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You have selected: THE PRESENT TENSE (words by Fred Kaan) from the Ron Klusmeier Anthology. Subscribers may download arrangements using the links in the right hand column. Log in at left (first link beneath "The Catalogue") to activate the columns on the right.

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Lyrics and Author/Composer Comments are below.

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Lyrics:

Thank you, O god, for the time that is now,
for all the newness your minutes allow;
make us alert with your presence of mind
to fears and longings that move human kind.

Thank you, O God, for the time that is past,
for all the values and thoughts that will last.
May we all stagnant traditions ignore,
leaving behind things that matter no more.

Thank you for hopes of the day that will come,
for all the change that will happen in time;
God, for the future our spirits prepare,
hallow our doubts and redeem us from fear.

Make us afraid of the thoughts that delay,
faithful in all the affairs of today;
keep us, Creator, from playing it safe,
thank you that now is the time of our life!

Author / Composer Comments

• Author Fred Kaan, from his book The Only Earth We Know (Stainer & Bell / Hope Publishing Co., 1999, page 68): “Written in 1967-ish for the Plymouth Church in Plymouth [England], this hymn tries to spell out our priorities as far as our evaluation and use of time are concerned. One thing is for sure: tradition is dynamic rather than static; it means ‘remembering forward’. We cannot hand Christ back, so to speak. Handing Christ on — tradition! — is future orientated. Meanwhile, there is the here-and-now…”