Lift high the Cross? Maundy Thursday or the Exaltation of the Cross ( 14 Sept)?
But what would I know, a retired Roman who hung out with Anglo Catholics….
As some others have said, funeral hymns here tend to be chosen because they’re hymns that were meaningful to or favorites of the deceased or are meaningful to the family. Beyond that, this funeral was at an Episcopal (Anglican) church, and per the American Book of Common Prayer (p. 507):
The liturgy for the dead is an Easter liturgy. It finds all its meaning in the resurrection. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we, too, shall be raised.
The liturgy, therefore, is characterized by joy, in the certainty that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
This joy, however, does not make human grief unchristian. The very love we have for each other in Christ brings deep sorrow when we are parted by death. Jesus himself wept at the grave of his friend. So, while we rejoice that one we love has entered into the nearer presence of our Lord, we sorrow in sympathy with those who mourn.
In keeping with this understanding that the funeral liturgy is an Easter liturgy, the vestments and paraments were white, and an Easter hymn fit.
Similarly, in my denomination (the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)), the “proper” name for the funeral liturgy is the “Service of Witness to the Resurrection.” It similarly is (or should be) an Easter liturgy at heart, so white is the proper color and Alleluias are appropriate, even in Lent.
In my tribe’s hymnal, “Lift High the Cross” is in the section titled “Living and Dying in Christ.” I typically hear it sung as a “sending” hymn at the end of a service. I’ve heard it at funerals a number of times; it’s on my wife’s list of hymns she wants at her funeral.
(And @Baptist Trainfan, you have my curiosity piqued. I’m away from home today, but when I get back I shall certainly check my copy of Rejoice and Sing.)
Meanwhile, I tend to share the feelings about “I Am the Bread of Life” that some others have expressed. But the refrain was appropriate. And I was reminded that the first time I ever heard/sang that hymn was 30 or so years ago in this particular Episcopal church.
We normally have three Sunday services; 9am "traditional", 10.45 "family" & 6pm "contemporary". To conclude our "Lent series" which has been running on Sundays and in home groups, we held one united service at 10.30. The hymns & worship songs were chosen to reflect the different musical styles of the three service formats but, as our Rector reminded us, the style of worship is far less important than who we worship
Behold our God / Jonathan, Meghan & Ryan Baird, Stephen Altrogge
Don't it make you wonder / Jeremy Smith (Dumbrocks)
When I was lost you came and rescued me / Kate & Miles Simmonds
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer / Nathan Stiff
Facing a task unfinished (We go to all the world) / AURELIA arr Keith & Krystin Getty
Tell out my soul / WOODLANDS
Purple at Our Place today, with all statues, pictures, crucifixes etc. duly veiled - some hard work was carried out yesterday morning after The Annunciation Mass! Hymns sung at that service were The angel Gabriel from heaven came (Birjina Gaztettobat Zegoen*) and Virgin-born, we bow before thee (Quem Pastores).
(* the Basque melody, as enny fule kno.)
Today they had:
O sacred head, surrounded (Passion Chorale) Glory be to Jesus (Caswall) Drop, drop, slow tears (sung by cantors, to Gibbons' Song 46) Rock of ages (Petra, I think) When I survey the wondrous cross (Rockingham, I expect)
Quite a good selection IMHO, though I prefer WISTWC to O Waly Waly, just to be awkward.
By contrast, some Lutherans in Sweden and Finland were keeping today as The Annunciation, with white vestments (and, in the case of St Ansgar, Uppsala, some nice Marian hymns and plenty of incense ).
IIRC, Our Place uses red on Palm Sunday, then back to purple for the first 3 days of Holy Week, white on Maundy Thursday, and red on Good Friday.
We increasingly see "A Celebration of the Life of ....." on funeral booklets. Even when the deceased was known to be a five star asshole. It would seem to be bad form to use religious language on them.
We increasingly see "A Celebration of the Life of ....." on funeral booklets. Even when the deceased was known to be a five star asshole. It would seem to be bad form to use religious language on them.
I prefer WISTWC to O Waly Waly, just to be awkward.
There's also Deep Harmony or (say it with fear) the Cliff Richard version.
