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[Touch the earth lightly]

Appears in 2 hymnals Composer and/or Arranger: Tony Alonso (b. 1980) Tune Key: F Major Incipit: 32126 12165 12353 Used With Text: Touch the earth lightly

Author: Shirley Erena Murray (b. 1931) Appears in 23 hymnals Lyrics: 1 Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently, nourish the life of the world in our care: gift of great wonder, ours to surrender, trust for the children tomorrow will bear. 2 We who endanger, who create hunger, agents of death for all creatures that live, we who would foster clouds of disaster — God of our planet, forestall and forgive! 3 Let there be greening, birth from the burning, water that blesses and air that is sweet, health in God's garden, hope in God's children, regeneration that peace will complete. 4 God of all living, God of all loving, God of the seedling, the snow and the sun, teach us, deflect us, Christ reconnect us, using us gently, and making us one. Topics: Aid and development; Children; Children and All-Age Worship; Creation; Creation and the Environment; Environmental concern; Food and Hunger; Peace Scripture: Genesis 2:15 Used With Tune: [Touch the earth lightly]

Instances

Published text-tune combinations (hymns) from specific hymnals

Touch the Earth Lightly

Author: Shirley Erena Murray, b. 1931 Hymnal: Gather (3rd ed.) #805 (2011) Topics: Commitment; Creation; Ecology; Hope; Life; Peace; Repentance; Sin; Social Concern; Stewardship; Unity; World Scripture: Genesis 1:26 Languages: English Tune Title: [Touch the earth lightly]

Touch the earth lightly

Author: Shirley Erena Murray (b. 1931) Hymnal: Ancient and Modern #553b (2013) Lyrics: 1 Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently, nourish the life of the world in our care: gift of great wonder, ours to surrender, trust for the children tomorrow will bear. 2 We who endanger, who create hunger, agents of death for all creatures that live, we who would foster clouds of disaster — God of our planet, forestall and forgive! 3 Let there be greening, birth from the burning, water that blesses and air that is sweet, health in God's garden, hope in God's children, regeneration that peace will complete. 4 God of all living, God of all loving, God of the seedling, the snow and the sun, teach us, deflect us, Christ reconnect us, using us gently, and making us one. Topics: Aid and development; Children; Children and All-Age Worship; Creation; Creation and the Environment; Environmental concern; Food and Hunger; Peace Scripture: Genesis 2:15 Languages: English Tune Title: [Touch the earth lightly]

People

Authors, composers, editors, etc.

Shirley Erena Murray

1931 - 2020 Person Name: Shirley Erena Murray, b. 1931 Author of "Touch the Earth Lightly" in Gather (3rd ed.) 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

Tony Alonso

b. 1980 Person Name: Tony E. Alonso, b. 1980 Composer of "[Touch the earth lightly]" in Gather (3rd ed.) Tony Alonso has published several collections of liturgical music and his music appears in many hymnals throughout the world. He has an Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and a M.A. degree in theology from Loyola Marymount University.