Hymn Blog - February 7, 2010

February 7, 2010

VU 460 – All Who Hunger. VU 460 – This text by the late Sylvia Dunstan uses the image of manna in the wilderness for the bread of communion. It is set to the tune HOLY MANNA, written in the early nineteenth century and found in Southern Harmony, published by William Walker in South Carolina in 1835. The text of the first verse of the original words to this tune are:

Brethren, we have met to worship,
And adore the Lord our God;
Will you pray with all your power,
While we try to preach the word?
All is vain unless the Spirit
Of the Holy One comes down;
Brethren pray and holy manna
Will be showered all around.

VU 563 – Jesus, You Have Come to the Lakeshore. Author Cesáreo Gabárain was a Spanish priest, who served as president of the Spanish liturgical music association. This hymn text is based on Matthew 4:19, and was originally published in Madrid in the 1970’s. The original Spanish text has been translated into more than 80 languages, with this text coming from the United Methodist Hymnal (1989). The tune, PESCADOR DE HOMBRES, is also by Gabárain.

MV 193 – God Bless to Us Our Bread. This communion chorus is also used frequently as a grace, coupling hunger for food with hunger for justice. Author Federico J. Pagura is co-president of the Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights in Argentina. A graduate of the Union Theological Seminary of Buenos Aires, Pagura pursued post-graduate studies in the USA. He holds a Dr Honoris causa degree from the University of Toronto, Canada and from dePauw University, USA. Pagura has served as president of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) and of the Council of Methodist Bishops in the Latin America and the Caribbean. A bishop emeritus of the Evangelical Methodist Church of Argentina, Pagura is also a member of the board of the Life & Peace Institute of Uppsala, Sweden. A former member of the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, Pagura was elected a president of the WCC by the Harare assembly in 1998. He is a writer, poet and composer of songs. The English translation is by John Bell, of the Iona Community, and the French translation by the United Church’s David Fines. The setting, arranged by John bell, is based on a traditional melody from Argentina.

VU 468 – Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ. This hymn was entitled “Communion Calypso” when originally published in “Break Not the Circle” (1975), a collection of songs prepared by Fred Kaan and Doreen Potter. The tune, LINSTEAD, is an arrangement of the Jamaican folk tune “Linstead Market”.