Recordings » The Servant’s Heart (2002)

Title: The Servant’s Heart: Songs of Devotion
Artist: Kathleen Deignan
Year: 2002

Musician(s): Evelyn Avoglia, Gina Sader-Rubenstein, Kathleen Deignan

Originally recorded in 1979 by Bill Hallam of the Rhyme Cellar, this new album recasts the purity and simplicity of that creative period in a vibrant setting of orchestral subtlety and richness by Paul Avgerinos of Studio Unicorn.

This album is marked by a stunning clarity seldom heard in contemporary recordings that are often technically over-worked. But here, in one chapel, with one microphone, in one take, Deignan’s one voice, in harmony with Evelyn Avoglia and percussionist Gina Sader-Rubenstein, conspires to create one simple, elegant psalter of devotion. This recording is dedicated to her mentor and muse, Carolyn Brown-Senier.

Over the decades during which these songs were written, our awareness has grown that customary God-language can come limit the faith and vision of believers. If this is the case with any of the words used to name or image God in songs, we encourage you to adapt them.

#	Track	Hear
01.	As the Doe Longs for Running Streams	♫
02.	Magnificat	♫
03.	My Shelter is with Him	♫
04.	YHWH Let Your Love Rest On Us	♫
05.	Little Magnificat	♫
06.	Bring Us to the Wedding Feast	♫
07.	YHWH Teach Me Your Way	♫
08.	Stay With Us Lord	♫
09.	Everlasting Sabbath	♫
10.	Song of the Suffering Servant	♫
11.	God Will Wipe Away Every Tear	♫
12.	I Believe I Shall See	♫
13.	I Must Grow Less	♫
14.	Song of the Ransomed	♫
15.	I Will Exult	♫
16.	Let Your Hearts Rejoice	♫
17.	The Servant’s Heart	♫

Magnificat, magnificat, anima mea dominum.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
And my spirit exults in God, my Savior.
He has looked upon his lowly handmaid
And from this day the earth shall call me blessed.

The Lord almighty has done great things for me
Alleluia! Holy is his name.
His mercy is from age to age
In search of those who seek his love.

Our God has shown the power of his arm
By confusing the proud in their own hearts.
He has pulled down the mighty from their thrones
And has lifted up the little ones.

He fills the hungry with every blessed thing
But the rich are sent away with empty hands.
He has come to the help of Israel
His servant on whom he has mercy.

He remembers the promise make to us
Through Abraham, a pledge of mercy.
All praise and honor be to our God
The Father, the Spirit, and the Word!

My shelter is with you
(Alleluia) Praise the Lord, our God.

You, the true God yourself, love justice and truth
Innocence will live to see you.

Seek the word of the Lord and savor God’s law
Happiness will be your bounty.

God, redeemer and rock, source of our strength
Give us the grace of your presence.

May the prayers of our heart and words that we say
Find you and win us a blessing.

May our children proclaim that God is the Lord
Faithful and loving forever for the sake of your name, forgive us, O God
So we may praise your great mercy.

You, the joy of our hearts, keep us alive
Blest be your name now and ever.

Praise Creator, Word and Spirit, Amen,
Now and forever and ever.

YHWH, let your love rest on us,
As our hope has rested on you
O Lord, hear our prayer.

The word of YHWH is integrity
All God does is done faithfully.

The Lord loves truth and justice
And with these God would fill the earth.

God witnesses all our doings
God is the molder of every heart.

YHWH has eyes for the lowly,
For the ones who need God’s love.

God keeps us alive in our famine
God rescues our souls from every death.

Give thanks to God on the lyre.
Sing now a new song for God’s praise.

My being proclaims the great myst’ry of the Lord;
My spirit finds joy in God my savior.

For you have looked on your handmaid’s lowliness;
Age after age shall call me blessed
You, mighty God, have done great things for me;
Holy is your name.

Your mercy lasts throughout the ages,
Given to those who revere you.
You have made known the power of your arm,
Confusing the proud in heir own hearts.

You have cast down the mighty from their thrones.
You have exalted the lowly.
You give the hungry ev’ry blessed thing;
The rich sent away with empty hands.

You have upheld your servant, Israel,
Forever mindful of your mercy,
The mercy promised to the ancients of our race
And their descendants forever.

Bring us to the wedding feast in your kingdom.
Let this meal prefigure now
The joy that is to come
Of the resurrection, Amen.

YHWH, teach me your way –
How to walk with you faithfully.
Make me single- hearted in loving your name.

Listen to my song, O my God, hear my prayer.
And keep my soul, I am your servant, Lord.

