Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#607

607. Father, Help Your People

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Text Information

• First Line: Father, help your people
• Title: Father, Help Your People
• Author: Fred Kaan (1966)
• Meter: 65 65 D
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Topic: Industry & Labor; Love: Our Love for Others; Society/Social Concerns; Justice; Ministry & Service; Sanctification
• Copyright: Text © 1972, Hope Publishing Co. All rights reserved. Used by permission

Tune Information

• Name: WHITWORTH
• Composer: Walter MacNutt (1967)
• Meter: 65 65 D
• Key: D Major
• Copyright: Tune © 1970, Waterloo Music Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Text Information:

In the mid-1960s Fred Kaan (PHH 277) began writing hymn texts "to fill gaps" in traditional hymnody. He wrote this text in 1966 while he was pastor of the Pilgrim Church in Plymouth, England. It was published in his collection Pilgrim Praise (1968).

This "kingdom hymn" illustrates that Kaan was well versed in the Reformed understanding of the kingdom of God. "Father, Help Your People" is a prayer for the coming of God's kingdom wherever we are–in church, home, or marketplace–and with whatever gifts we have–in worship, work, or play. We are urged here to be Christ's servants in the world and thus to experience living as a feast, a foretaste of the great celebrations in the new heaven and earth.

Liturgical Use:
A "kingdom hymn" for many occasions of worship; fitting for special times of prayer for the nation, industry, science, and the arts; observances of schooling, graduations, business, and domestic life, and Labor Day.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

Walter MacNutt (PHH 174) composed WHITWORTH in the mid-1960s when he was organist and choirmaster at St. Thomas Anglican Church in Toronto, Canada. Intended for an Epiphany processional, the tune was written for "Lo, the Pilgrim Magi." WHITWORTH was first published in the pamphlet Five Hymn Tunes (1970) and then included in The Hymn Book (1971) of the Canadian Anglican and United Church. The tune is named for Jack Whitworth, a long-time secretary at St. Thomas Church and a friend of MacNutt.

Stanley L. Osborne (PHH 395) says that this is "possibly the finest tune that MacNutt has written." This excellent melody invites unison singing, which should soar from inside a church building to far beyond the church walls. Use a strong organ registration to send this prayer on its way up to God.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook