Category Archives: Music

One More Hymn for Maundy Thursday

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I was SERIOUSLY jazzed to find my favorite Communion hymn on YouTube.

The 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

The music:

Lenten Worship Music (VII)

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During the two months that we were commuting to Great Falls in order to be with Daniel almost three years ago(!), I managed to patch into a KLOVE signal bouncing off one of the buttes and “God of This City” by the Northern Ireland band Bluetree was one of the songs that was popular during that time. It gets its name from the mission trip the band took to Pattaya, Thailand and the deplorable conditions they found there. They launched a charity called Stand Out International in 2009 to rescue kids out of the sex industry, probably based on what they saw there.

When I was driving home from PT with Daniel yesterday, this song was playing on KLOVE and I decided to feature it. Here are the lyrics:

You’re God of this city, You’re the King of these people
You’re the Lord of this nation, You are
You’re the light in this darkness, You’re the hope to the hopeless
You’re the peace to the restless, You are

For there is no one like our God
There is no one like You God

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

You’re the Lord of creation, the creator of all things
You’re the King above all kings, You are
You’re the strength in the weakness, You are love to the broken
You’re the joy in the sadness, You are

For there is no one like our God
There is no one like You God

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city
Where glory shines from hearts alive
With praise for You and love for You in this city

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God
Yes, there is no one like You God
There is no one like You God

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city
Where glory shines from hearts alive
With praise for You and love for You in this city

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here
Still to be done here, still to be done here
Still to be done here
(HT: SongLyrics.Com)

I love it because it’s hopeful and if it was inspired by the squalor of that city in Thailand, there’s a definite need for hope. I can also so see it being used for various “city clean-up” ministry things in the States with no knowledge of why it was written. The irony of that is that the band is based in Belfast and there is a definite need for hope in that city, especially in the ghetto areas where the paramilitary action can be prevalent.

Here’s the song:

11 Things

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Ann of House of Estrogen tagged me in this meme going around the Internet. Whee!

Rules
1.) The first rule is to post these rules.
2.) Post a photo of yourself then write 11 things about you/your life.
3.) Answer the questions for you set in the original post.
4.) Create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them.
5.) Go to their blog/twitter to tell them you have tagged them.

OK… so let me find a picture I like.

Me after a haircut

OK… 11 things about me.

01.) I’m a night owl. I get most of my blogging done after 9 p.m.
02.) I’m 5’1 on a bad hair day. People tell me that I seem taller online.
03.) I’m incredibly shy and very introverted. I’d prefer to people-watch rather than socialize.
04.) I have a weird accent that makes me sound like a valley girl Canadian. It makes it really hilarious when I switch into academic mode and I’m using polysyllabic words while sounding like I should be on a beach in southern California tanning myself.
05.) I graduated from college in 3 years. I’m not smart — just strategic. The fact that I was sick of being in a long-distance relationship also didn’t hurt.
06.) I read murder mysteries for fun. I’m currently reading Buried in Buttercream by G.A. McKevitt.
07.) I have part of a Masters in Theological Studies. I’m incredibly good at it but theology in general bores me. I’m more of a historian and linguist.
08.) I’ve been singing Handel’s Messiah since I was 15. It was a holiday tradition for my mom and I throughout high school and college to do the You-Sing-It-Messiah with the San Jose Symphonic Choir.
09.) I love t-shirts with interesting messages. I love my We Will Not Be Silent shirt and am heartbroken that I’m having to replace it.
10.) My promise not to blog on the Republican candidates is grating on me. There’s SOOOOOOOO much snark I want to post!!!!!!
11.) I’m a princess darnit!

OK… my questions to answer!

1.) What is your favorite movie? It varies. I like the classic Disney cartoons like “The Aristocats” and “The Sword and the Stone” as well as “Forrest Gump”, “The Birdcage”, “The Spitfire Grill”, “Whale Rider”, and “Saved”.

