Lent 2013: “My Song Is Love Unknown”

This is one of the songs off of the Fernando Ortega album “BEGINNINGS” that I love. We sing it in church during Lent and one thing I love about Fernando Ortega is that he doesn’t skip all the verses related to the Cross.

My song is love unknown,
My Savior??s love to me;
Love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.
O who am I, that for my sake
My Lord should take, frail flesh and die?

He came from His blest throne
Salvation to bestow;
But men made strange, and none
The longed for Christ would know:
But O! my Friend, my Friend indeed,
Who at my need His life did spend.

Sometimes they strew His way,
And His sweet praises sing;
Resounding all the day
Hosannas to their King:
Then ??Crucify!?? is all their breath,
And for His death they thirst and cry.

Why, what hath my Lord done?
What makes this rage and spite?
He made the lame to run,
He gave the blind their sight,
Sweet injuries! Yet they at these
Themselves displease, and ??gainst Him rise.

They rise and needs will have
My dear Lord made away;
A murderer they saved,
The Prince of life they slay,
Yet cheerful He to suffering goes,
That He His foes from thence might free.

In life, no house, no home
My Lord on earth might have;
In death no friendly tomb
But what a stranger gave.
What may I say? Heav??n was His home;
But mine the tomb wherein He lay.

Here might I stay and sing,
No story so divine;
Never was love, dear King!
Never was grief like Thine.
This is my Friend, in Whose sweet praise
I all my days could gladly spend.
(HT: Net Hymnal)

Here’s a YouTube of his setting of it.

Lent 2013: “Lord, who throughout these forty days”

Posting late because the Internet connection at home hates me. 🙂

The idea for today’s hymn came from Leanne who mentioned it in her Ash Wednesday entry. I’m all about the traditional hymnody and this is a pretty one.

Here are the words:

Lord, who throughout these forty days
for us didst fast and pray,
teach us with thee to mourn our sins,
and close by thee to stay.

As thou with Satan didst contend
and didst the victory win,
O give us strength in thee to fight,
in thee to conquer sin.

As thou didst hunger bear and thirst,
so teach us, gracious Lord,
to die to self, and chiefly live
by thy most holy word.

And through these days of penitence,
and through thy Passiontide,
yea, evermore, in life and death,
Jesus! with us abide.

Abide with us, that so, this life
of suffering over-past,
an Easter of unending joy
we may attain at last!
(HT: Oremus)

Here’s a YouTube video of it.

Lent 2013: “Holy Is Your Name”

Another day of posting late. Bad pastor’s wife! No latté!

Marie of Help Them to Heaven posted this a few weeks ago and I fell in love with it. Even though the Annunciation isn’t until next month, I’m posting yet another setting of the Magnificat. I wish that iTunes had Mark Haas singing this because the version they have is ugly in comparison to the beautiful piano music, the rich male voices, and the exquisite harmonies.

Lent 2013: “Thou Wilt Keep Him in Perfect Peace”

We’re late today because I’ve had a crazy week and slept in today. Oops!

I was going to do this one on Wednesday but I went a hymn instead. I sang this with my church choir 10 years ago on Ash Wednesday and I think of it every Lent because I love the words and music. The composer, Samuel Sebastian Wesley is the grandson of Charles Wesley who, for those unfamiliar with Protestantism, is considered the founder of the Methodist church. The verse it is based on is the KJV rendering of Isaiah 26:3.

I chose this particular video of it because I love seeing how the music comes together.

7 Quick Takes: Great Big Sea, Ashes, and Baseball

7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Another former WBC member. I have so much hope for my generation now that another former Westboro Baptist person is speaking out. Lauren Drain posed for the NOH8 campaign, had an AMA on Reddit, and has a book out next month on her experiences. I’m hoping it will be available for NOOK.

— 2 —

Great Big Sea. I can’t remember if I saw this on Facebook or on someone’s blog or what. It’s a version of “Children, Go Where I Send Thee” called “Come and I Will Sing You”. My husband Jon remembers singing it at Boy Scout camp. I love this YouTube video because it’s the guys of Great Big Sea doing it acoustically with just a bodhran and shakers for instruments… outside in the middle of a snow storm. You can tell they’re having fun and getting into the jamming session.

— 3 —

Ash Wednesday worship. I had to deal with the Social Security Administration down in Lodi so I snuck into a noon Eucharist for ashes because I didn’t know how much of the evening service at Metanoia that I’d get to attend. It turns out I got to attend all of it. Boo yah! We celebrated with a couple other ministries and churches in town and had a blast. I think our Pentecostal lector needs to give the Lutheran lectors some tips because he was quite… passionate about his reading. My ash cross from Metanoia was also pretty decent even after bathing Daniel and taking care of basic stuff before Jon got home.

ashtag

— 4 —

An update on Yong. Do you remember the Chinese orphan I mentioned last week for whom we were hoping to raise $100,000 so he could get to the States and have his massive facial tumor removed. ALL THE MONEY GOT RAISED. I think it only took a week too. God is awesome!

