Father, Cheer Our Souls Tonight

Often when we sing a hymn in church, it feels to me like a prayer. There are a few that I will belt out, knowing fuill well that I can't carry a tune in a bucket, because I love them that much. I was just looking for some way to express my feelings of the past weeks, and this song must have come straight from someone's heart in a time like this. A prayer, set to music.

Father, Cheer Our Souls Tonight

Father, cheer our souls tonight;
Lift our burdens, make them light.
Let thine all-pervading love
Shine upon us from above.

Calm the surges of the soul;
Bid the dark waves backward roll.
Let us all thy mercies feel
Thru the pow’r thou dost reveal.

Bless our loved ones far away;
Grant them health and peace, we pray.
In their hearts let holy light
Beam to guide their steps aright.

Let implicit faith and trust
Help us know thy ways are just.
May thine ever-tender love
Lead our hearts to thee above.

Text: Ellis Reynolds Shipp, 1847–1939
Music: Orlando Gibbons, 1583–1625, alt.