As part of National Library Week April 6–12, Presbyterian pastor and hymn writer the Rev. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette published the hymn “What a Joy! We Love Our Reading” to the tune of “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”
In notes on her new hymn, Winfrey Gillette says that during the 1980s, it was forbidden in some places in Central America to read Mary’s Magnificat in public “because the powerful people feared that the people who were poor might actually believe Mary’s words.”
“Libraries are not just buildings filled with books — they are vibrant centers of life,” Winfrey Gillette wrote. “They serve as social hubs educational lifelines and safe havens.”
She quoted Jane L. Rosen’s essay “Why Libraries are So Important — and Life-Changing” in the book “The Library Made Me Do It: Writers Reflect on Their First Love”: “Walk into any library on any given day, and you’ll see it: life happening. Children gathered for story time, job seekers refining their résumés, teens collaborating on school projects, seniors learning new technology skills. Libraries provide free internet access, educational programs, and, perhaps most importantly, a place to simply be — without the expectation of spending money.”
What a Joy! We Love Our Reading
NETTLETON 8.7.8.7 D (“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”)
What a joy! We love our reading — books on health and history.
We love novels, science fiction and great works of poetry.
We read prayers and meditations; we read books for work and play.
God, we’re grateful for the reading we’re invited to each day.
On the Sabbath, Jesus worshiped, and he read there, from the scroll:
Your own Spirit was upon him to make wounded people whole.
Reading scripture from Isaiah, Jesus made his mission clear.
May we read your word, discerning what your call is for us here.
There are powers that would stop it: “Take those books right off the shelves!”
“Stop the power of education!” — stop our thinking for ourselves.
Yet the poor will keep on reading; they’ll find hope in Mary’s song:
“God will cast down all the mighty, and will lift the poor up, strong!”
Bless the writers and the dreamers and the people who can see:
There is truth out there for reading, and the truth will set us free.
Bless the teachers sharing stories; bless the bookstore workers, too.
Bless librarians and their vision as they share books, old and new.
Jesus taught us how to love you — using heart, soul, strength and mind.
May our reading be a blessing that we never leave behind.
May we let ourselves be challenged, may we read to understand,
may our reading be transforming for ourselves, our church, our land.
Biblical References: Luke 4:16–21; 1:46–55; John 8:32; Matthew 22:37–40
Tune: John Wyeth’s “Repository of Sacred Music,” 1813
Text: Copyright © 2025 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved.
Carolyn Winfrey Gillette is a pastor in rural New York state and author of more than 500 hymns that are sung widely throughout the United States and overseas. Her hymns are in more than two dozen books and thousands of websites, including her website that has all of her hymn texts.
Feature stories about her work on faith and life have been in The New Yorker, NPR, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer and other news outlets. She met her husband in a seminary library, lives one block from her community’s public library and loves to read to her grandchildren.
Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service, Interim Unified Agency (Click here to read original PNS Story)
Let us join in prayer for:
Lawrence Robertson, Administrative Assistant, Compassion, Peace & Justice, Interim Unified Agency
Monique Robinson, Manager, Central Receiving & Purchasing, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Let us pray:
Lord, teach us to break bread with our newest neighbors. Teach us to share with and receive from our neighbors. Teach us to be open to differences, to tolerate new behaviors and to meet you in the people you give to us. Amen.
