Hymns by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette
Gifts of love our Lord has given, Words of life: "I'm your God!
I have brought you out of Egypt; now I call.
Listen here, listen well:
When you live in gratitude you'll keep my law."
"Have no other gods before me, says the Lord God Most High.
Don't choose idols that you worship in God's place.
Know God's name, use it well.
Keep the Sabbath for it is God's gift of grace."
"Honor father, honor mother, and rejoice! God will bless you.
Take no life, for God loves every child on earth.
Celebrate gifts of love;
Take to heart what marriage promises are worth."
"Do not steal from one another, nor speak lies, hurting others;
Do not wish for what your neighbor has in greed."
Ten great Words, gifts from God,
Help us live in thanks for all we have received.
Ten Commandments and Ten Fingers: Notes for a Sermon for Children of All Ages: An easy way to teach and remember the Commandments
Hymn Use Permission: Gifts of Love: New Hymns for Today's Worship by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (Geneva Press, 2000) includes a permission note for those who own this book to use this hymn (along with the 44 other new hymns in the book) in their local church's worship services. People who do not own Gifts of Love are asked to contact Carolyn (bcgillette@comcast.net) for permission to use the hymn and to get a copy of the hymn formatted for worship bulletin use.
- The Ten Commandments, and an easy way to remember them and to teach them to children (and adults).
- Presbyterian Study Catechism (1998) on Ten Commandments: (PDF file) The Presbyterian Church (USA)'s contemporary (approved in 1998) interpretation of the Ten Commandments for today (Questions 89-119).
- A Christian Primer: The Prayer, the Creed, the Commandments by Albert Curry Winn is a very readable book filled with new insights in the pillars of the faith: The Lord's Prayer, The Apostles' Creed, and The Ten Commandments.
- The Ten Commandments for Today by Walter J. Harrelson: A gifted Old Testament professor offers this excellent, very readable overview of the Decalogue for people in the pews.
- The Ten Commandments: Laws of the Heart by Sister Joan Chittister: This influential activist and writer on spirituality offers wonderful reflections.
- Losing Moses on the Freeway: The 10 Commandments in America by Chris Hedges: "Why should all Americans — not just Christians and Jews — care about the Ten Commandments? Chris Hedges, a former foreign correspondent for the New York Times and Harvard Divinity School graduate, believes that the commandments keep us from committing evil. They hold our communities together. 'They lead us to love, the essence of life,' he writes" (copied from Amazon review).
- The Ten Commandments: Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church by Patrick D. Miller offers 400 pages of very readable insights by an outstanding Old Testament scholar.
- A Short Course on the Christian Faith, by Dale Bruner of Whitworth College, offers two twenty-minute lectures on the Decalogue with humor and theological insights. This DVD is part of a series that also looks at the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer and the sacraments.
- The Truth About God: The Ten Commandments in Christian Life by Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon: A top Christian ethicist and popular preacher combine their considerable gifts for another insightful book in the tradition of their influential Resident Aliens: Life in Christian Colony.
- The Ten Commandments from the Back Side by J. Ellsworth Kalas is a gifted preacher's unique perspectives on the Decalogue's continuing relevancy for today.
- Engraved on Your Heart: Living the Ten Commandments Day by Day by Bill Hybels, the pastor of influential Willow Creek Community Church. This ten-week devotional Bible study shows how to apply the commandments today.
- The Decalogue and a Human Future: The Meaning of the Commandments for Making & Keeping Human Life Human by Paul L. Lehmann: An influential ethicist's lectures on the Decalogue make for challenging reading.
Above all else love God alone;
Bow down to neither wood nor stone.
God's name refuse to take in vain;
The Sabbath rest with care maintain.
Respect your parents all your days;
Hold sacred human life always.
Be loyal to your chosen mate;
Steal nothing, neither small nor great.
Report, with truth, your neighbor's deed;
And rid your mind of selfish greed.
The Sum of the Commandments
With all your soul love God above,
And as yourself your neighbor love.
- Check out the rest of this web site for other wonderful hymns.
- Consider buying Carolyn's two books of hymns that give permission to use the book's hymns in a local church: Gifts of Love: New Hymns for Today's Worship by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (Geneva Press, 2000) and Songs of Grace: New Hymns for God and Neighbor by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (Upper Room Books, 2009)
- Share the hymn and her hymns web site with people in your church and other online friends in other churches.
- Check out A Dozen Ways to Support Carolyn's Hymn-writing (including hymn use permission).