I beg to report that I know neither of those tunes...but please don't let FatherInCharge hear about the Cliff Richard version, or that will become the norm at Our Place
Immortal, invisible (St. Denio)
Restore, O Lord, the honour of your name
Soldiers Of Christ, Arise (Strength to Strength)
Join all the glorious names (Darwall)
For the early morning service (which is traditional in the sense that it has a pianist providing the music, an OT Reading, a psalm responsively read, and a NT Reading. The sermon and preacher are the same as the late morning service - which has a praise band and only the reading that's being preached on.)
Yes, that almost seems to be the norm these days. It avoids the word "death" which frightens people.
"Passed" as a euphemism for died is obnoxious. I pass turds and Post Offices. But one day I will die. And thats just fine.
I think the synonyms for death can be a sign of hope though, too. "Passed" can easily have connotations of "... from this world to the next". I will gladly admit I get a lift from seeing "Entered into life" on a gravestone. It can be saccharine and wishy-washy, but it can also have a steel core of dogged faith in the midst of adversity and heartbreak.
Lent 5 (rather than Passion Sunday).
Holy Communion
Christ triumphant - Guiting power
There is a redeemer- Melody Green
From heaven you came - The Servant King
Lift high the cross ( in part) - Crucifer
Motet- The sacrifices of God- Hugh Blair
Evensong
How sweet the name- St Peter
We sing the praise of him who died- Bow Brickhill
When I survey - Rockingham
O sacred head surrounded - J S Bach Passion Chorale
Anthem - God so loved the world - Stainer
Considerable welly - ????? All I can think of is Wellington boots, and that does not seem right.
"Giving it welly" - singing with gusto.
Thanks for the replies re: liturgical colours for Passion Sunday. I often wondered why we sang versions of the Passion Gospel on Palm Sunday rather than Passion Sunday when we were in Canadian cathedrals; @Sojourner and @Forthview's posts make sense.
I must admit to always feeling that 'passed' has biological functions.
We celebrated the fifth Sunday in Lent, with Palm Sunday next Sunday.
Lead us Hevenly Father lead us (Mannheim)
All ye who Seek a Comfort Sure (St Bernard)
Glory be to Jesus (Caswall)
Light of the Worlds that Know Him (Cruger)
Lent 5
How firm a foundation, / St Denio
O breath of Life, / Spiritus Vitae
This is a day of new beginnings, / Beginnings
Love will be our Lenten calling, /Picardy
Choral
Introit: O Lord Increase Our Faith, by Henry Loosemore
Anthem: Fall to the earth, small solitary seed
Instrumental preludes and postlude
Duos for two violins by Gliere: Nos. 1,3,7,9
It evokes a simple mental response for me - passed what? The driving test? The post office? Wind?
I'm afraid that my hospital experiences invoke in me memories of asking patients if they have passed anything. Why are we so uncomfortable in saying died? Why do we dissemble?
Gone are the days of “ 3 score and 10, or 80 if you are strong”
As another Shipmate once commented, her nonagenarian mother regarded death as something which happens to other people.
Death in the last 50 years ( the duration of my professional life in health) has become the unexpected, something to be staved off whether one is newborn or 90.
We are profoundly uncomfortable with “death”, “dying” and “dead”.
I may be wrong, but I seem to feel that "passed" is a Caribbean usage which has entered mainstream English.
The Lay-Folks’ Mass-Book (1370, p. 2 of the transcription) includes a prayer asking that God grant:
rest & pece þat [that] lastes ay [forever]
to cristen soules passed away. . . .
And then there are “passing bells.”
“Passed,” “passed away” and “passed on” all, of course, refer to passing from this life to the next.
So, no, probably not Caribbean, nor a modern euphemism for death.
Thank you. I was thinking specifically of "passed" - as in "My mum passed last summer" - without "away".
Fair enough. Where I live, “passed away,” “passed on” and simply “passed” are used pretty much interchangeably, and have been as long as I can remember. And none of them specify what has passed.
I rarely say any of them. In my family, we always said “died.”
