Scripture References:
st. 1 = 1 Cor. 12:27-31
st. 2 = 2 Cor. 4:5
st. 3 = 2 Thess. 2:15
st. 4 = Titus 2:14
Fred Pratt Green (PHH 455) wrote this text early in 1978 in Norwich, England. Russell Schulz-Widmar had requested that Pratt Green write a hymn text to be sung at the closing service of an eight-month festival on worship, music, and the arts, held at the University United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas. In that service on April 30, 1978, the church dedicated its new chancel furniture (thus st. 2), and the people rededicated themselves to God. The text was first published in the British/Methodist supplementary volume Partners in Praise (1979).
"God Is Here" helps us celebrate what it means to be a church: to offer praise and prayer to God with "all our varied skills and arts" (st. 1), to preach the Word and participate in the sacraments (st. 2), to foster faith and service (st. 3), and to live lives ill "church and kingdom" that bring glory to our Lord (st. 4). This text presents a catalog of the central tasks of the church (see also 515) and emphasizes the relationship between Sunday worship and daily living.
Liturgical Use:
Regular Sunday worship; festivals, dedications, anniversaries of the church; worship conferences and missions.
--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1987
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