Peace Perfect Peace (is the gift of Christ our Lord)

This is a short meditative song about peace. It can have additional verses (hope, faith, joy, love etc) added as required. The first line is sometimes quoted as "Peace, perfect peace, is the gift of Christ the Lord".

It was written by English Roman Catholic liturgical musician and publisher Kevin Mayhew (1942-2021). First published in the 20th Century Folk Hymnal Volume 1 in 1974, it has been included in many other collections since. The only known sources of sheet music are hymnals that it is in: these include Catholic Hymns Old and New, Kevin Mayhew Ltd, England 2009 (and likely all earlier editions), and Celebration Hymnal for Everyone, McCrimmon Publications England, 1994 and 2012 editions.

The text has meter 11.11.10.11.

The song is set to an un-named tune, also by Mayhew. This has a 4/4 time signature. In the key of A, the first few notes are C_ C E D _ D F E E D B, C with accompanying chords A / D / E / A.

It is not at all related to the hymn Peace Perfect Peace hymn by Edward Bickerseth (1875).

Downloads

Examples

Primary school choir - professional recording:

Virtual mix - piano with male and female vocals

Singer, with harp and flute accompaniment:

Peace Sunday video - virtual choir with electronic backing and band instruments:

Instrumental - piano, with on-screen lyrics:

Instrumental - pipe organ:

Lyrics

The lyrics are copyright so cannot be reproduced here. But they are currently available on this website. A rough outline is:

Peace, perfect peace, is the gift of Christ our Lord ...
... Thus, says the Lord, will the world know my friends ...

Hope, perfect hope ...

Joy, perfect joy ...