If thou but trust in God to guide thee (Wer nur den lieben Gott)
Thou art the Way, to thee alone (St. James)
Humbly I adore thee, Verity unseen (Adoro devote)
Lord Jesus, think on me (Southwell)
Choral:
Healey Willan: Missa Brevis V in F# minor (1935)
Giovanni Battista Casali: Confitebor tibi
Patricia Van Ness: Be pleased to deliver me (rev. 2019)
I may be wrong, but I seem to feel that "passed" is a Caribbean usage which has entered mainstream English.
Given I've seen it more in Scotland than in England that seems unlikely.
"Passed" -- which I take to be a short form of "passed away" is ubiquitous in Canada and, I suspect in the US, and has been for a couple of decades at least. "Passed away" has been ordinary usage (instead of "died") in my memory for 70 years.
I may be wrong, but I seem to feel that "passed" is a Caribbean usage which has entered mainstream English.
Given I've seen it more in Scotland than in England that seems unlikely.
"Passed" -- which I take to be a short form of "passed away" is ubiquitous in Canada and, I suspect in the US, and has been for a couple of decades at least.
the verb “pass” passed into English in the early 13th century by way of England’s Norman rulers.
The English verb has been used in reference to dying since around the year 1230, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Many of the early published references cited in the OED use it in the verbal phrases “pass to God” or “pass to heaven.” The verbal phrase “pass away,” which is more common today, dates from the 14th century.
The word “pass” has been used by itself since around 1340 as a verb meaning to die. The OED cites published references in Chaucer, Shakespeare, Tennyson, and many other writers.
Here’s an example from King Lear (1608): “Vex not his ghost, / O let him passe.” The OED says, however, that this use of “pass” alone for “die” is now primarily North American.
Perhaps this is another example of a usage passing out of favor in much of Britain but being retained elsewhere in the Anglosphere, and then being viewed as a “foreign” innovation when reintroduced in Britain?
Considerable welly - ????? All I can think of is Wellington boots, and that does not seem right.
"Giving it welly" - singing with gusto.
Thanks - I could never have guessed that.
As in, aiming it strong kick with one's size 14s.
Now that I know, I can see the line of thinking behind the term. But "welly" here if used at all (it's pretty uncommon even in my age group and barely known in those of younger years) is simply an abbreviation.
I forgot at the weekend to post what I sang with Scottish Voices at St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow, for their Patronal Festival (Feast of the Annunciation):
Introit: Dixit Maria - Hans Leo Hassler
Communion Setting: Missa super Dixit Maria - Hans Leo Hassler
Hymns:
The angel Gabriel from heaven came - Gabriel's Message Tell out, my soul - Woodlands Sing we of the blessed Mother - Abbot's Leigh
We sang the Agnus Dei from the Mass as a motet; we rehearsed Byrd's Ave verum corpus, but sadly there wasn't a big enough congregation to give us time to sing it.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable day all the same (we repaired to an establishment serving GIN and other beverages afterwards).
The motet Dixit Maria & parody Mass thereof is a firm favourite. Years ago I sang in a ( RC) choir the secretary thereof was a controlling bully who was slavishly devoted to the choirmaster; she was known as the Ancilla Domini. Unfortunately whenever we sang the motet and got to “Ecce ancilla domini” it was cause uncontrolled giggles among the singers, so the motet was canned for some years and when finally resurrected, she took umbrage & stormed out if rehearsal. We sang it regardless, with best party manners on
@Alan29 - it is indeed a fun choir to sing in - I joined last summer and I thoroughly enjoy it. I don't know whereabouts you are (don't worry, I won't ask), but there may be an RSCM Voices choir near you - I think some are recruiting just now as I've seen Facebook posts from them.
Tomorrow's scheduled offering of Hymns at Our Place is as follows:
Palm Procession - All glory, laud, and honour (St Theodulph) Introit - Ride on, ride on in majesty (Winchester New - the one we know!) Offertory - Take up thy cross, the Saviour said (Breslau) Communion - There is a green hill far away (Horsley) Post-communion - Were you there when they crucified my Lord? (traditional tune)
In the past, we've had Samuel Crossman's superb My song is love unknown (tune by John Ireland) as the Offertory hymn on Palm Sunday, but I suspect FatherInCharge may think it's a bit too long - he will have to get a move on tomorrow, as there is a baptism immediately after Mass!
