625. Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying

To view this media, please accept the license agreement:

Hope Publishing: one copy

In order to use resources from the Hope Publishing Company, you must reside in the United States or Canada. Hope Publishing Company owns or administers the contents in these territories.
You may download one copy of this selection for your own personal use. To make any further copies or to perform the work you must get permission from Hope Publishing Company or belong to and report the copying activity to CCLI, LicenSing or OneLicense.net. By selecting "I Agree" you are verifying that you reside in the U.S. or Canada and will only legally use this selection.

To view this media, please accept the license agreement:

Hope Publishing: one copy

In order to use resources from the Hope Publishing Company, you must reside in the United States or Canada. Hope Publishing Company owns or administers the contents in these territories.
You may download one copy of this selection for your own personal use. To make any further copies or to perform the work you must get permission from Hope Publishing Company or belong to and report the copying activity to CCLI, LicenSing or OneLicense.net. By selecting "I Agree" you are verifying that you reside in the U.S. or Canada and will only legally use this selection.

Text Information
First Line: Lord, listen to your children praying
Title: Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying
Author: Ken Medema (1970)
Meter: PM
Language: English
Publication Date: 1987
Topic: Doxologies; Love: God's Love to Us; Songs for Children: Hymns (3 more...)
Copyright: © 1971, Hope Publishing Co. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
ONE LICENSE: 00384
Tune Information
Name: CHILDREN PRAYING
Composer: Ken Medema (1970)
Meter: PM
Key: E♭ Major
Copyright: © 1971, Hope Publishing Co. All rights reserved. Used by permission.


Text Information:

Scripture References:
st. = Ps. 55: 1

Author-composer-performer Ken Medema (PHH 259) says the following about his writing of this prayer hymn:

"Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying" came out of my New Jersey years. One night [in 1970], I was with a youth group. We started talking about a young man who was in the hospital and who really needed our prayers. In the middle of our prayer time, the idea for this little chorus came to me. I started humming, then singing. Soon the kids were mumbling along with me. We sang that chorus, "Lord, listen to your children praying," several times over. Then I started adding verses, and the kids quickly joined me in singing the new words. So it was a song born out of our concern and prayer for a friend.
-Reformed Worship 9, Fall 1988, p. 4

The complete song was recorded on Medema's album Son Shiny Day (Word, 1973) and published in an accompanying songbook. As do other recent hymnals, the Psalter Hymnal includes only the chorus, not the various stanzas.

This chorus has become a popular sung prayer for the presence of the Holy Spirit, for the Father's love, and for the grace of Jesus Christ to direct our lives. The words "love," "power," and "grace" in the final line allude to the well-known New Testament benediction (see 2 Cor. 13:14).

Liturgical Use:
As a song that concludes a prayer (for example, a silent prayer) or that frames a time of prayer; prayer meetings; ordination and commissioning services; baptism; a choral invocation at the beginning of worship.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

CHILDREN PRAYING is easy to sing from memory, and that should be encouraged. Be sure to keep fairly strict rhythms on the whole and half notes-some congregations may be tempted to cut short the cadences; accompanists could help by improvising with additional rhythmic accompaniment on the longer notes.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook


Media
MIDI file: MIDI Preview
(Faith Alive Christian Resources)
More media are available on the text authority and tune authority pages.

Suggestions or corrections? Contact us