Hymn Blog - January 1, 2012

January 1, 2012

VU 634 – To Abraham and Sarah. This text was written by Judith Fetter in 1984 for the anniversary service of the United Church congregation of which her husband, Lawrence Fetter, was pastor. Hymnologist Paul Richardson states “This balladlike call to go to another culture, a summons to Sarah as well as to Abraham, anticipated by several years their acceptance of a ministry in Brazil.” The setting, THORNBURY, was written in 1898 by Basil Harwood, English organist and composer.

VU 506 – Take My Life That I May Be. This classic text of commitment was written by Frances Ridley Havergal in 1874, to celebrate an awakening of religious feeling at a prayer meeting at Areley House, where Havergal was visiting. The last night of her visit she was unable to sleep, and was inspired to write this text. The version we sing this morning is from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), with words altered from the version in Voices United. It is set to a Latin American influenced tune, TOMA MI VOLUNTAD, written by William Dexheimer Pharris, an American Lutheran pastor and musician who worked in Hispanic ministries in the United States and El Salvador. This setting transforms the hymn from a meditative look at each aspect of our commitment to a celebrative dance of life commitment.

VU 55 – In the Bleak Midwinter. The text, by Christina Rossetti, imagines Jesus’ birth in the cold and snow of a British winter, incorporating the nativity tradition that it snowed at the birth of Christ to cover the fallen world with a pure whiteness. The poem was published in 1872, and first appeared as a hymn in The English Hymnal (1906). Methodist theologian Fred D. Gealy has written “‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ is not a prayer; it is not a ‘song with praise to God’ (pace Augustine); it is a proclamation, a declaration, a witness to the amazing mystery of what the church when it spoke Latin called ‘incarnation,’ The Word becoming flesh, God becoming man, yet so that God remains God and man remains man.” Gustav Holst composed the tune, CRANHAM, for use with the text in The English Hymnal (1906). Cranham is a village near the composer’s birthplace.

MV 120 – My Soul Cries Out. Author and arranger Rory Cooney is director of liturgy and music at St. Anne Catholic Community in Barrington, Illinois.  He arranged the Irish traditional tune "Star of the County Down" to provide a stunning setting for the text, an interpretation of the Magnificat.