Hymn Blog - September 27, 2009

September 27, 2009

MV 120 – My Soul Cries Out. Author 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.

MV 149 – Peace for the Children. The text for our childrens’ hymn is by Doreen Lankshear-Smith of Thunder Bay, and the music by David Abramsky, originally from Toronto.

MV 173 – Put Peace into Each Other’s Hands. This beautiful hymn was written by Fred Kaan in 1989, and then revised in 2001. Dutch by birth, Kaan moved to England to study theology in 1952.  He has served as parish minister as well as in leadership roles in the United Reformed Church and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. The setting is by well known United Church musician Ron Klusmeier.

VU 682 – O Day of Peace. This hymn was written for the American Episcopal Church’s The Hymnal 1982 by Carl P. Daw Jr., who was serving as a consultant to the Text Committee. The text was inspired by Isaiah 11:6-8, and the second stanza is a paraphrase of the Isaiah text. The author states “This hymn deals with two aspects of peace: pax, an understanding of peace based on the cessation of conflict, and shalom, the condition of living abundantly in harmony and mutual goodwill. . . . Although this hymn affirms that peace is always God’s gift, it also recognizes the importance of human responsibility in preparing an environment in which peace can flourish.” The tune, JERUSALEM, was composed in 1915 or 1916 by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, as a setting for the well-known poem by William Blake “And did those feet in ancient time.”