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STLT#69, Give Thanks
I looked at the title and started singing the hymn before I’d even gotten to the page. I knew this was another one of those wonderful Southern Harmony tunes, and I relished in it as I flipped open the hymnal. “What more can I say about Southern Harmony?” I said to myself. “I don’t want… Continue reading
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STLT#68, Come, Ye Thankful People
I’ve been watching the series The Crown on Netflix – it’s the story of the first few years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, told in that predictably sweeping BBC style that endears to us such shows as Downton Abbey and Call the Midwife. It’s full of beautiful scenery, palace intrigue (literally in this… Continue reading
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STLT#67, We Sing Now Together
Hey, look! We’ve entered the “Harvest and Thanksgiving” section of the hymnal. And we start right off with the usual Thanksgiving song. C.J.: There’s a usual song? DONNA: “We Gather Together.” C.J.: The song. DONNA: That’s the usual song. C.J.: So you know it? DONNA: Everybody knows it. C.J.: I don’t know it. DONNA: [sighs]… Continue reading
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STLT#66, When the Summer Sun Is Shining
What is it about the Southern Harmony tunes? There’s something that just gets me about them – they get inside me and speak deeply to my soul. In a recent episode of Krista Tippett’s On Being with Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, two amazing banjo players and musicians, Washburn talks about hearing Doc Watson for the… Continue reading
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STLT#65, The Sweet June Days
Another season, another praise for the season song. Color me surprised. Now don’t get me wrong – this isn’t a bad thing. Hymns like this are wonderful openings for seasonal services, especially those that celebrate our seventh principle. And the tune is delightful and lively – this is a perfect opening hymn for the first… Continue reading
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STLT#64, Oh, Give Us Pleasure in the Flowers Today
Man oh man. Robert Frost can really bring it, can’t he? There’s a reason he is one of the 20th century’s most celebrated poets – while this is not as famous as “The Wall” or “The Road Less Traveled” or “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” this poem too had impact and depth and… Continue reading
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STLT#63, Spring Has Now Unwrapped the Flowers
I’m not sure I have much to say about this one – partly because I’m jetlagged and got too little sleep thanks to a trip to Phoenix. Yay. What I know is that the lyrics are fine – another praise for spring. Yay. This set is from the Renaissance, so it’s historical. Yay. And I… Continue reading
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STLT#62, When the Daffodils Arrive
This hymn has genuinely surprised me. First, let’s talk tune: it’s set to an Hasidic melody that holds in its phrases a secret and unspoken longing – certainly an intriguing choice for a hymn called “When the Daffodils Arrive.” I will also say that at first, I plunked it out fairly slowly – but then I… Continue reading
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STLT#61, Lo, the Earth Awakes Again
And with one turn of a page, we enter the sublimely ridiculous. Yes, it’s time, in these last days of autumn, as the nights grow dark and cold, to begin singing our Spring and Summer songs. Because if spiritual practice teaches us anything, it’s to expect bizarre coincidences and juxtapositions. Plus, this is what I… Continue reading
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STLT#60, In Time of Silver Rain
Some might say this is unsingable. It’s a complex, twentieth-century modern, sometimes atonal piece of music, and to the average congregant trying to sing for the first time, makes no sense and might make people run out the doors, never to come back. That’s because this isn’t a song for congregational singing. You see, what… Continue reading
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