We had the meeting about hymns for the next few months last night, and it was actually very cordial. There were eight of us there, and the traditionalists were outnumbered 5:3, but most of the suggestions were fairly sensible, and Rev'd Rosie even asked me to email her what I thought would be suitable fare for Advent!*
Sadly, the hymnbook (Complete Anglican Hymns Old & New, unfortunately) I ordered from the RSCM still hasn't arrived; I had an email from them today saying there would be a further delay, and as the office (where I'd asked them to deliver it) is closed on Monday, I asked them for a different date. I clicked on "27th August", but for reasons best known to themselves, they've told me it'll now be delivered on 2nd September.
I've been ordering stuff from them ever since I joined Scottish Voices, and they're usually mind-bogglingly quick in their delivery - like next day or the day after.
* How I wish we had a choir that could sing This is the record of John, or even the descants to O come, O come, Emmanuel or Lo, he comes with clouds descending!
We had the meeting about hymns for the next few months last night, and it was actually very cordial. There were eight of us there, and the traditionalists were outnumbered 5:3, but most of the suggestions were fairly sensible, and Rev'd Rosie even asked me to email her what I thought would be suitable fare for Advent!*
Sadly, the hymnbook (Complete Anglican Hymns Old & New, unfortunately) I ordered from the RSCM still hasn't arrived; I had an email from them today saying there would be a further delay, and as the office (where I'd asked them to deliver it) is closed on Monday, I asked them for a different date. I clicked on "27th August", but for reasons best known to themselves, they've told me it'll now be delivered on 2nd September.
@Piglet at this time of year, I blame anything like this on the upcoming Bank Holiday in England. Though as it is also still school holidays in England, and I know from bitter experience that messes up all sorts of things. Says she who tries to organise appointments/work people during out of term time and they all tell me they can't do a thing until September as they're all on holiday...
Here's hoping for better things going forwards.
I'm just off to rearrange tomorrow's hymns list as I've been instructed we have to have one not in our hymnbook (10,000 reasons) and I know we are going to be short of singers who know it. Fortunately the place in the service I've been told I have to have it in a place where I can sing it loudly as I'm playing it. But the list I had in place was already a bit of a push for a known short of singers Sunday so rethink time it is.
I don't think the Bank Holiday can be to blame - I ordered it on 3rd August. I've ordered loads of things from them before for Scottish Voices gigs, and they've rarely taken more than a few days.
It's not that I actually want the bloody thing - it's just that it would be helpful to have some dots in front of me whenever I don't know the tune!
I'm just off to rearrange tomorrow's hymns list as I've been instructed we have to have one not in our hymnbook (10,000 reasons) and I know we are going to be short of singers who know it. Fortunately the place in the service I've been told I have to have it in a place where I can sing it loudly as I'm playing it. But the list I had in place was already a bit of a push for a known short of singers Sunday so rethink time it is.
We had the meeting about hymns for the next few months last night, and it was actually very cordial. There were eight of us there, and the traditionalists were outnumbered 5:3, but most of the suggestions were fairly sensible, and Rev'd Rosie even asked me to email her what I thought would be suitable fare for Advent!*
<snip>
* How I wish we had a choir that could sing This is the record of John, or even the descants to O come, O come, Emmanuel or Lo, he comes with clouds descending!
Sounds positive! Possess your soul in patience, and you may one day be able to offer This is the record of John (complete with solo piglet).
Trinity 10 tomorrow at Our Place, with the following on offer:
Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven (Praise, My Soul)
God is love: his the care (Personent Hodie)
Gather around (Skye Boat Song)
Fill your hearts with joy and gladness (Ode To Joy)
It does strike me that a smallish church with only one main service most weeks has to either decide that it will focus on a particular musical and liturgical tradition (eg traditional or modern), or must try and offer "a bit of everything" which won't please everyone all the time! Given that I believe a church (especially a parish church) should try to include everyone, I'd favour the latter approach. Of course, too, a church must offer what music it can, according to its available resources; I much prefer average musicians performing simple pieces well to them trying to do stuff that's beyond their reach.