I hope to visit some of my favourite Nordic Lutheran (and other) churches online, to see what they're up to, and whether I recognise any of the hymns...
@Alan29 - it is indeed a fun choir to sing in - I joined last summer and I thoroughly enjoy it. I don't know whereabouts you are (don't worry, I won't ask), but there may be an RSCM Voices choir near you - I think some are recruiting just now as I've seen Facebook posts from them.
Would that I had the time or (now at my advanced years) the voice.
Tomorrow
Palm Sunday Processional - Chris Walker.
Psalm - My God, my God why have you forsaken me.
Offertory - Srrvant King
Communion - Be still for the Presence of the Lord
End - My song is love unknown.
In the evening we host Stations of the Cross, which our ecumenical friends always seem to appreciate.
The usual music for Palm Sunday. It was nice to have an augmented choir of some extra men which pleased everyone.
All Glory laud and honour
The Royal banners forward go.
Ride on ride on in majesty
Psalm - My God, my God, why have you abandoned me.
Dudman setting of the Eucharist.
We used not like the Dudman, but the more we think about it, the more we appreciate it. It was set for the newish liturgy, not adapted from something else. More importantly, Dudman obviously wrote bearing in mind that almost all of those singing it would not be trained singers, and in addition that many of the men would have a limited range.
Our Palm Sunday offerings at St Pete's were very similar to most others:
All glory, laud and honour - St Theodulph Ride on, ride on in majesty - Winchester New There is a green hill far away - Horsley Were you there when they crucified my Lord? - Were you there? We sing the praise of him who died - Warrington
The Gospel narrative was, well, narrated by a few members of the congregation with the rest of us joining in with the crowd/high priests/other assorted baddies' parts.
I rather miss the tradition we followed in Canada of singing the Passion (usually IIRC to a setting by Victoria) with a couple of soloists as narrator and other principals, and the choir being the crowd.
I discovered a tambourine lurking in the back of a cupboard.
It proved to be just the thing for keeping the singing together during the procession with palms.
179 at the 11.00 Mass this morning. Post Covid recovery seems to be gathering speed.
And they sang their socks off.
All glory, laud and honour - St Theodulph Ride on, ride on in majesty - Winchester New Praise Him, Praise Him! Jesus, Our Blessèd Redeemer - Joyful Song Make Way, Make Way, For Christ The King - Graham Kendrick
As they say on Sesame Street, "One of these songs is not like the others"
Comments
Similarly, in my denomination (the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)), the “proper” name for the funeral liturgy is the “Service of Witness to the Resurrection.” It similarly is (or should be) an Easter liturgy at heart, so white is the proper color and Alleluias are appropriate, even in Lent.
In my tribe’s hymnal, “Lift High the Cross” is in the section titled “Living and Dying in Christ.” I typically hear it sung as a “sending” hymn at the end of a service. I’ve heard it at funerals a number of times; it’s on my wife’s list of hymns she wants at her funeral.
(And @Baptist Trainfan, you have my curiosity piqued. I’m away from home today, but when I get back I shall certainly check my copy of Rejoice and Sing.)
Meanwhile, I tend to share the feelings about “I Am the Bread of Life” that some others have expressed. But the refrain was appropriate. And I was reminded that the first time I ever heard/sang that hymn was 30 or so years ago in this particular Episcopal church.
Behold our God / Jonathan, Meghan & Ryan Baird, Stephen Altrogge
Don't it make you wonder / Jeremy Smith (Dumbrocks)
When I was lost you came and rescued me / Kate & Miles Simmonds
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer / Nathan Stiff
Facing a task unfinished (We go to all the world) / AURELIA arr Keith & Krystin Getty
Tell out my soul / WOODLANDS
(* the Basque melody, as enny fule kno.)
Today they had:
O sacred head, surrounded (Passion Chorale)
Glory be to Jesus (Caswall)
Drop, drop, slow tears (sung by cantors, to Gibbons' Song 46)
Rock of ages (Petra, I think)
When I survey the wondrous cross (Rockingham, I expect)
Quite a good selection IMHO, though I prefer WISTWC to O Waly Waly, just to be awkward.
