Wedding Hymn

Because Adam and I are having a nuptial service instead of a Mass, we only get one hymn. For two people who love to sing, that's a bit of a disappointment. And a lot of pressure to pick just the right one.

We went through a long list of hymns. The "wedding hymns" in most hymnals are pretty spectacularly awful. We also wanted to be sure to choose a hymn which my Southern Baptist relatives would know. After two months of searching, I'd almost decided we should cut the hymn all together.

That's when I remembered a scene from one of my very favorite films, Little Women. Meg March marries on a bright spring day. The entire family walks around the happy couple, singing a hymn of thanks to God, "For the Beauty of the Earth:"

For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above,
Pleasures pure and undefiled,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For each perfect gift of thine,
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flowers of earth and buds of heaven,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For thy Church which evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

It hit me! What a perfect hymn! It perfectly summarizes our feelings of gratitude and love for one another and the God who made us for each other.

Of course, it's a bit long as it is. We'll almost certainly cut verse five. Which other one should we cut? The verse about human love is the least poetic sounding but, as my mother pointed out, fairly perfect for a wedding. What do you think?

Either way, I'm very excited about the idea of singing this song to God with Adam and with my family on our wedding day.




PS: The hymn only plays at the beginning o Don't watch the entire clip unless you like to cry.