— 5 —

Speaking of orphans… We now know who is adopting Kaia: the Heaton Family! Her adoption will not be cheap so if you can, please go to their site and throw a few bucks their direction.

And then there’s Brett.

Brett

He really needs a mama. Go show him some love.

— 6 —

Baseball. Spring Training is beginning!!! I’m looking forward to the season this year. Obviously, I’m rooting for the Giants (I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area) but I’m also following Jason Motte on the Cardinals. (He’s a great pitcher and a great sport.) Apparently, there was a fan that got all hot and bothered because he (Motte) didn’t stop to sign an autograph for him. Motte’s reply (via Twitter):

Dear fan at gate that boo’ed me for not stopping to sign, My wife has a 103 temp & a screaming 5 wk old n the car. Thanks for understanding.

(I’m sitting here at $tarbux on Thursday morning trying to get these done early because I have a crazy night for the third day in a row and I happened to see the tweet.) Because, you know, all athletes exist to do is sign autographs, right?

— 7 —

Forty to Forever. The Forty Days to Forever fundraiser is underway and they still need people to be sponsoring blogs. The amazing and awesome Elizabeth of Tales from Astoria signed up and I’d like to encourage any/all of you to do the same. You can also follow on Twitter — we’re @fortytoforever.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

Lent 2013: “Canticle of the Turning”

I sang this song for the first time in 2007 at Synod Assembly in Great Falls, Montana. It’s in the new hymnal (which our parish in Montana did not own) and it would have been unfamiliar to people. I love it for several reasons:

1.) Its tune comes from one of my favorite Irish folk songs — “The Star of the County Down”. I actually ended up singing the chorus for one of Jon’s parishioners tonight.

2.) The words seemed so awesome and it wasn’t until I was doing a YouTube search for it that I discovered why: it’s a setting of the Magnificat, one of my favorite pieces of Scripture as well as my favorite canticles during Morning Prayer.

Here are the words which were penned by Rory Cooney:

1. My soul cries out with a joyful shout
that the God of my heart is great,
And my spirit sings of the wondrous things
that you bring to the ones who wait.
You fixed your sight on your servant’s plight,
and my weakness you did not spurn,
So from east to west shall my name be blest.
Could the world be about to turn?

Refrain
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn!

2. Though I am small, my God, my all,
you work great things in me,
And your mercy will last from the depths of the past
to the end of the age to be.
Your very name puts the proud to shame,
and to those who would for you yearn,
You will show your might, put the strong to flight,
for the world is about to turn.

Refrain
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn!

3. From the halls of power to the fortress tower,
not a stone will be left on stone.
Let the king beware for your justice tears
ev’ry tyrant from his throne.
The hungry poor shall weep no more,
for the food they can never earn;
There are tables spread, ev’ry mouth be fed,
for the world is about to turn.

Refrain
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn!

4. Though the nations rage from age to age,
we remember who holds us fast:
God’s mercy must deliver us
from the conqueror’s crushing grasp.
This saving word that our forebears heard
is the promise which holds us bound,
‘Til the spear and rod can be crushed by God,
who is turning the world around.

Refrain
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn!
(HT: SpiritandSong.Com)

Lent 2013: “The Glory of These Forty Days”

Welcome to Lent 2013 around here. My disciplines are as follows:

[-] Devotional reading using Bread And Wine: Readings For Lent And Easter from Orbis books. It’s a compilation of a number of writers. I’ve started it a few times and I think I need to go through it this Lent and Easter.

[-] Crochet one square a day for the afghan I’m putting together to raise money for Kaia.

[-] Blog about church music. I did some of this last year and it was good for my faith. It also introduced some of my readers to hymns with which they may not have been familiar.

So… first hymn for this Lent is “The Glory of These Forty Days”. The words are from a sixth century hymn and the tune is “Erhalt uns, Herr” which was composed by Martin Luther. The most common hymn sung to this tune is “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word” but it works for this particular hymn.

The glory of these forty days
we celebrate with songs of praise;
for Christ, through whom all things were made,
himself has fasted and has prayed.

Alone and fasting Moses saw
the loving God who gave the law;
and to Elijah, fasting, came
the steeds and chariots of flame.

So Daniel trained his mystic sight,
delivered from the lions’ might;
and John, the Bridegroom’s friend, became
the herald of Messiah’s name.

Then grant us, Lord, like them to be
full oft in fast and prayer with thee;
our spirits strengthen with thy grace,
and give us joy to see thy face.

O Father, Son, and Spirit blest,
to thee be every prayer addressed,
who art in three-fold Name adored,
from age to age, the only Lord.
(HT: Oremus)

Here’s a recording off of YouTube: