Hymn by Hymn
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STLT#381, From All that Dwell Below the Skies
Last week when I started into this doxology section, I ran to the internet to find out a bit more about doxologies – where they come from, why they are used, etc. Of course, I stopped by Wikipedia to see what they had to say, and I discovered a section on Unitarianism. In the text… Continue reading
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STLT#380, Rejoice in Love We Know and Share
This one seems very familiar… No, I’ve not sung it before, which surprises me a little. If I had, I hope I’d sung it to Vom Himmel Hoch, because that seems the best pairing to my ear. But it seems very familiar. They certainly are a sentiment that makes sense to me – one I’ve… Continue reading
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STLT#379, Ours Be the Poems of All Tongues
I wonder sometimes if I’m overthinking these things. You see, I first looked at our lyric – another one by Ken Patton – and at first cheered at having an artsy doxology text, since I am an artsy minister. Yay, loveliness! Yay all arts, all songs, beauty! Yay all the other stuff! Yay! Ours be… Continue reading
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STLT#378, Let Those Who Live in Every Land
Before I begin today’s piece, I want to invite those of you not on Facebook to check out my posting of yesterday’s hymn, because it generated a fascinating discussion about the use of doxologies and changing them up. I am so happy when people engage my meandering thoughts on the songs we all think we… Continue reading
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STLT#377, In Greening Lands Begins the Song
I’m beginning to wonder why congregations only sing one doxology throughout the year, year after year. Is it because of habit? Because in Protestant churches that sing “Praise God from whom all blessings flow” that’s how it’s done? Or because that’s one more thing the minister and music director have to think about? I admit,… Continue reading
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STLT#376, Sing Loudly ’til the Stars Have Heard
So… huh. I had gotten three quarters of the way through writing today’s post, all kinds of excited about the joy in discovery, the awe and wonder of science, calling in Malvina Reynolds’ O What a Piece of Work Are We, waxing poetic about religious humanism, thinking about when I could preach this and use… Continue reading
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STLT#375, As Saffron Trees now Capture Fire
So… this one confused the heck out me at first, because there is no such thing as a saffron tree. There’s a flower from which we get saffron that we use for cooking. Until I realized that saffron here is a color – the color I saw all along the highways between here and northern… Continue reading
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STLT#374, Since What We Choose Is What We Are
We’ve kinda sung this before. No, I don’t mean that in some UU congregations, the royal ‘we’ have sung it. I mean that on July 16th, we sang an adaptation of this in the hymn Creative Love, Our Thanks We Give. In the full hymn version, we sing these lyrics adapted by Beth Ide: Since… Continue reading
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STLT#371-373: An Unusual Day
I thought a lot about how to approach the next 12 entries in our hymnal – three tunes, nine different lyrics – and while I could dive into all the words and let the music fall where it may, that seemed to discredit the music, which requires attention. So – today I’ll talk about the… Continue reading
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STLT#370, All People That on Earth Do Dwell
Dear music directors and accompanists: Old Hundredth can be set in D major. I make this an announcement, because it offended at least two musicians I have worked with when I suggested that we might transpose Old Hundredth down at least to F if not to D. “But it’s in G major and that’s where… Continue reading
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links
Learn more about my ministry at The Art of Meaning
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