By contrast, some Lutherans in Sweden and Finland were keeping today as The Annunciation, with white vestments (and, in the case of St Ansgar, Uppsala, some nice Marian hymns and plenty of incense
IIRC, Our Place uses red on Palm Sunday, then back to purple for the first 3 days of Holy Week, white on Maundy Thursday, and red on Good Friday.
[Some Anglicans (and Scottish Episcopalians )follow the Roman terms and others don't and others are not sure.[/quote]
You aren’t wrong there: check out Anglican Sydney for starters…
I beg to report that I know neither of those tunes...but please don't let FatherInCharge hear about the Cliff Richard version, or that will become the norm at Our Place
Restore, O Lord, the honour of your name
Soldiers Of Christ, Arise (Strength to Strength)
Join all the glorious names (Darwall)
For the early morning service (which is traditional in the sense that it has a pianist providing the music, an OT Reading, a psalm responsively read, and a NT Reading. The sermon and preacher are the same as the late morning service - which has a praise band and only the reading that's being preached on.)
I think the synonyms for death can be a sign of hope though, too. "Passed" can easily have connotations of "... from this world to the next". I will gladly admit I get a lift from seeing "Entered into life" on a gravestone. It can be saccharine and wishy-washy, but it can also have a steel core of dogged faith in the midst of adversity and heartbreak.
Holy Communion
Christ triumphant - Guiting power
There is a redeemer- Melody Green
From heaven you came - The Servant King
Lift high the cross ( in part) - Crucifer
Motet- The sacrifices of God- Hugh Blair
Evensong
How sweet the name- St Peter
We sing the praise of him who died- Bow Brickhill
When I survey - Rockingham
O sacred head surrounded - J S Bach Passion Chorale
Anthem - God so loved the world - Stainer
Given I've seen it more in Scotland than in England that seems unlikely.
"Giving it welly" - singing with gusto.
Thanks for the replies re: liturgical colours for Passion Sunday. I often wondered why we sang versions of the Passion Gospel on Palm Sunday rather than Passion Sunday when we were in Canadian cathedrals; @Sojourner and @Forthview's posts make sense.
And then there are “passing bells.”
“Passed,” “passed away” and “passed on” all, of course, refer to passing from this life to the next.
So, no, probably not Caribbean, nor a modern euphemism for death.
We celebrated the fifth Sunday in Lent, with Palm Sunday next Sunday.
Lead us Hevenly Father lead us (Mannheim)
All ye who Seek a Comfort Sure (St Bernard)
Glory be to Jesus (Caswall)
Light of the Worlds that Know Him (Cruger)
Thanks - I could never have guessed that.
Death is, in a manner of speaking, itself a biological function. Were one so inclined one might describe it as the excretion of the soul.
As for euphemisms for death, I believe the Gospel has it that Jesus "gave up his spirit".
How firm a foundation, / St Denio
O breath of Life, / Spiritus Vitae
This is a day of new beginnings, / Beginnings
Love will be our Lenten calling, /Picardy
Choral
Introit: O Lord Increase Our Faith, by Henry Loosemore
Anthem: Fall to the earth, small solitary seed
Instrumental preludes and postlude
Duos for two violins by Gliere: Nos. 1,3,7,9
Thank you. I was thinking specifically of "passed" - as in "My mum passed last summer" - without "away".
Me too.
"Gave up the Ghost" in the KJV wasn't it?
I believe so.
It evokes a simple mental response for me - passed what? The driving test? The post office? Wind?
I'm afraid that my hospital experiences invoke in me memories of asking patients if they have passed anything. Why are we so uncomfortable in saying died? Why do we dissemble?
Fixed coding - Nenya, Ecclesiantics Host
Gone are the days of “ 3 score and 10, or 80 if you are strong”
As another Shipmate once commented, her nonagenarian mother regarded death as something which happens to other people.
Death in the last 50 years ( the duration of my professional life in health) has become the unexpected, something to be staved off whether one is newborn or 90.
We are profoundly uncomfortable with “death”, “dying” and “dead”.
I rarely say any of them. In my family, we always said “died.”
