Love of God in Sunshine’s Blessing
A song for weddings and anniversaries
Music by Ron KlusmeierWords by Walter Farquharson
Tune Name: UNITY
Lyrics as Poetry
Love of God in sunshine’s blessing,
love of God in gentle rain,
Love of God in laughter’s ringing,
love of God in parting’s pain,
Love of God in lives united,
love of God in marriage true:
Bless our love for one another,
bless the love we offer you.Joy of God in children’s playing,
joy of God in love’s embrace,
Joy of God in flowers blooming,
joy of God in dancer’s grace,
Joy of God in lives united,
joy of God in marriage true:
Bless the joy we find together,
bless the joy we offer you.Peace of God in starlight shining,
peace of God in setting sun,
Peace of God in task’s fulfilling,
peace of God in race that’s won.
Peace of God in lives united,
peace of God in marriage true:
Bless the peace that gives us purpose,
bless the peace we offer you.Face of God in human fleshing,
face of God that wears our face;
Give us will to love each other,
give us joy and peace and grace.
Bless our lives in you united,
let us live a marriage true:
All our working, playing, loving,
offered song in praise to you.Bless our lives in you united,
let us live a marriage true:
All our working, playing, loving,
offered song in praise to you.
Words by
Walter FarquharsonCopyright © 1989 by Walter Farquharson
Administered by Hope Publishing Company
Carol Stream, Illinois • USA
Audio Sample
LOVE OF GOD IN SUNSHINE'S BLESSING
Verses 1 & 5
played on piano by Ron Klusmeier
Scripture References
- Genesis 1:1-2
- Genesis 1:3
- Ruth 1:16-17
- 1 Samuel 18:1-3
- John 13:34-35
- John 15:1-17
- John 15:8-17
- John 15:9-17
- John 15:12
- John 15:17
- John 19:25-27
- Romans 13:8-10
- Galatians 5:14
- Philippians 4:4-8
- 1 Peter 1:22
- 1 John 3:11
- 1 John 3:23
- 1 John 4:7
- 1 John 4:7-12
- 1 John 4:11-12
Season, Theme
or Subject
- Creation∶ gift of
- God∶ love of
- God∶ nature of
- Human Relationships
- Life∶ loving life
- Love∶ God's
- Love∶ human love
- Marriage
- Relationships∶ relationships with others
- Relationships∶ relationship with God
- Wedding
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Piano Versions
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Comments About Song
A Reflection by
WALTER FARQUHARSON
This song was written as a celebration of marriage. It also serves well as a hymn celebrating friendship. I wonder if any marriage can survive as a life-giving relationship if there is not, as an essential element in it, a true, abiding and strengthening friendship.
Imagine two lovers, two soul-mates, two friends seated close to each other in a place that has meaning for them. Imagine that they are of a mood to celebrate their love for each other, their friendship. They choose to do it in gently flowing speech or song. There is a light-heartedness about it, but also a depth, a touching of those places of intimacy that are a reciprocal giving and receiving. It is a moment of no judgment, no correction, no need to elaborate on what the other has offered.
We listen in as one person speaks, “Love of God in sunshine’s blessing”. Immediately, the other adds, “Love of God in gentle rain.” And they, our couple, create this song line by line. It is their special song that becomes ours.
The moment itself defines the gifts celebrated: Love. Joy. Peace.
The moment is not defined by exterior circumstances nor by intrusive voices from past or present. The moment will not be captured, nor does it need to be. It cannot be recreated by act of will or by command. Gift and grace blend in truest harmony.
This song is play. It is praise. It is prayer. It is laughed and cried. It is both a whispered holy secret and an engaging public proclamation for all the worlds to hear and join.
I invite you to look at how the whole hymn could be sung using only “Love of God”. It could be sung using only “Joy of God”. It could be sung using only “Peace of God”. According to John’s Gospel (especially chapters 13-17), these words are emphatically spoken by Jesus during his last evening with his closest followers.
They are not synonyms, but they are, all three, aspects of God and of life in God that are undeniably interwoven. When we separate these realities and ignore the interplay between them, love quickly becomes insipid and powerless, joy becomes some vapid sense of satisfaction with my lot at the moment, and peace becomes nothing more than the absence of overt conflict. Blended and dancing, love, joy and peace become invitation into a new way and place of being, acting, serving. They become our source of life and the foundation of our ethics and our ethos as believers.
So we come to see that the face of God is Love. It is Joy. It is Peace. We experience the gift, the loving and healing grace. They are separate, yet one. The Word becomes flesh and dwells among and within us. We experience the call to hear and see and welcome this love, this joy, this peace. Welcomed, it becomes our calling, our invitation, into the place and time where love, joy and peace are embodied in our being and made manifest in our working, playing, loving. We are blessed, and those blessed are enabled, in turn, to bless.
NOTE:
There is much in Walter’s reflection on
“Friends, Let Us Love Each Other”
which also applies to this title.