From my faith journey blog:

Jon has a 2006 Heritage Missal from OCP that he borrowed from the nursing home and I was going through it last night to decide whether or not I should go to Mass on Tuesday. Let’s just say that looking at the OCP readings and liturgy made it painfully obvious that I could *NOT* go without being incredibly snarky and feeling like I was worshipping with people of a completely different religion. (**Nota bene** I am not saying that Catholics are not Christians. Let me be very intentional about this.) As far as I know, neither JPII nor Papa Ratzi have proclaimed Mary to be the co-mediatrix and apparently, the OCP peeps didn’t get the memo. Seriously, I rarely see the Psalms so proof-texted (they gutted Psalm 45 to get verses to fit) or Revelation as the first reading. (They could have put Hannah’s song from 1 Samuel since it is similar to the Magnificat.) I was seriously tempted to ask exactly where Jesus fit into the equation since it was crossing the line from veneration of Mary to worship/adoration. Mary *was* special — she was chosen to be the Theotokos and she complied willingly with God’s instructions but… SHE’S NOT GOD!!!!!!!!!!

I went through the rest of the missal and they have quite a bit of Marty Haugen including the Mass of Cremation Creation and a few of his more “interesting” (read: inclusive) hymns. (I really wonder if most Catholics know that one of their hymnwriters is formerly Lutheran and now UCC.) They had some fairly good David Haas ones and a few ecumenical ones like I Am the Bread of Life, Christ Be Our Light (which I actually like), and Blest Are They. Mostly, it was a couple decent hymns, then a weird song, and then something by David Haas. It honestly made me thankful for With One Voice which has some “interesting” hymns but is 99% Orthodox. (The exception is their egregious word changes in Be Thou My Vision — the “High King of Heaven” was the one who opened a can of whupass on the hill of Slane, not the “light of my soul”.) Granted, I really am not fond of some of their hymns (especially ones like Hallelujah! We Sing Your Praises which are muchly overdone), but at least theirs are somewhat placeable in the history of the church.

[/end snarkiness]

I seriously am not trying to be anti-Catholic but dude… some of what was published was just wrong on so many levels. I wish the Church would return to worshipping in Latin because it would mean that they took worship seriously and didn’t screw around with theology like they do now.

We sang one of my favorite hymns today.Â? It’s this tune with these words:

Now we join in celebration
At the Savior’s invitation,
Dressed no more in spirit somber,
Clothed instead in joy and wonder;
For the Lord of all existence,
Putting off divine transcendence,
Stoops again in love to meet us,
With his very life to feed us.

Lord, as round this feat we gather,
Fill our hearts with holy rapture!
For this bread and cup of blessing
Are for us the sure posessing
Of your loving deed on Calv’ry,
Of your living self, our vict’ry,
Pledge of your unfailing presence,
Foretaste here of heav’nly gladness.

Lord, we share in this communion
As one fam’ly of God’s children,
Reconciled through you, our brother,
One in you with God our Father.
Give us grace to live for others,
Serving all, both friends and strangers,
Seeking justice, love, and mercy
Till you come in final glory.
–LBW 203

I first fell in love with this one in Minnesota.Â? One of the daughters of our organist at Church #1 and I used to sing harmonies on this during Communion.Â? I also just love the tune.Â? The hymn tunes from before the 18th century are just the coolest.Â? 🙂