What Does the Lord Require

What does the Lord require for praise and offering?

Author: Albert F. Bayly (1949)
Tune: SHARPTHORNE
ONE LICENSE: 05028
Published in 29 hymnals

Audio files: MIDI, Recording
Representative text cannot be shown for this hymn due to copyright.

Author: Albert F. Bayly

Albert F. Bayly was born on Sep­tem­ber 6, 1901, Bex­hill on Sea, Sus­sex, Eng­land. He received his ed­u­cat­ion at Lon­don Un­i­ver­si­ty (BA) and Mans­field Coll­ege, Ox­ford. Bayly was a Congregationalist (later United Reformed Church) minister from the late 1920s until his death in 1984. His life and ministry spanned the Depression of the 1930s, the Second World War, and the years of reconstruction which followed. Af­ter re­tir­ing in 1971, he moved to Spring­field, Chelms­ford, and was ac­tive in the local Unit­ed Re­formed Church. He wrote sev­er­al pageants on mis­sion themes, and li­bret­tos for can­ta­tas by W. L. Lloyd Web­ber. He died on Ju­ly 26, 1984 in Chiches­ter, Sus­sex, Eng­land. NN,… Go to person page >

Notes

Scripture References:
all st. = Micah 6:6-8

Early in 1949 Albert F. Bayly (b. Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, England, 1901; d. Chichester, England, 1984) wrote a hymn text based on Micah 6:6-8 as one of a series of seventeen hymns he was writing on the Old Testament prophets. His objective was to present the prophets "in the light of the climax and fulfillment of the Old Testament revelation in the coming of Christ." "What Does the Lord Require" asks questions and states commands as if Micah were a modern-day prophet. The refrain line "Do justly. . ." subtly shifts from the imperative voice in stanzas 1 through 4 to a corporate confession in stanza 5. The text was first published in Bayly's Rejoice, 0 People (1951) and is included in the Psalter Hymnal with minor alterations.

Bayly studied briefly at the Royal Dockyard School at Portsmouth to prepare himself for the shipbuilding industry. However, in 1925 he began studying for the ministry at Mansfield College, Oxford. He became a Congregationalist minister and served seven churches. Bayly wrote missionary pageants and numerous hymns, many of which used more contemporary language and concepts than had been customary in previous hymn writing. Because of the publication of his collection Again I Say Rejoice (1967), Bayly is often acknowledged as the pioneer of the revival of British hymn writing in the 1960s and 70s. His hymns were published in four collections: Rejoice, 0 People (1951), Again I Say Rejoice (1967), Rejoice Always (1971), and Rejoice in God (1978).

Liturgical Use:
As part of the service of confession in conjunction with sermons from Micah, Amos, Isaiah 1, or similar passages; as a hymn for social justice, especially for civic festivals or national-holiday celebrations; times of penitence and renewal such as Advent and Lent.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988

Tune

SHARPTHORNE

Erik Routley (PHH 31) composed SHARPTHORNE in 1968 to be published as a setting for Bayly's text in the British supplementary hymnal 100 Hymns for Today (1969). SHARPTHORNE is actually a revision of another Routley tune, TIES CROSS, which was the setting for Bayly's text in the 1951 Rejoice, O Peopl…

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Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 24 of 24)

Chalice Hymnal #659

Church Hymnal, Fifth Edition #498

Common Praise (1998) #171

Hymnal Supplement 1991 #811

Hymnal #409

Hymns Ancient and Modern, New Standard Edition #432

Moravian Book of Worship #695

Text InfoTune InfoAudio

Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #293

Rejoice in the Lord #176

RitualSong (2nd ed.) #859

RitualSong #785

Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal #571

The Book of Praise #710

The Covenant Hymnal #718

The Hymnal 1982 #605

The Presbyterian Hymnal #405

Audio

The United Methodist Hymnal #441

Audio

The United Methodist Hymnal #772

The Worshiping Church #571

Together in Song #618

Worship (3rd ed.) #624

Worship (4th ed.) #748

Worship and Rejoice #686

Worship Together #678

Include 5 pre-1979 instances
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