San Francisco Central Seventh-day Adventist Church

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61 God Is Here!

God Is Here This hymn was written by the contemporary hymnwriter Pratt Green. It was commissioned by the University United Methodist Church of Austin, Texas, and specifically required to be the 8.7.8.7D meter in order to go with the hymntune ABBOT�S LEIGH. Our hymnal has changed the line in the second stanza from the original "here the cross has central place," to "here the Word has central place."

The British Broadcasting Company�s staffer Cyril Vincent Taylor wrote the hymn tune during the London Blitz. The BBC staff had been evacuated from London to Bristol, but then Bristol as well came under attack, and Taylor moved to the village of Abbot�s Leigh, where he stayed with friends for five months. "One Sunday morning I sat down at the piano in their dining room. No one else was there. I had to spend most of my Sundays at home listening to the broadcasts. I wrote the outline of the tune that morning, intending it to be sung to the words of Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken." The Nazis of course had spoiled that tune for many people by using it for the WWII era German national anthem, Deutschland Uber Alles.

God is here as we his people
meet to offer praise and prayer,
may we find in fuller measure
what it is in Christ we share.
Here, as in the world around us,
all our varied skills and arts
wait the coming of his Spirit
into open minds and hearts.

Here are symbols to remind us
of our lifelong need of grace;
here are table, font and pulpit;
here the Word has central place.
Here in honesty of preaching,
here in silence, as in speech,
here in newness and renewal,
God the Spirit comes to each.

Here our children find a welcome
in the Shepherd's flock and fold.
Here, as bread and wine are taken,
Christ sustains us, as of old.
Here the servants of the Servant
seek in worship to explore
what it means in daily living
to believe and to adore.

Lord of all, Church and Kingdom,
in an age of change and doubt,
keep us faithful to the Gospel,
help us work your purpose out.
Here, in this day's dedication,
all we have to give, receive:
we, who cannot live without you,
we adore you! We believe!