Faith of our Fathers

Father's Day 2016

Today in worship we sang this song:

1. Faith of our fathers, living still,
   In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword;
   Oh, how our hearts beat high with joy
   Whene’er we hear that glorious Word!
   • Refrain:
     Faith of our fathers, holy faith!
     We will be true to thee till death.
2. Our fathers, chained in prisons dark,
   Were still in heart and conscience free;
   How sweet would be their children’s fate,
   If they, like them, could die for thee!
3. Faith of our fathers, we will strive
   To win all nations unto thee;
   And through the truth that comes from God,
   We all shall then be truly free.
4. Faith of our fathers, we will love
   Both friend and foe in all our strife;
   And preach thee, too, as love knows how
   By kindly words and virtuous life.

   
   

   A bit of the history:

   Faith of our Fathers is an English Catholic hymn, written in 1849

    by Frederick William Faber in memory of the Catholic martyrs

    from the time of the establishment of the Church of England by Henry VIII.

   Faber wrote two versions of the hymn: with seven stanzas for Ireland 

   and with four for England. The Irish version was sung at hurling matches until the 1960s.

   In England and Ireland it is usually sung to the traditional tune Sawston; 

   in the U.S. the tune St Catherine by Henri Hemy is more commonly used.

   
   

   I would believe that for just about all of us-- 

   the dungeon part went right past us.

   We weren't thinking about

    martyrs of the faith.

   We were singing in a sanctuary  

   without thinking about the freedom

    of gathering and

   professing our faith.

   And on this Father's Day 

   in the United States-

    I give thanks for the faith of my father,

   and for the faith of his father.

    I give thanks for the faith of the

   father of our three daughters.

   My husband- John,

   who by God's rich grace

    lives out the faith of his father,

    and his grandfather.

   And by this gift of grace,

    this earthly father 

   may have the blessing of

   sharing stories of faith 

   and the love of the heavenly Father

   with three sons-in-law and

    these three young grandsons.

   

   Griffin

   

   Levi

   

   Jackson

   

   So that faith of our fathers

   is not just some passing phrase of a song-

   that it might be the very essence of

   EVERYTHING.