Category: Hymns

In the extended entry I’ve placed my first list of useful hymns, culled from the list of 150 chosen by the Consulation on Ecumenical Hymnody. No Christmas hymns are included, and I’ve picked the ones that look good for unaccompanied singing. But what do I know? This is an end-of-day wind-down activity. It was either… Continue reading Hymn list I

Just so it wouldn’t get lost, here’s the PDF file from the 1917 Hymns of the Church of the hymn used at the 1903 Winchester Profession observances here in Washington, mentioned below. It will fit on an 5.5 by 8.5 inch leaf, for the usual order of worship. Download here: thouwhosewide.pdf (48 K)

In the last entry, Derek Parker [blog is extinct, 14 April 2005] mentions an ordination hymn in the comments. This is a good place to do a little hymnological archaeology. For my own ordination, at Canon, Georgia, I looked up the meeting of the second Georgia Universalist Convention in 1839 the proceedings were published in… Continue reading Ordination hymns

If you come to Universalist National Memorial Church this Sunday, you’ll see the following in the order of service (or something like it) The Universalist General Convention and First Universalist Church, Washington (Church of Our Father), this church’s predecessor, held Winchester Profession Centennial observances in October 1903. The first and third hymns this morning were… Continue reading Hymns for the Winchester Profession bicentennial

I was in church today, but not preaching. That duty fell upon one of the deacons, Richard Hurst, who delivered a well-crafted sermon on anger, divine anger in particular. But what will stick with me for the next seven days — a question asked Mystery Worshippers at Ship of Fools — is learning that the… Continue reading Strange hymn fact

There’s a hymn — sadly missing in the 1993 Singing the Living Tradition but present in the 1937 Hymns of the Spirit we use at Universalist National Memorial Church, Washington; you can also read the full text at CyberHymnal, even though I prefer it matched to the tune Stockport (Yorkshire)‘ — that informs my ministry… Continue reading Eternal Ruler of the Ceaseless Round

For a while now, I’ve been looking for a modern set of metrical psalms and canticles — Biblical psalms and songs rearranged so they can be sung to “hymn tunes”; in fact, many of today’s hymn tunes startes for psalms, like Old 100th — and have now found a source: A New Metrical Psalter by… Continue reading A psalm (or canticle) to sing