"How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place"

The Park Street Church Sanctuary Choir, with the Park Street Strings and the Park Street Brass
September 20, 2009

How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place

Johannes Brahms
The German Requiem

How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts!
For my soul, it longeth, yea fainteth,
For the courts of the Lord.
My soul and body crieth out, yea for the living God.
How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts!
Blest are they that dwell within thy house,
They praise thy name evermore.
How lovely is thy dwelling place!

From Psalm 84

1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD Almighty!

2 My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.

3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.

4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
Selah

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools. [b]

7 They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.

8 Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty;
listen to me, O God of Jacob.
Selah

9 Look upon our shield, [c] O God;
look with favor on your anointed one.

10 Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.

12 O LORD Almighty,
blessed is the man who trusts in you.

Chuckle for the day

A wonderful exchange from the 1980s British sitcom "Yes, Prime Minister" (which followed "Yes, Minister." This features, Jim Hacker, current Prime Minister, and Bernard Woolley, his principal private secretary.

JH: Dorothy tells me that technically, Humphrey's supposed to phone you from the cabinet office before he comes through to number 10. Is that true?
BW: Well, perhaps, in theory but it's really just a formality.
JH: Good. Humphrey likes formality.
BW: Yes, Prime Minister. But as they say, it's a custom more honor'd in the breach than in the observance.
JH: Oh, really Bernard. Must you and Humphrey really always express yourself in this roundabout and pompous way? "More honor'd in the breach than the observance." Must always destroy the most beautiful language in the world, the language of Shakespeare.
BW: That is Shakespeare, Prime Minister.