You alone, O God, do I praise all my life.
You are my joy. To you I lift my soul.

Merciful and kind, tender- hearted and loving too.
Give me your strength, so to deep praising you.

Stay with us, Lord for the day is done,
Alleluia, Alleluia; stay with us, Lord,
For the night is come, Maranatha.

Stay with us, Lord, in the death of night
And make us rise with the morning light.

And let us rest in your loving gaze
And we may wake unto your praise.

And in our dreams let us see your face
That we may behold you’re amazing grace.

And may the virgin mother’s son
Be the star of the new Zion.

All glory be unto the Lord,
The Father, the Spirit, and the Word.

We long for the everlasting Sabbath,
Holy day of the Lord, day of joy.

There will be no more weeping in God’s new world.
Ev’ry tear will be wiped from our eyes.

And God’s angels shall harvest in the treasure.
All the works of the just will endure.

And the saints who have labored for your gospel
Shall be dressed in the robes of the Lamb.

All the poor and the wretched of this earth
Shall be judgment on the ways of the world.

All the graces we treasure in our mem’ries
Are becoming the New World within.

All the beauty in life that we have treasure
Shall adorn the new Jerusalem/

There will be a new heaven and a new earth
Born from all the laboring of love.

All the blessings and gifts that God has given
Shall become the joy of eternity.

God will wipe away ev’ry tear from your eye,
There shall be no more pain
For the old word now is passing away,
And the new world is at hand.

We shall see the glory of the Lord
The splendor of our God,
Let the wilderness and thirsty land

Let the wilderness rejoice in hope
And burst forth into flower.
Let the gardens of the desert sing for joy.

See how your God now comes with power
With justice God comes to save
And stoops to gather up the broken-hearted.

Then shall blind eyes be opened
And the ears of the deaf shall hear
And the lame shall leap and dance like the deer.

The tongues of the dumb shall sing God’s praise
As the desert springs burst forty
And the rivers flow to quench the thirsty land.

Strengthen the feeble-hearted
Steady the ones who would fall
To the anxious say: be strong, have no fear.

I believe I shall see the goodness of the Lord
In God’s dwelling place in the land of the living,
And so I wait for God. Be strong my heart,
Yea wait for God.

The Lord is my light and my salvation,
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life,
Of whom shall I be afraid?

One thing have I asked of you, Lord
This only do I seek
That I may dwell in your presence
All the days of my life.

And you will hide me in your shelter
In the day of my distress
And I will offer gifts with shouts of joy
And sing for you.

One thing have I asked of you, Lord
This only do I seek
To see the beauty of you, Lord
Forevermore.

I must grow less; he must grow more.
I must grow less; he must grow more.

There is one who is coming so much greater than I;
I come only to prepare his holy way.

The kingdom, his kingdom is right at hand.
Turn around; turn your heart around
And follow him.

There he is, there he is,
The Lamb of God.
It is he who will save you
From your sins and fear.

Now he is come
So I must slip away
Leave me now, go to Him:
Go and follow him.

I know this is he
The one who is to come
For the dead now are rising
And the cripples dance.

Those whom YHWH has ransomed return
They come to Zion shouting for joy!
Hope and gladness go with them
Sorrow and weeping are over.

Praise God! Alleluia!
Savior of all humankind
The Lord is gathering a people.

Praise God! Alleluia!
Mountains and heavens exult!
The Lord consoles the afflicted.

Praise God! Alleluia!
Zion is singing again
Music sounds from her ruins.

Praise God! Alleluia!
We have been born of God’s love.
On his hands is carved our name.

Praise God! Alleluia!
On every roadway we graze
Each bare height is our pasture.

Praise God! Alleluia!
He brings us to springs of new life
The one who loves us is leading us.

Let your heart rejoice, you who search for the Lord,
Look to know his strength, seek to serve Him.

Sing to God, sing God’s praise,
Proclaim God’s wonderful deeds.

Glory in God’s name, rejoice,
O hearts that seek the Lord.

God is Lord; great is God
Whose judgments pervade all the earth.

God is faithful evermore
Whose covenant is meant for all time.

Praise the Lord; keep God’s word
Who leads forth all people in song.

Like a stream is the servant’s heart
In the hand of the Lord,
Wherever it pleases
God directs its way.

Happy the ones who are blameless
Who walk in the law of the Lord.
The way of your truth they have chosen
You guide them in all your commands.

You show us the paths of your wisdom
In these we find our delight.
To do what is right and just
Is better than sacrifice.

Detach us the way of your precepts
That they may be held in our memories
There to recall all your wondrous deeds
Now and forevermore.