I concluded my last Sunday sermon at Christ Church Cranbrook today with the text of a hymn by eighteenth century hymn writer Isaac Watts. In the hymn Christ Hath a Garden, Watts compares the Church to a fruitful garden. I had shared this text with our Vestry during the service in which they elected the new rector, The Rev'd Dr. William Danaher.
Later in the service, our soloist Brian Leduc sang the hymn.
Christ hath a garden walled around,
A Paradise of fruitful ground,
Chosen by love and fenced by grace
From out the world's wide wilderness.
Like trees of spice his servants stand,
There planted by his mighty hand;
By Eden's gracious streams, that flow
To feed their beauty where they grow.
Awake, O wind of heav'n and bear
Their sweetest perfume through the air:
Stir up, O south, the boughs that bloom,
Till the beloved Master come:
That he may come, and linger yet
Among the trees that he hath set;
That he may evermore be seen
To walk amid the springing green.
Words: Isaac Watts
Music: O Waly, Waly (arr. Gerald Near and interpreted by Brian Leduc)
Christ Hath a Garden – Brian Leduc