Scripture Verse

Lord, teach us to pray. Luke 11:1

Introduction

portrait
Ralph Vaughan Williams
(1872–1958)

Words: Al­fred Noyes, A Bel­gian Christ­mas Eve (New York: Fred­er­ick A. Stokes, 1915).

Music: Kings­fold Eng­lish tune. Ar­ranged by Ralph Vaugh­an Will­iams, 1906 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Alfred Noyes (1880–1958)

Lyrics

Thou whose deep ways are in the sea,
Whose foot­steps are not known,
Tonight a world that turned from Thee
Is wait­ing—at Thy throne.
The tow­er­ing Ba­bels that we raised
Where scoff­ing so­phists brawl,
The lit­tle An­ti­christs we praised—
The night is on them all.

The fool hath said…the fool hath said…
And we, who deemed him wise,
We, who be­lieved that Thou wast dead,
How should we seek Thine eyes?
How should we seek to Thee for pow­er,
Who scorned Thee yes­ter­day?
How should we kneel in this dread hour?
Lord, teach us how to pray.

Grant us the sin­gle heart once more
That mocks no sac­red thing,
The sword of truth our fa­thers wore
When Thou wast Lord and King.
Let dark­ness unto dark­ness tell
Our deep un­spok­en pray­er;
For, while our souls in dark­ness dwell
We know that Thou art there.