Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#589

589. Our Father, Whose Creative Love

Text Information

• First Line: Our Father, whose creative love
• Title: Our Father, Whose Creative Love
• Author: Albert F. Bayly (1966, alt.)
• Meter: CM
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Scripture:
  Philippians 2:6-11
• Topic: Family; Love: Our Love for Others; Home
• Copyright: Text and music by permission of Oxford University Press

Tune Information

• Name: ST. BOTOLPH
• Composer: Gordon Slater (1929)
• Meter: CM
• Key: D Major
• Copyright: Text and music by permission of Oxford University Press

Text Information:

Albert F. Bayly (PHH 293) wrote this text in February 1966 and published it in his Again I Say Rejoice (1967). The Psalter Hymnal includes his original stanzas 1-3 and 5.

The text is a prayer hymn by and for parents for divine blessing on the raising of children and youth. As we sing stanza 1, we recognize God's gift of life in the act of procreation and his image in the life of each child. In stanzas 2 and 3 we pray that parents will be faithful in their covenant obligations in raising children to be whole--some persons, whose bodies and souls are nourished by biblical wisdom. Stanza 4 concludes this prayer with a petition for the consecrating work of the Holy Spirit in the dealings of all parents with their children.

Liturgical Use:
Infant baptism; family life services (note that the emphasis is on parents).

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

ST. BOTOLPH was composed by Gordon A. Slater (b. Harrogate, Yorkshire, England, 1896; d. Lincoln, England, 1979) and first published in Songs of Praise for Boys and Girls (1930).

The tune was named for St. Botolph's Parish Church in Boston, Lincolnshire, England, where Slater was organist from 1919 to 1927, following his service in the British army in France during World War I. That church honors St. Botolph, the seventh-century abbot of an influential monastery thought to have been near Iken, northeast of Ipswich in Suffolk, a monastery destroyed during the Danish invasions. Also from 1919 to 1927, Slater was conductor of the Boston Choral Society. He then served at Leicester Cathedral from 1927 to 1930. Organist and choirmaster at Lincoln Cathedral from 1930 to 1966, Slater supervised the rebuilding of the cathedral's organ in 1960. During those years he was also the conductor of the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra. He taught at various British colleges and universities and was a well-known organ recitalist for the BBC. In addition to piano and organ music, Slater composed anthems and hymn tunes.

As originally intended by Slater, ST. BOTOLPH is best sung in unison. Music theory students may delight in finding some parallel fifths in the harmonization. Sing and accompany in two long lines rather than in four short phrases. “Jesus, the Very Thought of You” (480) is often sung to ST. BOTOLPH in British churches.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook