Notes from the Far Fringe

Live from New Orleans – it’s Hymn by Hymn with Friends! Today’s guest is the fantastic religious educator Katy Carpman. 

I am sorry this is late and incomplete – the day has utterly gotten away from me. I am thrilled, however, that you can listen to our conversation here. And … Katy actually did some homework in preparation of our conversation! Loved our time together. (A few thoughts of my own after the text). 

When Mary through the garden went,
there was no sound of any bird,
and yet, because the night was spent,
the little grasses lightly stirred,
the flowers awoke, the lilies heard.

When Mary through the garden went,
the dew lay still on flower and grass,
the waving palms above her sent
their fragrance out as she did pass.
No light upon the branches was.

When Mary through the garden went,
her eyes, for weeping long, were dim.
The grass beneath her footstep bent,
the solemn lilies, white and slim,
these also stood and wept for him.

Remember how I wasn’t upset by the lack of rhyme in O Come, All Ye Faithful? Well, that moment has passed. There’s rhyme here, lots of it, but DEAR GOD “PASS” AND “WAS” DO NOT RHYME.  Bless her heart, lyricist Mary Coleridge tried. But wow, that sits badly on my hear.

Otherwise, how much do I love that Mary Magdalen gets her own song? A celebration of her role in the Easter story finally! She goes to the upper room to tell the disciples the tomb is empty, and then shares some of the teachings she received from Jesus. Peter the Mansplainer can’t handle the fact that he might have told her anything he didn’t tell the rest of the guys and gives her a warning. But still, she persisted, and as the Gospel of Mary shows, she spoke about the Soul and Mystery in a way only a woman could, and at least Levi told Peter to sit down and shut the hell up.

The tune, which we last sang just before Christmas – in the spring and summer tunes section, of course – is a lovely German tune that, as I remarked before, is simple and hardly dull at all.