Hymn Blog - October 4, 2009

October 4, 2009 World-wide Communion Sunday

MV 137 – Welcome Jesus, You Are Welcome. This hymn acknowledges our need of Jesus in our flawed and needy world. Author and Composer Dan Damon is an internationally published writer of hymn texts and tunes. He is pastor of First United Methodist Church, Richmond, California. Dan serves as adjunct faculty in church music at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. He is an active member of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. Dan plays piano in clubs in the San Francisco area and studies piano and composition with Richard Hindman. Dan has toured Zimbabwe with the Jubilate Choir from the Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Methodist Church.

MV 72 – Why Stand So Far Away. Our offertory hymn is a beautiful song of lament. The issue of language that is fair and just is still a crucial concern for those who worship in the vernacular. One of the leaders in this movement is Ruth Duck, professor of worship at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Her powerful texts have emerged as the major part of the cutting edge of language that speaks of God in universal terms and in poetry that is as poignant as it is stoic. Before coming to Garrett in 1989, she served as pastor at United Church of Christ parishes in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts. Her undergraduate work was done at Southwestern-at-Memphis University, which is now called Rhodes College. She holds two masters degrees--one from Chicago Theological Seminary and one from the University of Notre Dame. Her doctorate in theology was earned at Boston University. Her academic credentials are weighty ones and balance beautifully with her pastoral experience dealing with the everyday tasks as the spiritual leader of a parish community. Composer Michael Mahler, from Minnetonka, Minnesota, is a graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, where he majored in music theater. At the age of 17, he became the youngest composer to be published by GIA Publications, Inc. Since then, Michael has performed his compositions and taken part in workshops at the National Association of Pastoral Musicians Conference (NPM), the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC), and the National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry (NCCYM).

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 567 - Will You Come and Follow Me. The text, from the Iona Community, is titled “The Summons”, and comes from “Heaven Shall Not Wait, Volume 1”, a 1987 publication of Wild Goose Press. The tune, KELVINGROVE, is a traditional Scottish folk melody.