"Perverse and foolish oft I strayed..."

Michael Card singing one of my all-time favorite hymns, "The King of Love My Shepherd Is," is our Friday traditio this week. The tune to which Card sings this hymn was composed by St Columba, a sixth century Irish monk and missionary, who is credited with leading the mission that brought Christianity to Scotland. This is hymn is basically the twenty-third Psalm.

Card's 2006 album Starkindler: A Celtic Conversation Across Time, for which "The King of Love My Shepherd Is" was recorded, in the words one reviewer, was brilliant because instead of "writing an album's worth of original songs in a faux Celtic style, Card unearths the source material--ancient Irish texts and melodies, some stretching back to the fourth century. By doing so, he builds a bridge where the modern church can be reminded of and inspired by the faith of the Christian Celts."

...yet in love he sought me;
and on his shoulder gently laid,
and home, rejoicing, brought me