Let's Sing a New Song!
Hymns written specifically for the scriptures of the
Revised Common Lectionary
-- Download and use for free --

All of the hymns listed on this page were written over the years (since 1978) as I have prepared worship services and sermons using the scriptures of the Revised Common Lectionary.  As I wrote these hymns I was careful to use inclusive language and the best biblical theology I could muster.

These hymns may be viewed, played, printed, and downloaded using the free Scorch plug-in from Sebalius.  (This plug-in is remarkable! Every computer should have it.)

Below is the alphabetical listing of hymns.  Click here to see the hymns as applied to the Revised Common Lectionary.

          SCORCH FILE /  WORDS AND MIDI                                                         

1. A Beautiful Vineyard / Midi
2. Advent Candles In Our Worship / Midi
3. Apostles Say, "Increase Our Faith"
4. As We Serve Our Holy Savior
5. Before the Mountains Had Been Shaped
6. Behold, Lift Your Eyes, Sing Your Praise-
7. Behold! The Day of Judgment Comes
8. Behold the Lamb of God
9. Behold the Wonder of Our God
10. Blessed Jesus Taught Us How to Pray
11. Blessings Come from God on High
12. Come Fill Us Holy Spirit
13. Come, O God of Strength and Glory
14. Come, Jesus, Tell Us Who You Are
15. Come See the Child in the Manger
16. Come Up to Me, Moses
17. Christ the Lord Does Love Us!
18. Disciples Sitting in a Room
19. Do Not Tell Us You Must Suffer
20. Enraptured By a Bush of Flame
21. From All the Earth, People of God
22. From East and West, From North and South
23. From God Has Great Abundance Come
24. God Came As Human to Earth
25. God Calls the World to Follow
26. God is Our Ruler
27. God Loved Us So
28. God Saved the World
29. Go Tell John What You Hear and See
30. Good Stewards We Are Called to Be
31. Hear the Word of God this Holy Day
    (Like we play it in the Thumb of Michigan!)
32. Hear the Word of God This Holy Day!
    (A bit of the Caribbean!)
33. Here He Comes into Our City
34. Herein We Dwell, A Kingom to Build
35. Holy Spirit, Come Upon Us
36. How Shall We Pray in the House of God?
37. How Shall We Love Our Sovereign God?
38. I Am Tempted, O Jesus
39. I Go Up to the Mountaintop
40. In the Days of Prophets
41. In the Lord's Service
42. In What Ways Shall We Answer God?
43. John the Baptist
44. Just As God Called Moses
45. Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled, Now
46. Let Us All Drink from the Water of Life
47. Let Us Praise God's Wondrous Name
48. Lo, The Stone Is Rolled Away
49. Make Straight the Desert Path for God
50. O Come, Divine Salvation
51. O Fountain of Our Advent Hope
52. O, Give Us Faith Like Abraham's
53. O Living Christ, Come Walk with Us | Jpeg
54. O Righteous Judge
55. O Sing to God a New Song
56. Only Shepherds
57. Out of the Darkness We Call on You, Lord!
58. Powers of Heaven Now Rejoice!
59. Praise God in Zion Unceasing!
60. Praise God, Who Even at Our Darkest Hour
61. Praise to the Holy Spirit
62. Praise to the Living Word of God
63. Rejoice with Me for I Have Found
64. Saint Peter Pulled a Sword for Him
65. See Him Riding on a Donkey!
66. See This Valley of Old Dry Bones
67. Sing a New Song
68. Sleeper, Awake!
69. Supremely Reigns God's Majesty
70. The Lord Came Into Jerusalem
71. The Love of God is Glorified
72. The One Whose Name Is Love
73. The Sovereign Has A Mission
74. The Spirit of the Lord Came Down
75. The Peace of God Has Come to Us
76. The Peace of God Is Give To Us All
77. There a Fresh Wind Blowing in this Place
78. This Planet Is God's
79. To the One Who Leads Us Onward
80. To Those in Darkness' Gloom
81. Walk at Our Side Through These Forty Days
82. We Meet Together In This Place
83. We're Building a House
84. We've Come Here Looking for Jesus
85. What Are the Signs in the Sun and Moon?
86. When He Came into the City
87. When Our Need Is Great
88. When the Shadows Spread their Gloom
89. Where is the Place of Wisdom?
90. Who Is This That We Have Pierced?
91. Words of Sickness, Words of Death
92. Yet Even Now Return
93. You Give Us Life, Creative Word

EXTRAS:
A Church Camp Song:
     Fellowship With Friends

An alternate tune for churches that want to sing Edelweiss:
     May the Lord Mighty God

In my work as a United Methodist pastor over the past 35 years I have been writing poetry and hymns for the scriptures of the Revised Common Lectionary, a three-year list of scriptures that is being used by The United Methodist Church, The United Presbyterian Church, The United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the American Baptist Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and other denominations.

While I would use some of the poetry and hymns in sermons and worship services none of them got much beyond the local church. Instead, they got relegated to a couple of three ring notebooks that I kept in my office.

In the late ‘70's, the earliest of my hymns, including the lyrics, were written by hand on music manuscript. Eventually, I went to cutting the notes from manuscript, pasting them above and below the lyrics, and copying it all on a copy machine for congregational use.

As I wrote these hymns I was careful to use inclusive language. As a 1975 graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary on the campus of American University in Washington, D.C., I had been sensitized to the need for such language. Also, since I had accumulated 30 hours of biblical studies in the course of obtaining my master of divinity degree, I was careful to use the best biblical interpretation I could muster as I wrote the lyrics for the hymns.

One of my goals as I wrote the tunes was for them to be simple, easy to learn, easy to play on a piano, and easy to remember.

Some time ago, while I was going through the three ring notebooks containing 35 years of hymn composition, I noticed that the rubber cement was beginning to fail on many of my earliest hymns. It was then that I decided it was time to begin sharing the hymns. Using Sibelius music software, I have rewritten many of those hymns and published them in this book, along with a lectionary index of the scriptures and related hymns.

This continues to be a work in progress.

Rev. Paul G. Donelson
517-486-3805 (home)
989-486-4040 (church office) 

403 Brenot Court
Blissfield, MI  49228

donelson@umcs.org