It does strike me that a smallish church with only one main service most weeks has to either decide that it will focus on a particular musical and liturgical tradition (eg traditional or modern), or must try and offer "a bit of everything" which won't please everyone all the time! Given that I believe a church (especially a parish church) should try to include everyone, I'd favour the latter approach. Of course, too, a church must offer what music it can, according to its available resources; I much prefer average musicians performing simple pieces well to them trying to do stuff that's beyond their reach.
Indeed. To be fair, the Dread Orange Boke (Complete Anglican Hymns Old And New) does offer a wide variety of hymns and songs - later editions include more recent work.
It's certainly true, too, that it's better to do simple stuff well than to try complex stuff, and get it wrong. Percy Dearmer offered this sensible advice many years ago.
It does strike me that a smallish church with only one main service most weeks has to either decide that it will focus on a particular musical and liturgical tradition (eg traditional or modern), or must try and offer "a bit of everything" which won't please everyone all the time! Given that I believe a church (especially a parish church) should try to include everyone, I'd favour the latter approach.
The latter approach is our approach. The key, I think, is introduction of new music in a way that helps the congregation learn it, and perhaps even “adopt” it as part of “what we sing.”
You’re never going to please everyone all the time anyway. I look at encountering hymns in the service that I don’t particularly like (or downright loathe) as a helpful reminder that “it’s not about me.” I can guarantee that when we sing a hymn I don’t like, there are others in the congregation for whom it’s a meaningful favorite. It’s not about me.
I don't think the Bank Holiday can be to blame - I ordered it on 3rd August. I've ordered loads of things from them before for Scottish Voices gigs, and they've rarely taken more than a few days.
It's not that I actually want the bloody thing - it's just that it would be helpful to have some dots in front of me whenever I don't know the tune!
Ah, no, that's not Bank Holiday problems!
If I lived near enough you could've had my copy on loan for as long as needed, as I only have a copy because I was in a similar situation to you for a while.
I'm just off to rearrange tomorrow's hymns list as I've been instructed we have to have one not in our hymnbook (10,000 reasons) and I know we are going to be short of singers who know it. Fortunately the place in the service I've been told I have to have it in a place where I can sing it loudly as I'm playing it. But the list I had in place was already a bit of a push for a known short of singers Sunday so rethink time it is.
Inquiring minds . . . .
Well...bear in mind we're a small church (average congregation 20-ish at the moment) with few confident singers, but who do like what we do music wise and who like to sing. Which is mostly traditional hymns, new hymn words which fit to well known to us tunes, and some more contemporary songs mostly in a hymn style.
I try to have only one less well-known to us hymn/song per service. I already had two, one because it worked well with the readings, and another which I've been slowly introducing lately - but I'd forgotten when I was doing the lists for this month, it was a holiday weekend, and we'd likely be even smaller than usual - then my most confident singer has decided to be away as well which I'm delighted about, as he rarely takes a Sunday off.
Anyway, Beauty for Brokenness has been cut out to make room for 10,000 reasons.
I'm just off to rearrange tomorrow's hymns list as I've been instructed we have to have one not in our hymnbook (10,000 reasons) and I know we are going to be short of singers who know it. Fortunately the place in the service I've been told I have to have it in a place where I can sing it loudly as I'm playing it. But the list I had in place was already a bit of a push for a known short of singers Sunday so rethink time it is.
Inquiring minds . . . .
Well...bear in mind we're a small church (average congregation 20-ish at the moment) with few confident singers, but who do like what we do music wise and who like to sing. Which is mostly traditional hymns, new hymn words which fit to well known to us tunes, and some more contemporary songs mostly in a hymn style.
I try to have only one less well-known to us hymn/song per service. I already had two, one because it worked well with the readings, and another which I've been slowly introducing lately - but I'd forgotten when I was doing the lists for this month, it was a holiday weekend, and we'd likely be even smaller than usual - then my most confident singer has decided to be away as well which I'm delighted about, as he rarely takes a Sunday off.
