| 1. |
In the desert where they’d wanderedwith a billion stars in view,Abraham and Sarah ponderedhow the promise could be true.Though at first to hope seemed folly,in the night they heard God say,“Every star’s a child of promiseI will never turn away.”
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[Gen. 15:1-6] |
| 2. |
With a majesty that stunned heras she prayed for grace to shareCame a word on wings of wonderas an answer to her prayer.Mary magnified the message:“Let it be just as you say—From the birth of Love IncarnateI will never turn away.”
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[Luke 1:26-38] |
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In a time of strife and blindness,to the welter of the worldCame a man whose Godly kindnessbore the pain of curses hurled.Love unbowed raised up the loveless,as each one heard Jesus say,“All who come to me believingI will never turn away.”
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[John 1:10-13] [Isaiah 53:3-5] [John 6:37] |
| 4. |
To the bearer of Christ’s mission—“Feed my sheep in every place”—Was entrusted a revisionof the breadth of God’s embrace.Though at first such grace seemed reckless,Peter heard the Spirit say,“Every life made clean by lovingI will never turn away.”
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[John 21:15-17][Acts 10:9-16] |
| 5. |
With a flagrant faith, impassionedby a still more noble way,An apostle’s pen refashionedthe devotion of his day.“Hearts of faith contain this treasure(though it’s held in jars of clay):Every soul whose joy is JesusHe will never turn away.”
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[I Cor. 12:31] [II Cor. 4:7][Phil. 4:4-7] |
| 6. |
To the fragile, fateful beautyof the fractious human raceComes a church whose joyful dutyis to wield this word of grace:Male and female, poor and wealthy,Every color, straight and gay,All who seek to find this KingdomChrist will never turn away!
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[Gal. 3:28][Matt. 6:33] |
| 7. |
And the gentiles, and the lowly,those ignored and those in chains,Those reviled or thought unholytrust the Love that lives and reigns.Even now we hear their voicessighing with us as we pray—“Jesus, we are those you promisedYou would never turn away!”
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[Eph. 2:11-13] [Rom. 8:26-28] |
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Rev. Spalding wrote this hymn en route home from the Covenant Conference in Minneapolis in November 2002. It was sung in the closing service of the Covenant Conference in Washington, DC, in November 2003. It was a prize-winner in the 2002 Hymn Competition for hymn texts celebrating an inclusive church, sponsored by the Macalester-Plymouth United Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.NOTES: Choose verses appropriate to text, season, or particular use (not all at once!)Other possible hymn tunes: |
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ABBOT’S LEIGHBEECHERBETHANYBLAENHAFRENCONSTANTINECONVERSEEBENEZERERIEGENEVAHYFRYDOLHYMN TO JOY |
JEFFERSONJOELNETTLETONNEW REFORMATIONOFFERINGOMNI DIEPLEADING SAVIORPROCESSIONSILVER CREEKWEISSE FLAGGEN |
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