I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the old hymns.
Today’s song is Morning Has Broken from 1931.
1 Morning has broken
like the first morning,
blackbird has spoken
like the first bird.
Praise for the singing!
Praise for the morning!
Praise for them, springing
fresh from the Word!
2 Sweet the rain’s new fall
sunlit from heaven,
like the first dewfall
on the first grass.
Praise for the sweetness
of the wet garden,
sprung in completeness
where God’s feet pass.
3 Mine is the sunlight!
Mine is the morning
born of the one light
Eden saw play!
Praise with elation,
praise every morning,
God’s recreation
of the new day!
I tend to see this one as a 1970s songs because I knew the Cat Stevens version back then. But it goes all the way back to 1931, which is close to 100 years ago now 😀. It’s in Mission Praise and other evangelical hymn books. In my experience, people don’t sing it much in church because it’s not very explicit about specific Christian doctrines. Yet, it’s a reminder of the beauty of creation and who it is that’s behind it. Cat Stevens became a Muslim in the late 1970s. I think that he initially renounced music, but he returned some years later, and he still performs nowadays. I think he can probably still sing this one, because there’s nothing specifically Christian about it. Well, maybe you could argue that there is, looking at the last line of verse 1 – “fresh from the Word“. This suggests to me that the author had John 1 in mind:
John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
And the following verses touch on the same subject – the notion that the world was created and is sustained through the Son of God:
Colossians 1:15-17
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Hebrews 1:2-3
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Anyway, it’s a beautiful day today here in Ireland, and I particularly like mornings. Here are some other versions of the song, including Yusuf/Cat Stevens’s version:
Hibernia Gospel 