If thou but trust in God to guide thee (Wer nur den lieben Gott)
Thou art the Way, to thee alone (St. James)
Humbly I adore thee, Verity unseen (Adoro devote)
Lord Jesus, think on me (Southwell)
Choral:
Healey Willan: Missa Brevis V in F# minor (1935)
Giovanni Battista Casali: Confitebor tibi
Patricia Van Ness: Be pleased to deliver me (rev. 2019)
"Passed" -- which I take to be a short form of "passed away" is ubiquitous in Canada and, I suspect in the US, and has been for a couple of decades at least. "Passed away" has been ordinary usage (instead of "died") in my memory for 70 years.
Perhaps this is another example of a usage passing out of favor in much of Britain but being retained elsewhere in the Anglosphere, and then being viewed as a “foreign” innovation when reintroduced in Britain?
It's a funeral. Celebration of the Resurrection and the triumph of the Cross at the same time.
As in, aiming it strong kick with one's size 14s.
Now that I know, I can see the line of thinking behind the term. But "welly" here if used at all (it's pretty uncommon even in my age group and barely known in those of younger years) is simply an abbreviation.
Introit: Dixit Maria - Hans Leo Hassler
Communion Setting: Missa super Dixit Maria - Hans Leo Hassler
Hymns:
The angel Gabriel from heaven came - Gabriel's Message
Tell out, my soul - Woodlands
Sing we of the blessed Mother - Abbot's Leigh
We sang the Agnus Dei from the Mass as a motet; we rehearsed Byrd's Ave verum corpus, but sadly there wasn't a big enough congregation to give us time to sing it.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable day all the same (we repaired to an establishment serving GIN and other beverages afterwards).
@Alan29 - it is indeed a fun choir to sing in - I joined last summer and I thoroughly enjoy it. I don't know whereabouts you are (don't worry, I won't ask), but there may be an
RSCM Voices choir near you - I think some are recruiting just now as I've seen Facebook posts from them.
Palm Procession - All glory, laud, and honour (St Theodulph)
Introit - Ride on, ride on in majesty (Winchester New - the one we know!)
Offertory - Take up thy cross, the Saviour said (Breslau)
Communion - There is a green hill far away (Horsley)
Post-communion - Were you there when they crucified my Lord? (traditional tune)
In the past, we've had Samuel Crossman's superb My song is love unknown (tune by John Ireland) as the Offertory hymn on Palm Sunday, but I suspect FatherInCharge may think it's a bit too long - he will have to get a move on tomorrow, as there is a baptism immediately after Mass!
I hope to visit some of my favourite Nordic Lutheran (and other) churches online, to see what they're up to, and whether I recognise any of the hymns...
Would that I had the time or (now at my advanced years) the voice.
Palm Sunday Processional - Chris Walker.
Psalm - My God, my God why have you forsaken me.
Offertory - Srrvant King
Communion - Be still for the Presence of the Lord
End - My song is love unknown.
In the evening we host Stations of the Cross, which our ecumenical friends always seem to appreciate.
All Glory laud and honour
The Royal banners forward go.
Ride on ride on in majesty
Psalm - My God, my God, why have you abandoned me.
Dudman setting of the Eucharist.
All glory, laud and honour - St Theodulph
Ride on, ride on in majesty - Winchester New
There is a green hill far away - Horsley
Were you there when they crucified my Lord? - Were you there?
We sing the praise of him who died - Warrington
The Gospel narrative was, well, narrated by a few members of the congregation with the rest of us joining in with the crowd/high priests/other assorted baddies' parts.
I rather miss the tradition we followed in Canada of singing the Passion (usually IIRC to a setting by Victoria) with a couple of soloists as narrator and other principals, and the choir being the crowd.
It proved to be just the thing for keeping the singing together during the procession with palms.
179 at the 11.00 Mass this morning. Post Covid recovery seems to be gathering speed.
And they sang their socks off.
Ride on, ride on in majesty - Winchester New
Praise Him, Praise Him! Jesus, Our Blessèd Redeemer - Joyful Song
Make Way, Make Way, For Christ The King - Graham Kendrick
As they say on Sesame Street, "One of these songs is not like the others"