The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #4613 Message #1184284
Posted By: Haruo
12-May-04 - 08:15 PM
Thread Name: Mother's Day Songs
Subject: Lyr ADD: Motherhood, Sublime, Eternal
As motherhood hymns go, I much prefer "Motherhood, Sublime, Eternal", with its roots in the Mother-God theology of the 14th Century English Roman Catholic anchorite nun Julian of Norwich. The tune MIDI is in my hymnal with the text, which I also add here:
Motherhood, Sublime, Eternal
Words by J. S. Cutler
My source: Christian Worship: A Hymnal, 1941 (a joint publication of the Northern Baptist Convention and the Disciples of Christ)
- Motherhood, sublime, eternal, lives in God's great heart of Love;
Ever holds us, safe enfolds us, underneath, around, above;
Patient, tender, kind, forgiving, though in devious paths we roam;
Gently chides us, ever guides us, and all-loving, leads us home.
- Ev'ry wrong will sure be righted; ev'ry evil swept away;
Truth upspringing, justice bringing, ushers in the brighter day;
Mother calls her earthly children, loves them, lifts them when they fall;
Striving, calling, fainting, falling, Motherlove enfolds them all.
- God is love, and love forever in the motherheart is blest;
Lives the longest, lifts the strongest, far outreaching all the rest;
Not by might, and not by wisdom comes our lifting from the sod:
Love's pure glory tells the story in the Motherheart of God.
The tune is attributed to Willis N. Moore. I know nothing more about lyricist or composer, nor about the textual/publication history of the song. But as motherhood hymns go, I like it.
Haruo