2.) If you could go back and give your 16 year old self one piece of advice, what would it be? Stop worrying about what people will think and join a church. (I’m a convert to Christianity.)

3.) Why do you blog? So many reasons. Generally, I do it because it’s cheaper than therapy and I’ve made so many friends doing it. It also was my way of accessing the outside world when I lived in remote areas of the US.

4.) What did you want to be when you grew up? Are you doing that? I wanted to be a lawyer until I was 15 when I started wanting to be a doctor. I’m not doing either though I’m discerning doing training as a respiratory therapist because they’ve been the coolest health professionals that I’ve encountered in my own adventures and with Daniel.

5.) M&M’s – plain or peanut? Coconut.

6.) What was your first car? 1984 Volvo 240 GL.

7.) What is your favorite Halloween costume you’ve ever worn? The cat costume my mom made us when we were 3.

8.) What are your favorite blogs to read? I have at least 30-40 in my feed reader. They range from Canadian pastors to young Catholic women to Mormon housewives. Most blogs these day happen to be mommy blogs because all my bloggy friends have kids.

9.) If you were to have a boy and a girl tomorrow, what would you name them? Aidan Michael and Hannah Grace.

10.) What was your favorite class in college? Women’s Chorale, my advisor’s history classes, Religion and Social Change, Science and Human Values, the Making of the Modern Middle East, my Organic Chemistry labs, and my college’s Core course.

11.) What celebrity do you think it would be fun to be friends with? Definitely Pauley Perette (Abby on NCIS). She’s very much in person like she is on TV and she’s also incredibly socially conscious. I also love anyone who can pull off the goth look over the age of 30. (She’s in her 40’s.)

OK… now my questions!

01.) What food would you never eat even if you were paid to eat it?
02.) What is your favorite Bible verse or quote?
03.) Should jello at church be in the proper liturgical color?
04.) What was your high school or college mascot?
05.) What do you wish you could do?
06.) What book should everyone read?
07.) What is the weirdest thing you’ve eaten?
08.) Pretend I magically arrived on your doorstep. How would we spend your ideal day?
09.) Manicure or pedicure?
10.) What is the best type of ethnic food (i.e. Italian, Japanese, Indonesian)?
11.) Grey or orange tabby cats?

Now for the tagging!

Beth @ The Catholic Couponer

Nikkiana @ Authentic Experience

Kate @ ImperfectKate

Kathleen @ So Much to Say…

The Preoteasa @ Fear Not Little Flock

Dawn @ ladydusk

I know all of you have lives and such. Please find a way to mold this meme to your blog. If you can’t post a picture of yourself, post one of your kids or something that represents you.

Hymns that Speak to Me Right Now (V)

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I’m having serious writer’s block when it comes to anything faith-related so y’all are getting more hymns.

“All Glory, Laud, and Honor” is the standard processional for Palm Sunday. Written at the time of Charlemagne by Theodulph of Orleans (ca. 750-821), it is set to a 17th century tune named for him. It’s one of my favorite “once a year” hymns and we sing it as we’re filing into the sanctuary after the Liturgy of the Palms and the kids sword-fighting with their palm fronds.

All glory, laud, and honor
to thee, Redeemer, King!
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring.

Thou art the King of Israel,
thou David’s royal Son,
who in the Lord’s Name comest,
the King and Blessed One.

All glory, laud, and honor
to thee, Redeemer, King!
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring.

The company of angels
are praising thee on high;
and mortal men and all things
created make reply.

All glory, laud, and honor
to thee, Redeemer, King!
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring.

The people of the Hebrews
with palms before thee went;
our praise and prayer and anthems
before thee we present.

All glory, laud, and honor
to thee, Redeemer, King!
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring.

To thee before thy passion
they sang their hymns of praise;
to thee, now high exalted,
our melody we raise.

All glory, laud, and honor
to thee, Redeemer, King!
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring.

Thou didst accept their praises;
accept the prayers we bring,
who in all good delightest,
thou good and gracious King.

All glory, laud, and honor
to thee, Redeemer, King!
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring.

(HT: Oremus)

Live from Grace Episcopal Cathedral in Topeka, Kansas!

Some Poetry for Today (I)

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I’m dealing with exhaustion and blurred vision due to my eyes being dilated today for an opthalmology consult so I’m just going to give you the poem that I’m reading for my devotion next week at Ladies’ Night Out. It’s a 19th century work by Sidney Lanier, a former Confederate soldier and fellow at Johns Hopkins University specializing in English lit.

I chose this one because I sang a setting of it during Lent 14 years ago. I found the arrangement but no audio file. Sorry!

Into the woods my Master went,
Clean forspent, forspent.
Into the woods my Master came,
Forspent with love and shame.
But the olives they were not blind to Him,
The little gray leaves were kind to Him:
The thorn-tree had a mind to Him
When into the woods He came.

Out of the woods my Master went,
And He was well content.
Out of the woods my Master came,
Content with death and shame.
When Death and Shame would woo Him last,
From under the trees they drew Him last:
‘Twas on a tree they slew Him — last
When out of the woods He came.

(HT: Poem Hunter)

Hymns That Speak to Me Right Now (IV)

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I’ve known the tune of the hymn “Let All Things Now Living” longer than I’ve known the actual hymn. The tune comes from a Welsh folk song called “The Ash Grove” and my mother used to love to play it on the piano when I was growing up. I learned of the hymn somewhere along the line but did not start loving it until I acquired Michael Card’s CD “Starkindler” in 2002 or 2003. When my grandfather was in the hospital in December 2005, a music therapist came in and offered to play the song. I sang the hymn while he accompanied me on guitar. I sang it again three months later during the week I spent in Washington with my mom before I had to say my final good-byes. (He died three weeks later.) My aunt and I sang the hymn at my grandfather’s interment of ashes while Jon and my evil twin brother Sean played the guitar. Almost a year and a half later, I was standing in Church #3 in Montana singing it while my mom and her siblings were placing the headstone on my grandfather’s grave.

Despite my history with the hymn, I love it and it’s a beautiful one for spring though we’re still in Lent at the moment. I love how it describes how all of nature answers to the authority of the Lord and how all things are to praise Him. There’s also the sheer beauty of the tune. (The Welsh rock in terms of hymn and folk tunes.)

Here are the lyrics:

Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving
To God the creator triumphantly raise.
Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
Who still guides us on to the end of our days.
God’s banners are o’er us, His light goes before us,
A pillar of fire shining forth in the night.
Till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished
As forward we travel from light into light.

His law he enforces, the stars in their courses
And sun in its orbit obediently shine;
The hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains,
The deeps of the ocean proclaim him divine.
We too should be voicing our love and rejoicing;
With glad adoration a Song let us raise
Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving:
“To God in the highest, Hosanna and praise!”

Here’s the Michael Card arrangement with Darwin Hobb’s rich African-American bass singing part of it as well.

Lenten Worship Music (VI)

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I’m wracking my brain to think of where I heard this song first but all I know is that I ordered the CD immediately upon hearing it. It’s on a CD called “New Irish Hymns” and at last count, there were 4. (I have 3 of them on my iTunes.) I’ve sung it once or twice in worship and I think the most amazing time was when I went into the medium security prison near where we lived in Montana and helped with worship. (I’ll write about my prison experiences another time.)

Another reason I like it is that it is theologically correct. I sometimes have a problem with contemporary praise songs because the words convey some seriously bad theology or it’s “Jesus is my boyfriend” stuff (translation: you could sing the song to your significant other and they wouldn’t be able to tell that it wasn’t a love song). This one, however, conveys the faith as laid out in the creeds.

The lyrics:

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fulness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied –
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine –
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.

And of course, we have the music. This recording is off of “New Irish Hymns” and has Margaret Becker, Joanne Hogg, and Maire Brennan singing.