Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#605

605. Creating God, Your Fingers Trace

Text Information

• First Line: Creating God, your fingers trace
• Title: Creating God, Your Fingers Trace
• Author: Jerffrey W. Rowthorn (1979, alt.)
• Meter: LM
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Scripture:
  Psalm 147
• Topic: Sickness & Health; Society/Social Concerns; Creation; Providence; Redemption; Stewardship; Trinity
• Copyright: © 1979, The Hymn Society of America. Used by permission
• ONE LICENSE: 11263

Tune Information

• Name: KILLBEGS
• Composer: William Davies (1975)
• Meter: LM
• Key: G Major
• Copyright: © William Davies

Text Information:

Scripture References:
st. 1 = Ps. 147:4-5, Col. 1:16
st. 2 = Ps. 147:8

Jeffery W. Rowthorn (PHH 523) wrote this text based on Psalm 148 in 1974, the year he first started writing hymn texts. One of two winners in the Hymn Society of America's contest for "New Psalms for Today," the text was published in The Hymn of April 1979.

In Psalm 148 both heavenly and earthly creatures bring praise to God (see additional comments at PHH 148). Rowthorn uses the psalm as the backdrop for a text that is not so much a paraphrase in the traditional sense of that term but a new text that affirms four great tenets of the Christian faith: the God we worship created the entire cosmos (st. 1), sustains the ecology of life (st. 2), redeems his people from oppression and death (st. 3), and dwells by his Spirit in his people, the church (st. 4).

Liturgical Use:
The beginning of each stanza contains the themes of this text: creation, providence, redemption, and incarnation; in the light of these, the hymn has many possible uses in Christian worship.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

William Davies (PHH 372) composed KILLIBEGS for use in the British supplement Praise for Today (1975). Davies served on the compilation committee of that hymn book. The tune is named after a fishing village in Donegal, Northern Ireland, where Davies vacationed while he was conductor of the BBC orchestra in Northern Ireland.

This fine modern tune is intended for unison singing. Its singable phrases are supported by a chordal accompaniment that emphasizes the duple meter. Let your voices soar on this melody. Use brilliant reeds on the organ.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook