Meanwhile, I find myself wondering whether @Foaming Draught has come any closer to deciding what to on May 3.
Wonder no more. I shall use the Jubilate words, as I had always intended. To Neander's tune Unser Herrscher, rather than the more common Purcell Westminster Abbey. But I shall be looking and listening out for cognoscenti singing the proper words, and shall wink conspiratorially at them during distribution. And instead of it being the closing song, it will come after the Epistle, or rather four verses of it will. The doxology (Ah, sadly, Praise, not Laud) will do duty as a sung post-benediction.
I thought of this thread today. Our final hymn was "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God". Fairly straightforward you might think. But then I noticed that the second verse had changed from
Man shall not live by bread alone
to We shall not live by bread alone
I understand why, and have no wish to dig up the previous thread on that issue. Our hymn book does it where it's feasible. But on a practical level, it now means we switch from Jesus telling us something (seek ye first) to us affirming (we shall etc) and then back to Jesus (ask and the door...) and then something that I guess could be Jesus although it's actually from Proverbs (trust in the Lord with all thine heart).
(And yes, I know other hymns/songs do that also - I the Lord of Sea and Sky or Come, now is the time to worship for a start. Doesn't make it any less confusing.)
Add to that the mix of old-timey language (ye, unto, thine, thy) and modern language (you) where the rule seems to be 'use whatever scans'.
You're left with something that sounds simple but if you're new to it, is anything but.
I thought of this thread this morning too, because we sang Charles Wesley's fabulous 'Jesu, lover of my soul' (to Aberystwyth) and verse 3 (which is starred) was omitted. Apart from being extremely satisfying to sing ('False and full of sin I am/Thou art full of truth and grace'), it's the necessary prelude to the concluding verse. And who on earth thinks that four verses is too many for a hymn?
I thought of this thread this morning too, because we sang Charles Wesley's fabulous 'Jesu, lover of my soul' (to Aberystwyth) and verse 3 (which is starred) was omitted. Apart from being extremely satisfying to sing ('False and full of sin I am/Thou art full of truth and grace'), it's the necessary prelude to the concluding verse. And who on earth thinks that four verses is too many for a hymn?
Our minister, who on multiple occasions has requested verses 1, 3 and 5 of All my hope on God is founded. It's not even as if the verses are that long - I have a recording that runs to just over 3 min including introduction and all 5 verses.
For Seek ye first I think CH4 renders it as "you shall not live by bread alone" which is closer to the original sense.
Probably could be another thread, but (as I've said elsewhere a lot) I'm not a fan of changing hymn lyrics in general from traditional/old-fashioned in general. But one area in which I particularly don't like it when I get the impression that (whether changing lyrics or, as in the case mentioned by @Amos above, if my assumption here is correct) it's to avoid things that might make people in the modern era "uncomfortable," like references to our sinfulness and things. (I'm not a fan either of avoiding the confession of sins and absolution in the liturgy during Easter, as I've encountered before, because it's supposed to be "more joyful" that way--what, do they think we stop sinning just because it's Easter? Ugh.)
I thought of this thread today. Our final hymn was "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God". Fairly straightforward you might think. But then I noticed that the second verse had changed from
Man shall not live by bread alone
to We shall not live by bread alone
I understand why, and have no wish to dig up the previous thread on that issue. Our hymn book does it where it's feasible. But on a practical level, it now means we switch from Jesus telling us something (seek ye first) to us affirming (we shall etc) and then back to Jesus (ask and the door...) and then something that I guess could be Jesus although it's actually from Proverbs (trust in the Lord with all thine heart).
In our hymnal, that “bread alone” verse is “You shall not live by bread alone . . . ,” so all three verses (we don’t have the last verse you mentioned) are framed as from Jesus to us.
FWIW, Karen Lafferty (still living, sfaik) only wrote the first verse (“Seek ye first . . .”). The additional verses are all anonymous additions that appear to have grown and caught on organically. What that means is that there is no “author’s definitive version” of those verses, nor are they copyrighted.
That said, the first verse is also slightly modified in our hymnal. Given that that verse is still under copyright, and knowing how scrupulous the committee and staff that put that hymnal together were when it came to copyright and changing words, I am confident that approval for the modification was approved by the copyright holders.
Comments
Wonder no more. I shall use the Jubilate words, as I had always intended. To Neander's tune Unser Herrscher, rather than the more common Purcell Westminster Abbey. But I shall be looking and listening out for cognoscenti singing the proper words, and shall wink conspiratorially at them during distribution. And instead of it being the closing song, it will come after the Epistle, or rather four verses of it will. The doxology (Ah, sadly, Praise, not Laud) will do duty as a sung post-benediction.
I still gave it welly!
Man shall not live by bread alone
to
We shall not live by bread alone
I understand why, and have no wish to dig up the previous thread on that issue. Our hymn book does it where it's feasible. But on a practical level, it now means we switch from Jesus telling us something (seek ye first) to us affirming (we shall etc) and then back to Jesus (ask and the door...) and then something that I guess could be Jesus although it's actually from Proverbs (trust in the Lord with all thine heart).
(And yes, I know other hymns/songs do that also - I the Lord of Sea and Sky or Come, now is the time to worship for a start. Doesn't make it any less confusing.)
Add to that the mix of old-timey language (ye, unto, thine, thy) and modern language (you) where the rule seems to be 'use whatever scans'.
You're left with something that sounds simple but if you're new to it, is anything but.
Our minister, who on multiple occasions has requested verses 1, 3 and 5 of All my hope on God is founded. It's not even as if the verses are that long - I have a recording that runs to just over 3 min including introduction and all 5 verses.
For Seek ye first I think CH4 renders it as "you shall not live by bread alone" which is closer to the original sense.
FWIW, Karen Lafferty (still living, sfaik) only wrote the first verse (“Seek ye first . . .”). The additional verses are all anonymous additions that appear to have grown and caught on organically. What that means is that there is no “author’s definitive version” of those verses, nor are they copyrighted.
That said, the first verse is also slightly modified in our hymnal. Given that that verse is still under copyright, and knowing how scrupulous the committee and staff that put that hymnal together were when it came to copyright and changing words, I am confident that approval for the modification was approved by the copyright holders.