Anyway, Beauty for Brokenness has been cut out to make room for 10,000 reasons.
Ah, thanks.
This would be where I sheepishly admit that when you put “10,000 reasons” in parentheses, I read it as meaning “I’ve been instructed we have to have one not in our hymnbook (there are [hyperbolically] 10,000 reasons we have to have it) and I know we are going to be short of singers who know it.” It didn’t occur to me that “10,000 Reasons” might be a title. My apologies.
I’m afraid “10,000 Reasons” and “Beauty for Brokenness” are both totally unfamiliar to me—and, I suspect, to many church folk on the west side of The Pond. According to hymnary.org, the only North American hymnals that “Beauty for Brokenness” appears in are the Mennonite Together in Song and Community of Christ Sings (the Community of Christ is what used to be the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), so both hymnals of relatively small groups. “10,000 Reasons” appears to be in that same Mennonite hymnal, in three Lutheran hymnals or hymnal supplements, and in Lift Up Your Hearts (Reformed Church in America and Christian Reformed Church in North America, both again relatively small groups.) I have some of those, so I’ll check it out.
@Nick Tamen I do, on appropriate occasions, like both Beauty for Brokenness and 10,000 reasons which I think are possibly reasonably well known this side of the pond. My guess is, as the first line of 10,000 reasons is "Bless the Lord, O my soul" it tends to get that name to distinguish it from the many other hymns/songs which begin the same way.
They're both irregular tunes in the verses as well which is why I'm only prepared to have one of those per service.
Looking at the hymnals in Hymnary.org - I own copies of half the ones which contain Beauty for Brokenness but the book I use for the music for10,000 reasons is not listed.
It is possible I might have been having a hypberbolic moment about just why we have to have it this coming Sunday... but I've been off the organ bench for a couple of weeks, so am behind on parish news, and the email with the instruction did not vouchsafe me a reason.
Therefore The Redeemed Of The Lord Shall Return (Lake)
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (Blaenwern)
Christ we proclaim, for we have heard (Jerusalem)
Rejoice, the Lord is King! (Darwall)
“Blessèd assurance, Jesus is mine!” - Assurance.
“Be still and know that I am God” - Anon.
“When all your mercies, O my God” - Stracathro.
“Through the night of doubt and sorrow” - Marching.
“O for a heart to praise my God” - Richmond.
Parish Communion
St Thomas Mass
Father, Lord of all creation-Abbot’s Leigh
Be thou my guardian and my guide-Abridge
I cannot tell - Londonderry Air
Be still for the presence of the Lord*
I danced in the morning-Lord of the dance
* one of our less regular Sopranos kept missing the bong at the beginning of each verse!
Rejoice! the Lord is King! - Gopsal O, the deep, deep love of Jesus - Ebenezer (Ton-y-Botel) God forgave my sin - Freely, Freely Like a mighty river - Old Yeavering Love divine, all loves excelling - Love Divine (the WRONG TUNE!!!!!)*
* at least I didn't have to sing it, as I was on coffee duty, so I could escape.
I'm inclined to think that today's organist, who's a curmudgeonly old git, did it on purpose. Because he's the one who prints the orders of service, he can put whatever tune he likes down.
I'm on holiday in Scotland (Kyle of Lochalsh) and this morning attended worship at the local Free Church of Scotland, a new experience for me. Singing without musical accompaniment reminded me of my childhood in the Open Brethren. We had a couple of metrical psalms from their 'Sing Psalms' book (although we didn't have books as like my own church back home all the words of hymns etc were on screens) these were sung to well known hymn tunes. We also had a couple of regular hymns/songs which included a Stuart Townend one (sorry can't remember which) they were all well known to me. I wanted to sing harmony, especially for one song that the female precentor had pitched rather high for my alto voice, but didn't know if it was 'allowed' so I mostly did it quietly (for me!). Lovely friendly church, good sermon, proper coffee...and the couple I sat with came back with me to see inside where I was staying as it was a rather interesting Airbnb .... a converted signal box!
