Scripture Verse

I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. Revelation 1:11

Introduction

portrait
Richard W. Adams (1952–)

Words: Ri­chard W. Ad­ams, Ju­ly 1997.

The first known pub­lic per­for­mance of this hymn was at Unit­ed Me­tho­dist Church of the Ser­vant, Ov­er­land Park, Kan­sas, Feb­ru­ary 24, 2009.

ALWAYS AND EVER
© 1997–2011 Richard W. Adams
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Music: Bu­nes­san Gae­lic me­lo­dy (🔊 pdf nwc).

Origin of the Hymn

I wrote this hymn in Ju­ly 1997, at the YMCA of the Oz­arks, near Po­to­si, Mis­sou­ri, dur­ing a fa­mi­ly re­un­ion to ce­le­brate my par­ents’ 50th wed­ding an­ni­ver­sa­ry.

I had felt an urge to re­cord the theme of God’s eter­nal king­dom, but the words weren’t forth­com­ing. One morn­ing I woke at 5:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep (the on­ly day that I week I rose so ear­ly).

In the morn­ing si­lence, I prayed that if God want­ed this hymn writ­ten, He would give me the words. Fol­low­ing that pray­er, the lyr­ics gushed out, and the hymn was fin­ished in min­utes.

Afterward, I walked along the shore of Sun­nen Lake, mar­vel­ing at the beau­ty around me: a qui­et mist shroud­ing the wa­ter, the bright or­ange sun climb­ing ov­er green hills, Ca­na­da geese fly­ing low across the lake.

I mused about how long na­ture had been like this, com­pared to man’s short stay on earth. God’s per­spec­tive and time span are so much larg­er than ours, they are awe­some to con­tem­plate.

Lyrics

Always and ever, God reigns eter­nal,
Ceaseless, un­chang­ing, An­cient of Days.
From choirs be­low and an­gels su­per­nal
Alpha-Omega hears end­less praise.

In the be­gin­ning, ere the first star birth,
There was the Fa­ther, Spir­it and Son.
Maker, Cre­at­or, Hea­ven and earth
Sprang from His will—the plan was be­gun.

Down through the ag­es, sec­rets un­lock­ing,
To save a peo­ple fet­tered with sin,
He sent the Word. He’s ten­der­ly knock­ing:
Open your heart and let Him come in.

Always and ev­er, you can be with Him
In pa­ra­dise, there no more to grieve.
Praising for­ev­er, Sav­ior and So­ver­eign
Through end­less ag­es—on­ly be­lieve!

illustration
YMCA of the Ozarks
Potosi, Missouri

Dedication

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James Adams (1921–2012)

Dedicated to my parents, Jim & Betty Adams,
on their 50th wedding anniversary, September 20, 1997.
May they be together always and ever.

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Betty Adams (1922–2011)