The earth is yours

The earth is yours.  Michael Saward* (1932-2015). Written in 1971 at Beckenham, Kent, one of no fewer than eight psalm paraphrases written in one evening, Christmas Eve, following the broadcast of the service of Nine Lessons and Carols* from King’s College, Cambridge. This is a harvest hymn based on Psalm 65: 9-13. It was published in Psalm Praise (1973), and subsequently in more than twenty books. It uses the Short Metre effectively and simply to give thanks for seed-time, growth, and harvest, with a third stanza devoted to hill-farming. Major books to include it are the Irish Presbyterian Hymnal (2004) and...