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No Obvious Angels

Author: Shirley Erena Murray Appears in 2 hymnals First Line: No obvious angels sing through the night skies

NEW WORLD CAROL

Meter: Irregular Appears in 2 hymnals Composer and/or Arranger: Carlton R. Young, 1926- Tune Key: D Major Incipit: 55434 32321 25543 Used With Text: No Obvious Angels

Instances

Published text-tune combinations (hymns) from specific hymnals

Author: Shirley Erena Murray, 1931- Hymnal: Worship and Rejoice #217 (2003) Meter: Irregular First Line: No obvious angels sing through the night skies Lyrics: 1 No obvious angels sing through the night skies, no thunderstruck shepherds tell out their surprise, for Christmas comes into the here and the now through star-sighted people, the watchful and hopeful, who wake us to see a new world. 2 Our angel potential is waiting to start! The Spirit will teach us the song of the heart, for Christmas comes into the here and the now through peace-maker people, the just and the gentle, the stars who will light the new world. 3 Whoever will take it is given the role: the fruitful, the faithful, the joyous of soul, for Christmas comes into the here and the now when we are the angels who dream and deliver, who rise and create this new world! Scripture: Matthew 6:10 Languages: English Tune Title: NEW WORLD CAROL

No Obvious Angels

Author: Shirley Erena Murray, 1931- Hymnal: Community of Christ Sings #418 (2013) First Line: No obvious angels sing through the night skies Topics: Christmas; Commission; Discipleship; Justice; Mission; New Life in Christ; Peacemaking; Responsibility; Service; Work Scripture: 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 Languages: English Tune Title: NEW WORLD CAROL

People

Authors, composers, editors, etc.

Shirley Erena Murray

1931 - 2020 Author of "No Obvious Angels" Shirley Erena Murray (b. Invercargill, New Zealand, 1931) studied music as an undergraduate but received a master’s degree (with honors) in classics and French from Otago University. Her upbringing was Methodist, but she became a Presbyterian when she married the Reverend John Stewart Murray, who was a moderator of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. Shirley began her career as a teacher of languages, but she became more active in Amnesty International, and for eight years she served the Labor Party Research Unit of Parliament. Her involvement in these organizations has enriched her writing of hymns, which address human rights, women’s concerns, justice, peace, the integrity of creation, and the unity of the church. Many of her hymns have been performed in CCA and WCC assemblies. In recognition for her service as a writer of hymns, the New Zealand government honored her as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit on the Queen’s birthday on 3 June 2001. Through Hope Publishing House, Murray has published three collections of her hymns: In Every Corner Sing (eighty-four hymns, 1992), Everyday in Your Spirit (forty-one hymns, 1996), and Faith Makes the Song (fifty hymns, 2002). The New Zealand Hymnbook Trust, for which she worked for a long time, has also published many of her texts (cf. back cover, Faith Makes the Song). In 2009, Otaga University conferred on her an honorary doctorate in literature for her contribution to the art of hymn writing. I-to Loh, Hymnal Companion to “Sound the Bamboo”: Asian Hymns in Their Cultural and Liturgical Context, p. 468, ©2011 GIA Publications, Inc., Chicago