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On car drives, we have been enjoying singing hymns, belting them out with enthusiasm. Hymn 453 keeps coming up, partly because of its zippy tune, but also because of the line “mountains and seas, great rising trees,” which seems so appropriate for this trip. Here it is so you can share our enjoyment:

Hymn 453

Rise up and walk, take up your bed.
With these few words the sickness fled.
Stretch forth your hand. Receive your sight.
Jesus’ commands reveal God’s might.
You are God’s purpose, His great design.
Beautiful, blameless, His child divine.
Holding your thought to the good and the true,
Spirit will form you anew.

Chorus:

Rise up and walk!
God made you free,
born of His liberty.
Carefree and strong,
you are His song,
perfect for all to see.
Mountains and seas,
great rising trees,
echo the joyous song:
Heaven is here, harmony’s bliss
to everyone belongs.

Cleanse the lepers, heal the sick.
Cast out demons. Raise the dead.
Truth is revealed in every place,
throughout all time, throughout all space.
Right in this moment, doing God’s will,
“These works shall you do, and greater still.”
Standing triumphant upon holy ground,
songs of the angels resound…

(Chorus again)

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