Hymn Blog - January 22, 2012

January 22, 2012

VU 117 – Jesus Christ is Waiting. The hymn was written by John Bell in support of youth work in Glasgow. John Bell was born in, resides in, and belongs to Scotland. He is a liturgical composer who writes co-operatively with colleagues in Glasgow; he has a deep interest in music from non-European cultures and a passion for song of the Assembly. Though his primary vocation is as a preacher and teacher, he spends over half his time working in the areas of music and liturgy, both at conferences and in small parishes, and his work takes him frequently into Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. With his colleagues, he has produced over 15 collections of songs and octavos, and a wide range of liturgical materials, particularly for use by lay people. He has also authored a number of collections of sermons and meditations, is an occasional broadcaster on radio and television, and manages to survive without the benefit of a wife, car, cell phone, camera, or Ipod. The tune, NOËL NOUVELET, is a fifteenth century French carol tune, and comes to us via the Oxford Book of Carols (1928). This arrangement is by the Iona Community.

MV 169 – When Hands Reach Out Beyond Divides. The text is by Keri Wehlander, author, hymn lyricist, liturgical dancer and leader of retreats and workshops. Spirituality and the arts provide a primary focus for her work in various settings in both her native Canada and the U.S. A passion for making biblical stories and imagery come alive is at the heart of her work.   The tune, SALEM, is from the 1854 edition of Southern Harmony, a shaped note hymn book from the Sacred Harp tradition, where it is set to the text “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds.”

MV 96 – And When You Call for Me. This simple text of assurance is by American Lynn Bauman, with a setting by Linnea Good. Linnea is a singer-songwriter, musical animator and educator whose life's work is to help people celebrate their lives - especially through music. Her base is her Canadian culture, community and Christian faith tradition. Linnea travels extensively, seeking connections between the new and the old, the head and the heart, between male and female, children and adults, between those who pray and those who act.

VU 569 – You Call Us Out. This hymn was chosen as the winning submission to a competition for a “Hymn for Church” written in new imagery, sponsored by the Anglican Church of Canada in 1992 to celebrate the centenary of the General Synod. Author Anna Briggs is English by birth, and after moving to Canada studied at the Toronto School of Theology. The tune, THORNBURY, was written at the end of the nineteenth century by Basil Harwood, an English organist and composer, as a setting for the text “Your Hand, O God, Has Guided”, found at 274 in Voices United.

MV 165 – There is a Time. Words and music are by American Carolyn McDade, who is well known for her songs of personal and social transformation.  She is a lover of language and sound. A writer of sound, she is committed to the power of the human voice singing and speaking truth to move society to just and liberating transformation. Through song and singing she helps us deepen human consciousness and understand ourselves as part of a living planet. For over three decades she has brought circles of women together to sing songs rooted in women's experiences. A social activist, she weaves together the spiritual and the political - integrating personal, social, planetary, cosmic. She describes herself simply as a woman of faith seeking with others to touch what matters. Carolyn's recorded music dates back to the early 1970's. Over the years she has organized 13 recording projects that grew out of her singing circles. Each project involved activist women and a growing body of gifted and accomplished professional musicians. This arrangement is by Lydia Pederson, former music director at Royal York Road United Church, and active member of the Hymn Society.