Bigger Barns

Representative Text

“Bigger barns are what I need,”
so a rich man said one day.
“From my worries I’ll be free
when my wealth is stored away.”
“Fool!” God said, “Today you’ll die!”
Will that wealth mean anything?
All life’s blessings really lie
in the gifts that wealth can’t bring.

“Bigger barns are what we need
for our money, gadgets, more!”
Lord, we’re tempted to believe
having wealth, we’ll be secure!
Somewhere children cry for food
or to have a doctor’s care.
Can our bigger barns be good
when poor neighbors know despair?

God of love, we long to know
what will make us truly blest.
Jesus taught us long ago
wealth won’t give us peace or rest.
You are our security!
Safe in you, we serve, O Lord.
May we find we’re rich indeed
when we’re sharing with the poor.


Source: Songs of Grace: new hymns for God and neighbor #18

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Author: Carolyn Winfrey Gillette

Carolyn Winfrey Gillette has been a pastor in rural, small town, suburban, and city churches; she has also served as a hospice chaplain, a hospital chaplain, and a school bus aide helping children with special needs. She and her husband Bruce are pastors of the First Presbyterian Union Church in Owego, NY. Carolyn is a gifted hymn writer who has written over 400 hymns. These hymns have been sung by congregations throughout the United States and around the world — from the Washington National Cathedral to St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland to St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa to small town churches and small household congregations; they have also been sung at national church and international ecumenical meetin… Go to person page >

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Text Information

First Line: "Bigger barns are what I need," so a rich man said one day
Title: Bigger Barns
Original Language: English
Author: Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (2001)
Meter: 7.7.7.7 D
Language: English
Publication Date: 2001
Copyright: Copyright © 2001 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved
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Tune

ABERYSTWYTH (Parry)

Joseph Parry (b. Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, Wales, 1841; d. Penarth, Glamorganshire, 1903) was born into a poor but musical family. Although he showed musical gifts at an early age, he was sent to work in the puddling furnaces of a steel mill at the age of nine. His family immigrated to a Welsh…

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Songs of Grace #18

Songs of Grace #18
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