217, 1240, 1243.