We did not sing as per se as we had church 'cafe' style. A few songs were projected on the data projector to sing along. A few of us bought goodies for morning tea and one bought along her coffee machine and dispensed proper coffee
I'm just off to rearrange tomorrow's hymns list as I've been instructed we have to have one not in our hymnbook (10,000 reasons) and I know we are going to be short of singers who know it. Fortunately the place in the service I've been told I have to have it in a place where I can sing it loudly as I'm playing it. But the list I had in place was already a bit of a push for a known short of singers Sunday so rethink time it is.
Inquiring minds . . . .
Well...bear in mind we're a small church (average congregation 20-ish at the moment) with few confident singers, but who do like what we do music wise and who like to sing. Which is mostly traditional hymns, new hymn words which fit to well known to us tunes, and some more contemporary songs mostly in a hymn style.
I try to have only one less well-known to us hymn/song per service. I already had two, one because it worked well with the readings, and another which I've been slowly introducing lately - but I'd forgotten when I was doing the lists for this month, it was a holiday weekend, and we'd likely be even smaller than usual - then my most confident singer has decided to be away as well which I'm delighted about, as he rarely takes a Sunday off.
Anyway, Beauty for Brokenness has been cut out to make room for 10,000 reasons.
Ah, thanks.
This would be where I sheepishly admit that when you put “10,000 reasons” in parentheses, I read it as meaning “I’ve been instructed we have to have one not in our hymnbook (there are [hyperbolically] 10,000 reasons we have to have it) and I know we are going to be short of singers who know it.” It didn’t occur to me that “10,000 Reasons” might be a title. My apologies.
I’m afraid “10,000 Reasons” and “Beauty for Brokenness” are both totally unfamiliar to me—and, I suspect, to many church folk on the west side of The Pond. According to hymnary.org, the only North American hymnals that “Beauty for Brokenness” appears in are the Mennonite Together in Song and Community of Christ Sings (the Community of Christ is what used to be the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), so both hymnals of relatively small groups. “10,000 Reasons” appears to be in that same Mennonite hymnal, in three Lutheran hymnals or hymnal supplements, and in Lift Up Your Hearts (Reformed Church in America and Christian Reformed Church in North America, both again relatively small groups.) I have some of those, so I’ll check it out.
I would agree that BfB is less well known on this side of the pond, as only a couple Kendrick hymns have made their way over, but I would say 10,000 Reasons is decently well-known, as it's sort of a "modern classic" of the contemporary genre—you won't find it in hymnals, but I would say it's certainly sung often enough (although it's getting to the age where it's going out of favor a bit with contemporary worship churches.
I'm just off to rearrange tomorrow's hymns list as I've been instructed we have to have one not in our hymnbook (10,000 reasons) and I know we are going to be short of singers who know it. Fortunately the place in the service I've been told I have to have it in a place where I can sing it loudly as I'm playing it. But the list I had in place was already a bit of a push for a known short of singers Sunday so rethink time it is.
Inquiring minds . . . .
Well...bear in mind we're a small church (average congregation 20-ish at the moment) with few confident singers, but who do like what we do music wise and who like to sing. Which is mostly traditional hymns, new hymn words which fit to well known to us tunes, and some more contemporary songs mostly in a hymn style.
I try to have only one less well-known to us hymn/song per service. I already had two, one because it worked well with the readings, and another which I've been slowly introducing lately - but I'd forgotten when I was doing the lists for this month, it was a holiday weekend, and we'd likely be even smaller than usual - then my most confident singer has decided to be away as well which I'm delighted about, as he rarely takes a Sunday off.
Anyway, Beauty for Brokenness has been cut out to make room for 10,000 reasons.
Ah, thanks.
This would be where I sheepishly admit that when you put “10,000 reasons” in parentheses, I read it as meaning “I’ve been instructed we have to have one not in our hymnbook (there are [hyperbolically] 10,000 reasons we have to have it) and I know we are going to be short of singers who know it.” It didn’t occur to me that “10,000 Reasons” might be a title. My apologies.
I’m afraid “10,000 Reasons” and “Beauty for Brokenness” are both totally unfamiliar to me—and, I suspect, to many church folk on the west side of The Pond. According to hymnary.org, the only North American hymnals that “Beauty for Brokenness” appears in are the Mennonite Together in Song and Community of Christ Sings (the Community of Christ is what used to be the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), so both hymnals of relatively small groups. “10,000 Reasons” appears to be in that same Mennonite hymnal, in three Lutheran hymnals or hymnal supplements, and in Lift Up Your Hearts (Reformed Church in America and Christian Reformed Church in North America, both again relatively small groups.) I have some of those, so I’ll check it out.
I would agree that BfB is less well known on this side of the pond, as only a couple Kendrick hymns have made their way over, but I would say 10,000 Reasons is decently well-known, as it's sort of a "modern classic" of the contemporary genre—you won't find it in hymnals, but I would say it's certainly sung often enough (although it's getting to the age where it's going out of favor a bit with contemporary worship churches.
I must run in the wrong circles, I guess. I’ve looked “10,000 Reasons” up in hymnals I have and listened to it on YouTube, but it’s completely unfamiliar to me.
10,000 reasons is comparatively recent. It was only first released in mid-2011, and, of course, has taken a while to become part of a more mainstream repertoire.
I have to say I encountered 10 000 Reasons for the first time a month or so ago and, while it wasn't objectionable, I completely failed to comprehend its popularity.
Having just checked, it's definitely in a lower key in the Songs of Fellowship 5 book. (G major in the video I've just looked at, and E major in the SOF 5 book.)
In the end, after realising absolutely no-one in the congregation had any memory of ever singing 10,000 reasons before, (more than fair enough, we last did in in 2017 having only done it twice before then) I went with unaccompanied solo singing, with people joining in the chorus as they felt able, and that worked really well for us. I think if I'd done my usual play and sing along as I do normally, it would've gone disastrously wrong.
As to what key we sang it in - I've no idea as I just launched into what felt comfortable, and I didn't strain my voice either end of the range. Had I been playing along I'd've probably used the jolly useful transpose button to take it down slightly.
And I got my weeks wrong in my "Argh, I need to let this happen, but it won't work with my original list" panic on getting the e-mail - Beauty for Brokenness is still to come! But my confident singer will be back for that.
He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
Be Still for the Presence of the Lord
I the Lord of Sea and Sky
Brother Sister let me serve you
Morning has Broken
Shine Jesus Shine
I survived by playing the piano or bass depending on the hymn.
Is it permitted to enlighten those of us in the dark about The Sheet, or are those in the know sworn to secrecy?
No, not sworn to secrecy. These are hymns beloved by Anglo Catholics that appear at services only printed on the service sheet, hence the name. They nearly all go to well-known hymn tunes, so eminently singable and pretty much doggerel in my opinion. My guess is these hymns stem from the Interwar heyday of Anglo-Catholicism or perhaps a little earlier. I see a vicar* probably sitting down with a glass of port with the organist and saying, "We need a song for next week's procession in honour of...". Those that the congregation enjoyed got repeated.
*In other strains of Anglicanism, it would be the vicar turning to his wife and saying, "My dear, we need a song for next week's procession", but in Anglo-Catholicism, at the time, many priests were celibate.
He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
Be Still for the Presence of the Lord
I the Lord of Sea and Sky
Brother Sister let me serve you
Morning has Broken
Shine Jesus Shine
I survived by playing the piano or bass depending on the hymn.
I'm afraid I would have survived only by leaving the church as soon as I saw what was on the menu...
He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
Be Still for the Presence of the Lord
I the Lord of Sea and Sky
Brother Sister let me serve you
Morning has Broken
Shine Jesus Shine
I survived by playing the piano or bass depending on the hymn.
I'm afraid I would have survived only by leaving the church as soon as I saw what was on the menu...
It's like a meal composed entirely of different flavours of crisps: fine, but at least give me a sandwich and a banana to go with it.
He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
Be Still for the Presence of the Lord
I the Lord of Sea and Sky
Brother Sister let me serve you
Morning has Broken
Shine Jesus Shine
I survived by playing the piano or bass depending on the hymn.
I'm afraid I would have survived only by leaving the church as soon as I saw what was on the menu...
It's like a meal composed entirely of different flavours of crisps: fine, but at least give me a sandwich and a banana to go with it.
This is what happens when you let the hymns be chosen by popular vote.
He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
Be Still for the Presence of the Lord
I the Lord of Sea and Sky
Brother Sister let me serve you
Morning has Broken
Shine Jesus Shine
I survived by playing the piano or bass depending on the hymn.
I'm afraid I would have survived only by leaving the church as soon as I saw what was on the menu...
I have to say I encountered 10 000 Reasons for the first time a month or so ago and, while it wasn't objectionable, I completely failed to comprehend its popularity.
Tangent... I will confess that that song was one of the things that made me fade away from our 'home' church. The deafening, pounding accompaniment by the band that resembled riveters in a boiler shop had nothing to do with worship as I understand it. If we had been worshipping Vulcan it might have been different, but we weren't.
I have to say I encountered 10 000 Reasons for the first time a month or so ago and, while it wasn't objectionable, I completely failed to comprehend its popularity.
Tangent... I will confess that that song was one of the things that made me fade away from our 'home' church. The deafening, pounding accompaniment by the band that resembled riveters in a boiler shop had nothing to do with worship as I understand it. If we had been worshipping Vulcan it might have been different, but we weren't.
Not a song in our tradition, so I had a listen. OK chorus, unmemorable verses, unchallenging lyrics.
Not a song in our tradition, so I had a listen. OK chorus, unmemorable verses, unchallenging lyrics.
The song is based on Psalm 103. I don’t think the lyrics are supposed to be challenging; they are meant to be a comfort to those who are finding life (and faith) difficult. I see them through the lens of someone with manic-depression for whom every day is battle which I might not reach the end of. The verses are a prayer to God for sustenance through the hard times. They remind me of a time in my 20s when my depression was rock bottom, I was newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder and my father was dying and the only thing I could rely on was God. The daily struggle is echoed in the last verse about our death and meeting that with continuing faith. I often use the first verse as a prayer to start my day.
It is interesting how life experience impacts so much on how we view hymns/worship songs.
Comments
Choir
My most belov’d a vineyard owns, / Trad. Irish melody
Spirit of the Lord come down, / Stanbrook Abbey, John Harper
Hymns
Let all creation dance, / Darwall
How firm a foundation, / Foundation
Tell out my soul, / Woodlands
All my hope on God is founded, / Michael
An expression of appreciation, with somewhat tongue-in-cheek sexual connotations, for something (or, traditionally, someone) aesthetically pleasing.
Is it pronounced like roar, but with fw at the start instead of r?
Pretty much, yes, but the final 'r' is, in my experience, non-rhotic.
sort of equivalent, AIUI, to an incredulous "whoo-whee" from you or I.
Sadly, the hymnbook (Complete Anglican Hymns Old & New, unfortunately) I ordered from the RSCM still hasn't arrived; I had an email from them today saying there would be a further delay, and as the office (where I'd asked them to deliver it) is closed on Monday, I asked them for a different date. I clicked on "27th August", but for reasons best known to themselves, they've told me it'll now be delivered on 2nd September.
I've been ordering stuff from them ever since I joined Scottish Voices, and they're usually mind-bogglingly quick in their delivery - like next day or the day after.
* How I wish we had a choir that could sing This is the record of John, or even the descants to O come, O come, Emmanuel or Lo, he comes with clouds descending!
@Piglet at this time of year, I blame anything like this on the upcoming Bank Holiday in England. Though as it is also still school holidays in England, and I know from bitter experience that messes up all sorts of things. Says she who tries to organise appointments/work people during out of term time and they all tell me they can't do a thing until September as they're all on holiday...
