Not My Favourite Hymn

Not too long ago I posted about one of my favourite hymns. On Sunday the choir sang a hymn for the anthem. This is not our usual practice, but it was necessary as I had cancelled choir rehearsal due to a late spring blizzard (the driving was treacherous!) and the anthem we had been working was not far enough along to sing. When I choose a hymn for the choir to sing on days like that, I try to find one that is not well-known to the congregation and that was indeed the case. It was a hymn that I knew well and one that I'm not particularly fond of. Two things happened: 1) God spoke to me about my role as leader. 2) The whole situation made me reflect on why it is a hymn I don't enjoy.

About the first - as a leader, it would be easy to always/only choose music which I enjoy. God reminded me that, even though I don't particularly like a certain hymn/song, it may very well speak to someone else in the congregation. There are times when I must set aside personal bias in favour of the whole community. All of that led me to reflect on why I don't really like that hymn. It came down to association with a certain time and place. My dislike has nothing to do with the text itself.

My guess is that the same would hold true for others too. I've heard people say, and likely you have too, "I can't stand that song!" Do they take theological issue with the words? Or is it, as it was with me, that they associate that song with something long past which brings back memories? God gently reminded me that each of us is unique. What speaks to me may not speak to you. We have different tastes and preferences yet we can worship God together.

Lead me, Lord

For a few weeks now, Christians have been journeying through Lent. This season of reflection and penitence mirrors 2 Biblical events - the wandering of God's people through the wilderness (40 years) and Christ's 40 day fast in the wilderness. In the first example, God's leading is obvious in hindsight. The people had the cloud by day and the fire by night to show them where to go. I'm guessing I would have been among the complainers had I actually been there, wandering around for 40 years! In the second example, Christ shows us the importance of scripture in our battles with temptation. We can rely on God's word to give us the guidance we need to persevere in our Christian walk.

The anthem the choir sang last Sunday has been running through my thoughts all week, and has become a prayer for me. Part of the piece is by Samuel S. Wesley (1810-1876) and I quote it for you here:

Lead me, Lord, lead me in your righteousness;
Make your way plain before my face,
For it is you, and you, God only,
Who makes me to dwell in safety.

Words based on Psalm 4:8 and Psalm 5:8

O Love, Light, Joy, Cross...

Occasionally I am asked, "What is your favourite hymn?" My response is usually which ever one is running through my head at that moment because I have so many favourites. "O Love that wilt not let me go" is definitely one of them. I think it is an appropriate hymn for Lent; the words make me reflect on my own commitment to God, and rejoice in the nature of God's unfailing love and redemption.


O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depths its flow
may richer, fuller be.

O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
my heart restores its borrowed ray,
that in thy sunshine's blaze, its day
may brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
and feel the promise is not vain
that morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life's glory dead,
and from the ground there blossoms red,
life that shall endless be.

This hymn was written by George Matheson (1842-1906), a Scots preacher, scholar and writer. He was born with poor vision which gradually deteriorated, leaving him blind by the time he was 20. Matheson never married, but with the help of one of his sisters, completed his education at the University of Glasgow, entered the ministry, wrote books, and lectured. He wrote of how this hymn came to be: "I am quite sure that the whole work was com­plet­ed in five min­utes, and equal­ly sure that it ne­ver re­ceived at my hands any re­touch­ing or cor­rect­ion. I have no na­tur­al gift of rhy­thm. All the other vers­es I have ever writ­ten are man­u­fact­ured ar­ti­cles; this came like a day­spring from on high." George Matheson - Wikipedia

To my knowledge, these words are always sung to the tune ST. MARGARET by Albert Lister Peace. Someday, I'd like to post about the life of St. Margaret, as I always think of her story when hearing this hymn.

Memories...

When it comes to hymns and researching them, or looking up an old tune, it doesn't take much to distract me! This morning, against my better judgment, I decided to page through this old hymnal to look for tunes written by Phoebe Palmer Knapp. (I say 'against my better judgment' because I really do have lots to do today.) I read this interesting post yesterday and it started me thinking; this old hymnal might be a place to search. "Glorious Gospel Hymns" was copyright/printed in 1931 by the Nazarene Publishing House. My earliest memories do not include singing from this book, but from the one I think followed it. It had the same colour cover - what I call 'hymnal maroon' - with a gold print title on the cover. Was it "Praise and Worship"?


It struck me once again as I leafed through this old book how very powerful music is. I have seen a man with severe Alzheimers sing every word along with an old song, although he probably could not have told me where he lived. The melodies and words stick in our heads, and maybe our hearts too, and come back to us at a moment's notice. The hymn on the right is one of many I came across which brought back memories. Now, sentimental as that is, there is more to it than that. The words speak to our faith: "He saw me ruined in the fall, yet loved me, notwithstanding all." "He safely leads my soul along, His loving-kindness, O how strong!" Words that reinforce our faith or help us articulate what we believe are a valuable expressive tool for believers.

What are you giving up for Lent?

We are now in the season of the church year known as Lent. I find this the most difficult season to understand and it occurred to me yesterday that that is the reason why I have not been eager to post. What to say? How does Lent translate into my life, or the musical life of the church?

There is one more or less obvious answer, musically speaking, to the question which is the title of this post. When we hear, "What are you giving up for Lent?" often the response is something like: sugar, chocolate, coffee, etc. As a church musician, my response is, "I'm giving up Alleluias for Lent." The word 'alleluia' (from Greek) or 'hallelujah' (from Hebrew) literally means 'praise Yahweh'. Some say that the angels in heaven use alleluia as their refrain of praise around God's throne. Maybe a reader can think of scripture that backs this up. In a way, it's the ultimate word of praise and as such is considered inappropriate during Lent, a season of reflection and penitence.

I think there are other good reasons to refrain from singing alleluia for a few weeks. It is good spiritual discipline. Denial is part of our Christian walk. When we 'do without' for awhile, we appreciate all the more when Easter morning comes, and we can again sing out with great joy, "Christ the Lord is risen today! Alleluia!"

Hymns in Literature

I was choosing hymns for today's worship a few days ago and came across "Come, ye disconsolate" in the Lent section of The Book of Praise. I knew and sang this hymn as a child and I enjoy the old words and expressions it contains. The words "disconsolate" and "languish" are not exactly part of everyday speech in 2009, but they carry a weight of expression that other words do not. Another old term is "mercy seat" referring to the "altar" as a place to kneel in prayer.

Whenever I see, hear or sing this hymn I think of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. In the story, Amy and Laurie have just returned from Europe and the family is all gathered for an evening of food and conversation. As the time together comes to a close, Jo proposes "our sing, in the good old way, for we are all together again once more... They were not all there. But no one found the words thoughtless or untrue; for Beth still seemed among them..." Amy begins to sing. "The room was very still, when the clear voice failed suddenly at the last line of Beth's favorite hymn. It was hard to say - 'Earth hath no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.'"

Aside from Christmas carols which are quoted in novels from time to time, I can't think of another instance of a hymn being quoted in literature as part of the story. If you have an example, please comment and let me know!