Kolędy

So here’s a question for you as Advent gallops towards us: why do so few of Poland’s rich treasury of Christmas carols (Kolędy in Polish) find a place in English-language hymnals. Even most American Catholic hymnals have very little from this tradition, and it’s rare in Protestant hymnals to find anything at all except “Infant holy, Infant lowly” (W żłobie leży). Today at Fremont Baptist we practiced about ten of these, looking for two or three to use during Advent. The one that utterly captivated me was Śliczna Panienka, the Carol of the Hay, with the line (in the English version we sang) “You are the cradle / For the Son of Mary”; I’m not convinced that the Polish text quite supports this reading, but I love it. (“You” here addresses the hay on which Mary lays Jesus.) I think if we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, there is no good reason why we cannot also be the hay of the stable….

Shepherd Hymn-Sing Summary

Attendance was light, but all the participants gave it glowing reviews. We did the full program except for the last two shepherd hymns, which we simply skipped as we were running out of voice and steam. We took in $172 for SHARE/WHEEL Tent Cities, which is not nearly as much as last year’s Godspell which netted the charity over $800, but on the other hand the costs were much lighter, too, and the per capita donation quite a bit higher.

Unfortunately I didn’t keep track of all the “Your Choice!” hymns people requested, but I know they included “How firm a foundation”, “Onward, Christian soldiers” and “Pass It On”, and even though Dale and Jean Heidal were absent due to flu-like illness, we sang “Children of the heavenly Father”.

I think there was general consensus that MATERNA is not likely to be displaced by Hamilton’s tune for “America the Beautiful”, and that “The Kings of the East” are not likely to give “We Three Kings” any serious competition as popular kings carols.

We’re going to do another one in April, this time focusing on the hymns of Fanny Crosby. And we have decided to do a Carol-Sing December 6th in lieu of our customary “Sounds of the Season” concert.

My apologies for the delay in getting this posted.

Evergreen Hymn-Sing #2 Info (Oct 18)

The flyer has been mailed! The hymn-sing approacheth! If you’re a hymn-lover and are in the Seattle area, by all means drop by Fremont Baptist the afternoon (starting 2:30 p.m.) of Sunday, October 18, for our hymn-sing, “We’ll Sing of the Shepherd That Died“.

Lyngham

Sherry at Semicolonblog.com wrote, “I don’t know about a thousand tongues, but it looks if these lyrics are working toward a thousand tunes, or maybe just eighteen to match the number of verses. This organ version from youtube is LYNGHAM, but I need to hear it sung because I can’t fit the words to the music as played here.” Here’s a visual aid, Sherry:

O for a Thousand Tongues, set to LYNGHAM

Addison’s 23rd in Sgaw Karen and English

…first stanza in each language set to Haydn’s CREATION:

Karen-English Addison's 23rd

Psalm 23 / Good Shepherd hymn sing

Here’re the text of the flyer about our October hymn sing that I’ve just worked up; it’s still not set in stone, but probably getting close:

A hymn-sing for all hymn-lovers

We’ll sing of
the Shepherd
that died…

A Celebration of our Lord,
     the Good Shepherd,
          in Congregational Song…

…and wishing a happy 150th birthday to Carl Gustaf Boberg and Katharine Lee Bates!

Evergreen Hymn-Sing #2

presented by
Leland Bryant Ross
and
Verne Munro Eke

Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009 2:30 pm
at Fremont Baptist Church
717 North 36th Street
Seattle, WA 98103

For all who love to praise the Lord in hymns, psalms and spiritual songs

A freewill offering will be taken to support SHARE/WHEEL Tent Cities through the
Evergreen Association of American Baptist Churches

Visit http://fremontbaptistchurch.org/evergreensings/hymnsing/ for more information
Join us at Fremont Baptist Church for an afternoon hymn-sing
focusing on biblical imagery from texts such as Psalm 23
(“The LORD is my shepherd”) and John 10:11 (“I AM the Good Shepherd”).

In between Shepherd hymns, participants will have the opportunity to call for hymns of their choice from Fremont Baptist’s pew hymnal,
The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration.
So if you are longing to sing, say, “I’ll Fly Away”, or “Silent Night”, or “Onward, Christian Soldiers”, or … the complete list may be consulted at
http://wordmusic.com/products/book.cfm?UPC=080689300073
… here’s your chance!

This will be an opportunity to sing old favorites and to learn some good ones that you probably haven’t sung before. The program will also feature a couple of songs by Katharine Lee Bates (who wrote “America the Beautiful”) and Carl Gustaf Boberg (who wrote the Swedish poem that our hymn “How Great Thou Art” is based on), both of whom celebrate sesquicentennial birthdays this year.

The list of songs for the “Shepherd” portion of the program (subject to change as we develop the material!) tentatively consists of:

My shepherd will supply my need (RESIGNATION)
Jesus, shepherd of our souls (Fred Kaan)
The Lord my shepherd guards me well (Daw – BROTHER JAMES’ AIR)
Shepherd of our hearts (Montgomery/Chepponis)
Shepherd, show me how to go (Eddy – LLANFAIR)
The King of love my shepherd is (ST COLUMBA)
Malotte’s 23rd
Since God is my shepherd (Hudson, alt. – HIS YOKE IS EASY)
The Lord is my shepherd, my guard and my guide (CORNISH CANON)
The Lord is my shepherd no want shall I know (Montgomery – GOSHEN)
Who taught the snow to melt in Springtime? (Kirkpatrick – MANITO)
The Lord’s my Shepherd (Huber – DOMINUS REGIT ME)
Bwana Mungu ni Mchunga wangu (The Lord is my shepherd, the living God)
The Lord my God my shepherd is (Tucker – CRIMOND)
There were ninety and nine that safely lay (Clephane – THE NINETY AND NINE)
We’ll sing of the shepherd that died (Kelly – EBENEZER [Celeste])

Feel free to email the hymn-sing organizer, Leland Bryant Ross, leland@fremontbaptistchurch.org, to suggest others. The following songs are intentionally omitted from the program because they are in the church’s hymnal, so participants can call for them if they wish: A pilgrim was I and a-wandering; All the way my Savior leads me; Because the Lord is my Shepherd (NEW 23RD); Gentle Shepherd; He leadeth me!; In shady green pastures (“God Leads Us Along”); Savior, like a Shepherd lead us; Shepherd of love; The King of love my Shepherd is (to DOMINUS REGIT ME); The Lord’s my Shepherd (to CRIMOND)

Piano and organ accompaniments will be provided by Verne Munro Eke, the church’s organist/pianist

Light refreshments will be served – An offering will be taken for SHARE/WHEEL Tent Cities

And now in memory of my mother-in-law Grace, who went to her Savior this morning

A transcription of the song I linked to an MP3 of for Chuck Turner a few weeks ago: I Bid You Good Night as sung by Tom Rawson et al.:

Lay down my dear brother, lay down and take your rest
Lay your head upon the Savior’s breast
I love you, ah, but Jesus loves you the best
And I bid you good night, (good night,) good night,
(good night,) good night
And I bid you good night, (good night,) good night,
(good night,) good night

Lay down my dear sister, lay down and take your rest
Lay your head upon the Savior’s breast
I love you, ah, but Jesus loves you the best
And I bid you good night, (good night,) good night,
(good night,) good night
And I bid you good night, (good night,) good night,
(good night,) good night

One of these days bright and early in the sun (And I bid you)
Good night, good night, (good night)
I go walkin’ in Jerusalem just like John (And I bid you)
Good night, good night, (good night)
His rod and his staff gonna comfort me (And I bid you)
Good night, good night, (good night)
Goodness and mercy gonna follow me home (And I bid you)
Good night, good night, (good night)
I remember bright well remember right well (And I bid you)
Good night, good night, (good night)
go walkin’ in the valley of the shadow of death (And I bid you)
Good night, good night, (good night)
I go walkin’ in Jerusalem one more time (And I bid you)
Good night, good night, (good night)

Lay down my dear brother, lay down and take your rest
Lay your head upon the Savior’s breast
I love you, ah, but Jesus loves you the best
And I bid you good night, (good night,) good night,
(good night,) good night
And I bid you good night, (good night,) good night,
(good night,) good night
And I bid you good night, (good night,) good night,
(good night,) good night

God of Creation

One year ago, a good inclusive rewrite of “God of our fathers, whose almighty hand”, with some interesting comments, at

Conjubilant With Song

Celebrating Grace – The Hymns 1-10/11

The editorial team that is putting together the new Baptist hymnal Celebrating Grace, scheduled to be published in early 2010 by Mercer University Press, has just released its list of hymns slated for inclusion in the new hymnal. Here are the first ten (eleven by this count, because I’m treating “All hail the power of Jesus’ name” as one hymn despite its being set to two tunes, but the HTML won’t accommodate me):

1. A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
2. A Mighty Rushing Wind
3. Abide with Me
4. Agnus Dei
5. Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed
6. Alleluia, Praise the Lord
7. All Creatures of Our God and King
8. All Glory Be to God on High
9. All Glory, Laud, and Honor
10. All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (CORONATION)
11. All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (DIADEM)

No. 1 is a no-brainer; I presume that the text will be the Hedge translation, four stanzas. If I were doing it I’d give the first stanza in German as well, but that’s me.

No. 2 is unknown to me. I’m guessing this is the one for sale here, but that is baseless speculation. It could be a new hymn, previously unreleased.

No. 3: I assume the tune is EVENTIDE; four or five stanzas, relatively unretouched.

No. 4: Is this the same one (© 1990 by Sony of all things) that is in the 2008 Baptist Hymnal? Or a real Agnus Dei setting? Or what?

No. 5: Since “At the Cross” is listed separately, I’m guessing this refers to a setting to MARTYRDOM (AVON), perhaps five stanzas?

No. 6: ?? (out of alphabetical order, too…

No. 7: How many stanzas? Gentle Death?

No. 8: Four stanzas to ALLEIN GOTT? Not a foregone conclusion that this would be in a Baptist hymnal.

No. 9: Three stanzas, or five stanzas with a refrain? I’d prefer the latter, but the former is certainly the rule in Baptist hymnals.

No. 10/11: Probably just four stanzas of each of these, but I could do with six. A bit modernized? We’ll see.

Overall it looks like a solid selection of hymns. The vast majority of the “must haves” seem to be there (though the omission of “Great is Thy faithfulness” and “Rock of ages, cleft for me” was unforeseen). Not a whole lot of non-American stuff, and no indication if anything is not in English.

The hymns that are in nine or ten of our Evergreen Baptist churches’ hymnals that are missing here are:

• Be not dismayed whate’er betide
• Great is thy faithfulness
• I am weak but thou art strong
• I can hear my Savior calling
• I must tell Jesus all of my trials
• Jesus is tenderly calling you home
• King of my life I crown thee now
• More about Jesus would I know
• Nearer, my God, to thee
• Rock of ages, cleft for me
• Savior, thy dying love
• Take the name of Jesus with you
• There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place
• There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus

Hopefully in a few days I will tackle a few more. Looking eagerly forward to seeing the finished product.

Leland

For Chuck Turner

In memory of Cousin Chuck, here are two items:

Crossing the Bar (because it’s in the 1916 Episcopal Hymnal, and Chuck’s last gift to me before his passing was his mother’s copy of that hymnal)
and
Tom Rawson’s version of the Grateful Dead’s take on the folk processed Jamaican revision of the Sankey hymn “Christian’s Good-Night”