Here's hoping for better things going forwards.
I'm just off to rearrange tomorrow's hymns list as I've been instructed we have to have one not in our hymnbook (10,000 reasons) and I know we are going to be short of singers who know it. Fortunately the place in the service I've been told I have to have it in a place where I can sing it loudly as I'm playing it. But the list I had in place was already a bit of a push for a known short of singers Sunday so rethink time it is.
It's not that I actually want the bloody thing - it's just that it would be helpful to have some dots in front of me whenever I don't know the tune!
Sounds positive! Possess your soul in patience, and you may one day be able to offer This is the record of John (complete with solo piglet).
Trinity 10 tomorrow at Our Place, with the following on offer:
Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven (Praise, My Soul)
God is love: his the care (Personent Hodie)
Gather around (Skye Boat Song)
Fill your hearts with joy and gladness (Ode To Joy)
Indeed. To be fair, the Dread Orange Boke (Complete Anglican Hymns Old And New) does offer a wide variety of hymns and songs - later editions include more recent work.
It's certainly true, too, that it's better to do simple stuff well than to try complex stuff, and get it wrong. Percy Dearmer offered this sensible advice many years ago.
You’re never going to please everyone all the time anyway. I look at encountering hymns in the service that I don’t particularly like (or downright loathe) as a helpful reminder that “it’s not about me.” I can guarantee that when we sing a hymn I don’t like, there are others in the congregation for whom it’s a meaningful favorite. It’s not about me.
Ah, no, that's not Bank Holiday problems!
If I lived near enough you could've had my copy on loan for as long as needed, as I only have a copy because I was in a similar situation to you for a while.
Well...bear in mind we're a small church (average congregation 20-ish at the moment) with few confident singers, but who do like what we do music wise and who like to sing. Which is mostly traditional hymns, new hymn words which fit to well known to us tunes, and some more contemporary songs mostly in a hymn style.
I try to have only one less well-known to us hymn/song per service. I already had two, one because it worked well with the readings, and another which I've been slowly introducing lately - but I'd forgotten when I was doing the lists for this month, it was a holiday weekend, and we'd likely be even smaller than usual - then my most confident singer has decided to be away as well which I'm delighted about, as he rarely takes a Sunday off.
Anyway, Beauty for Brokenness has been cut out to make room for 10,000 reasons.
This would be where I sheepishly admit that when you put “10,000 reasons” in parentheses, I read it as meaning “I’ve been instructed we have to have one not in our hymnbook (there are [hyperbolically] 10,000 reasons we have to have it) and I know we are going to be short of singers who know it.” It didn’t occur to me that “10,000 Reasons” might be a title. My apologies.
I’m afraid “10,000 Reasons” and “Beauty for Brokenness” are both totally unfamiliar to me—and, I suspect, to many church folk on the west side of The Pond. According to hymnary.org, the only North American hymnals that “Beauty for Brokenness” appears in are the Mennonite Together in Song and Community of Christ Sings (the Community of Christ is what used to be the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), so both hymnals of relatively small groups. “10,000 Reasons” appears to be in that same Mennonite hymnal, in three Lutheran hymnals or hymnal supplements, and in Lift Up Your Hearts (Reformed Church in America and Christian Reformed Church in North America, both again relatively small groups.) I have some of those, so I’ll check it out.
They're both irregular tunes in the verses as well which is why I'm only prepared to have one of those per service.
Looking at the hymnals in Hymnary.org - I own copies of half the ones which contain Beauty for Brokenness but the book I use for the music for10,000 reasons is not listed.
It is possible I might have been having a hypberbolic moment about just why we have to have it this coming Sunday... but I've been off the organ bench for a couple of weeks, so am behind on parish news, and the email with the instruction did not vouchsafe me a reason.
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (Blaenwern)
Christ we proclaim, for we have heard (Jerusalem)
Rejoice, the Lord is King! (Darwall)
“Be still and know that I am God” - Anon.
“When all your mercies, O my God” - Stracathro.
