Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#323

323. Forth in the Peace of Christ We Go

Text Information

• First Line: Forth in the peace of Christ we go
• Title: Forth in the Peace of Christ We Go
• Author: James Quinn, S.J. (1969)
• Meter: LM
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Topic: King, God/Christ as; Close of Worship; Ministry & Service; Obedience
• Copyright: © James Quinn. Reprinted by permission of Geoffrey Chapman, a division of Cassell Publishers, Ltd.

Tune Information

• Name: ANGELUS
• Adapter: Georg Joseph (1657, adapt.)
• Meter: LM
• Key: D Major

Text Information:

Scripture References:
st. 3-4 = 1 Pet. 2:9

Irish Jesuit James Quinn (PHH 220) wrote the text to this hymn in Edinburgh, Scotland, as poetic commentary on sections of Vatican II‘s "Constitution on the Church" (chap. IV, see. 34-36; and chap. I, see. 1). The text was first published in Quinn's New Hymns for All Seasons (1969).

"Forth in the Peace of Christ We Go" emphasizes our responsibility as Christians to spread the gospel: we go to the world preaching Christ with joy (st. 1); we go as kings to show our servanthood to the King and to all people (st. 2); we go as priests to minister with the message of God's healing grace (st. 3); we go as prophets to speak his word (st. 4); we go as the church to bring Christ's peace and love (st. 5).

Liturgical Use:
As a dismissal or recessional hymn; in conjunction with sermons on "prophet, priest, and king"; at high festivals of the church.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

ANGELUS is attributed to Georg Joseph (Germany, 17th century), a musician at the court of the prince-bishop of Breslau. It was published in the 1657 hymnal Heilige Seelenlust, edited by Joseph. In that hymnal the tune was associated with the Johann Scheffler text "Du meiner Seelen güldne Ziehr." In fact, the tune's name comes from the name Scheffler took after his conversion to Roman Catholicism: Angelus Silesius. Joseph provided most of the musical settings for Scheffler's texts; their joint work was published in the four books of Heilige Seelenlust (1657, expanded to five books, 1668). In the nineteenth century the tune was adapted to its present form and was published in the Munich hymnal Cantica Spiritualia (1847).

Sing stanzas 1 and 5 in unison and stanzas 2-4 in harmony. Or, for stanzas 2-4, divide the congregation into three groups representing prophets, priests, and kings, and have them sing their corresponding stanzas. Reginald Thatcher's more modern WILDERNESS (608) is a suggested alternate tune for this text.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook