Monday, October 1, 2012

Hymn Study - For the Beauty of the Earth

October has arrived, and with it a new hymn for us to enjoy. This month the Ambleside Online hymn rotation has us listening to For the Beauty of the Earth. For once, I have actually heard this hymn before - well, at least part of it. The 1994 movie version of Little Women - which I dearly love - uses the refrain during Meg's wedding scene.

"Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise"


As usual, we turned to YouTube for a free version of the hymn to listen to. I was going to choose a traditional choir performance, but then I found this arrangement by BarlowGirl. These girls are incredibly talented. Even better, this is one of the few videos that shows the lyrics onscreen, which is always nice when you are trying to learn the words.
 

For those of you who like having a copy of the lyrics in hand, you can download a song sheet to print out. My youngest daughter likes me to sing hymns to her before bed, so it is nice to have a physical copy instead of being tied to the computer. This time I did not highlight any of the verses, so you can use the song sheet with any version of the hymn you like. (I also included the YouTube link at the bottom, in case you want to check out the video we are watching.)


This is a lovely hymn, and I am so glad we get to listen to it all month. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Happy listening!