“Through the night of doubt and sorrow” - Marching.
“O for a heart to praise my God” - Richmond.
In Christ Alone
Name of All Majesty
Be Thou My Vision - SLANE
St Thomas Mass
Father, Lord of all creation-Abbot’s Leigh
Be thou my guardian and my guide-Abridge
I cannot tell - Londonderry Air
Be still for the presence of the Lord*
I danced in the morning-Lord of the dance
* one of our less regular Sopranos kept missing the bong at the beginning of each verse!
Rejoice! the Lord is King! - Gopsal
O, the deep, deep love of Jesus - Ebenezer (Ton-y-Botel)
God forgave my sin - Freely, Freely
Like a mighty river - Old Yeavering
Love divine, all loves excelling - Love Divine (the WRONG TUNE!!!!!)*
* at least I didn't have to sing it, as I was on coffee duty, so I could escape.
I'm inclined to think that today's organist, who's a curmudgeonly old git, did it on purpose. Because he's the one who prints the orders of service, he can put whatever tune he likes down.
How great thou art
One thing remains (Your love never fails, never gives up)
What gift of grace is Jesus my redeemer
I always play Blaenwern despite the other tune with its split verses is the one in our hymn book.
I, the Lord of sea and sky
There's a wideness in God's mercy
I have a dream a man once said
Healing river of the Spirit
Sent by the Lord am I
I would agree that BfB is less well known on this side of the pond, as only a couple Kendrick hymns have made their way over, but I would say 10,000 Reasons is decently well-known, as it's sort of a "modern classic" of the contemporary genre—you won't find it in hymnals, but I would say it's certainly sung often enough (although it's getting to the age where it's going out of favor a bit with contemporary worship churches.
In the end, after realising absolutely no-one in the congregation had any memory of ever singing 10,000 reasons before, (more than fair enough, we last did in in 2017 having only done it twice before then) I went with unaccompanied solo singing, with people joining in the chorus as they felt able, and that worked really well for us. I think if I'd done my usual play and sing along as I do normally, it would've gone disastrously wrong.
As to what key we sang it in - I've no idea as I just launched into what felt comfortable, and I didn't strain my voice either end of the range. Had I been playing along I'd've probably used the jolly useful transpose button to take it down slightly.
And I got my weeks wrong in my "Argh, I need to let this happen, but it won't work with my original list" panic on getting the e-mail - Beauty for Brokenness is still to come! But my confident singer will be back for that.
He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
Be Still for the Presence of the Lord
I the Lord of Sea and Sky
Brother Sister let me serve you
Morning has Broken
Shine Jesus Shine
I survived by playing the piano or bass depending on the hymn.
No, not sworn to secrecy. These are hymns beloved by Anglo Catholics that appear at services only printed on the service sheet, hence the name. They nearly all go to well-known hymn tunes, so eminently singable and pretty much doggerel in my opinion. My guess is these hymns stem from the Interwar heyday of Anglo-Catholicism or perhaps a little earlier. I see a vicar* probably sitting down with a glass of port with the organist and saying, "We need a song for next week's procession in honour of...". Those that the congregation enjoyed got repeated.
*In other strains of Anglicanism, it would be the vicar turning to his wife and saying, "My dear, we need a song for next week's procession", but in Anglo-Catholicism, at the time, many priests were celibate.
I'm afraid I would have survived only by leaving the church as soon as I saw what was on the menu...
It's like a meal composed entirely of different flavours of crisps: fine, but at least give me a sandwich and a banana to go with it.
This is what happens when you let the hymns be chosen by popular vote.
Absolutely!
Tangent... I will confess that that song was one of the things that made me fade away from our 'home' church. The deafening, pounding accompaniment by the band that resembled riveters in a boiler shop had nothing to do with worship as I understand it. If we had been worshipping Vulcan it might have been different, but we weren't.
Not a song in our tradition, so I had a listen. OK chorus, unmemorable verses, unchallenging lyrics.
It is interesting how life experience impacts so much on how we view hymns/worship songs.