Lord, Show Me How to Count My Days

Hymn Information

First Line: Lord, show me how to count my days
Author: Martin Leckebusch
Tune Name: RYBURN
Composer: Norman Cocker, 1889-1953
Arranger: Alfred Fedak, b. 1963
Topic: Lament: Individual · Time

Copyright Information

Text Copyright

Tune Copyright

Reprint/Projection Information

Words: Permitted with a license from CCLI.com or from OneLicense.net. If you do not own one of these licenses, please contact the copyright holder for permission.
Music: Permitted with a license from CCLI.com or from OneLicense.net. If you do not own one of these licenses, please contact the copyright holder for permission.

Scripture References

Psalm 39
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Psalm 90:4-10
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Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
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Luke 12:18-21
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James 4:13-17

Confessions and Statements of Faith References

Further Reflections on Confessions and Statements of Faith References

In the passage of time, the child of God lives with expectancy—for God to renew them and for God to lead them in obedience (Our Song of Hope, stanza 9).

Even though time passes and years end swiftly, God is eternally faithful. And so God’s children testify using the words of Our World Belongs to God, paragraph 1: “As followers of Jesus Christ, living in this world—which some seek to control, and others view with despair—we declare with joy and trust: Our world belongs to God!”

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Lord, Show Me How to Count My Days

Additional Prayers

O God, heavenly Father,
help us to remember that we are aliens and strangers in this world.
Do not let us be distracted by the fleeting amusements around us,
but enable us, by the power and presence of your Spirit, to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus
and our hearts set on our eternal home. Amen.

— Psalms for All Seasons (http://www.psalmsforallseasons.org)

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Lord, Show Me How to Count My Days

Tune Information

Name: RYBURN
Key: D Major
Meter: 8.8.8.8.8.8

Recordings

Psalms for All Seasons

402

Lord, Show Me How to Count My Days

Hymn Story/Background

Martin Leckebusch (b. Leicester, England, 1962) was educated at Oriel College before going on to study Mathematics at Oxford and Numerical Analysis at Brunel University. He and his wife, Jane, have four daughters; their second child, a son, died in 1995. The family live in Gloucester and belong to a Baptist church.

Martin’s work in hymnody over the past twenty-five years has resulted in almost 400 hymn texts, of which around half have so far been published by Kevin Mayhew. These include the ever-popular More than Words and Songs of God’s People – books which have cemented his status as a talented and accomplished hymn writer.

Martin is keen to see the church equipped for Christian living, and believes that well-crafted and wisely-used contemporary hymns and songs have a vital role to play in that process.

— Kevin Mayhew Publishing (http://www.kevinmayhew.com/)

Composer Information

Norman Cocker (b. Yorkshire, England, 1889; d. 1953) was born in Yorkshire and went on to become a chorister at Magdelene College, Oxford. He progressed to the Organ Scholarship at Merton College, Oxford but never completed his degree. He was appointed Assistant Organist at Manchester Cathedral in 1920 and later held appointments in various churches and cinemas in the city.

— Naxos Bio (http://www.naxos.com/person/Norman_Cocker/27122.htm)

Alfred Fedak (b. 1953), is a well-known organist, composer, and Minister of Music at Westminster Presbyterian Church on Capitol Hill in Albany, New York. He graduated from Hope College in 1975 with degrees in organ performance and music history. He obtained a Master’s degree in organ performance from Montclair State University, and has also studied at Westminster Choir College, Eastman School of Music, the Institute for European Studies in Vienna, and at the first Cambridge Choral Studies Seminar at Clare College, Cambridge.

As a composer, he has over 200 choral and organ works in print, and has three published anthologies of his work (Selah Publishing). In 1995, he was named a Visiting Fellow in Church Music at Episcopal Seminary of the Soutwest in Austin, Texas. He is also a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists, and was awarded the AGO’s prestigious S. Lewis Elmer Award. Fedak is a Life Member of the Hymn Society, and writes for The American Organist, The Hymn, Reformed Worship, and Music and Worship. He was a member of the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song that prepared Glory to God, the 2013 hymnal of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

— Selah Publishing Co. (http://www.selahpub.com/)