Church Music

This song from Heaven Shall Not Wait takes three episodes concerning Jesus at the temple to suggest an openness to different expressions of the message of Christ.

Bell’s texts sound nothing like “normal” hymns yet use more natural expressions. It oddly reminds me of the way medieval mystery plays tell bible stories.

It is set to a traditional Scottish fiddle tune THE HEMP DRESSER.

1 When to the temple, eight days young, Christ came for ritual blessing,

He opened wide an old man’s eyes and set his lips confessing,

“This baby, cradled in my arms, shall suffer earth’s offenses.

His life shall light the way to heaven and shatter smug pretenses.”

2 When in the temple, twelve years old, he sat among the sages,

The questions flew, the insights dawned on folk of different ages.

And to his parents, stunned to see their son his faith defending,

He said, “My father’s work and will are what I am attending.”

3 When in the temple, later still, he saw unchecked extortion,

With whip in hand and foot on stalls he scattered doves and fortune.

“This House for Nations has become a sanctuary for thieving.

Its founding purposes restore for prayer and for believing.”

4 What shall we ask of Christ today in line with his intentions –

To fill the Church with rage or prayer, blessed babes or children’s questions?

Oh, let us pray for all of these and cease to be selective,

For many are the means by which Christ makes his Church effective.

Words: John L. Bell & Graham Maule, copyright © 1987 Wild Goose Resource Group/ WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow G2 3DH, Scotland. Melody: ‘The Hemp Dresser’, Scots traditional. Websites: wgrg.co.uk & holycity-glasgow.co.uk

This is a sung prayer from Heaven Shall Not Wait for when we feel lost and need to know “Lord, you never leave us”.

The text is at the end of this Lenten Study. The music is THE LICHTBOB’S LASSIE, a traditional Scottish tune which the book assures me is well known – perhaps it is in Scotland.

I had to fake some chords from the keyboard arrangement, so they are approximate in my backing.

The Lichtbob’s Lassie:

City of God (Schutte) AOV 1/57

I Have Loved You (Joncas) AOV 1/126

One Bread, One Body (Foley) AOV 1/129

Jesus Is Risen (O’Brien- Ogilvie) AOV NG 82

Selections from my previous parish in Queensland.

Jesus Is Risen (O’Brien- Ogilvie) AOV NG 82

Seek Ye First (Lafferty) AOV 1/48

Bread Broken, Wine Shared Bread  (Horner) AOV 2/155

All the Ends of the Earth (Dufford) AOV 1/76)

From Queensland:

My current parish sings Paul Taylor’s “Mass of St Francis”. This is fine, but other parishes I have played at knew two or three masses, which not only gave variety, but meant you could note changes of season by changing the mass you were using. I don’t know if anyone has recovered enough from the trauma of suddenly losing all their learned masses when the texts changed, to consider learning new masses again but there are a certainly a lot out there.

You would think though, that after more than ten years, we would now have a definitive stand out mass setting. Maybe the six settings recommended by the Bishops in Australia have just become the accepted standard and no further correspondence will be entered into. Has there been a mass that is so good, published since the changeover, that we all should embrace it?

Had we not cut back on masses for this week, I would have selected:

Jesus Is Risen (O’Brien- Ogilvie) AOV NG 82

Come To Me  (Norbet) AOV 1/37

Shepherd Me O God (Haugen) AOV 1/33

Like a Shepherd (Dufford) AOV 1/160

Ideas from St Peter’s Rochedale in Queensland:

Our priest is off for six weeks and all his plans for a locum fell through at the last minute, so we are down to one mass a week until June. Being sensible (and volunteer) church musicians we have organised things to spread the load, so I won’t be playing again until the fifth and sixth week of Easter. Nonetheless, and for my future reference, I’ll put up what I was going to play.

Jesus Is Risen (O’Brien- Ogilvie) AOV NG 82

Bread of Life (Farrell) AOV 1/164

The Summons  (Maule-Bell) AOV NG 149

Behold the Glory of God (O’Connor) AOV 1/156

This is very similar to my friends in Queensland – great minds think alike and all.

John Bell’s tunes sound traditional, which is not a criticism. When he doesn’t repurpose a folk song he just writes a better one, as in this song about the Christmas story in all its foolishness yet greatness.

Wild Goose sell the book, but GIA will sell you the individual sheet music (OK 10x$1.10 for download) and provide the text in their preview. The second half of each verse is in two parts and very suitable for a small choir.

Figuring out some sort of chord progression from the music provided did not go so well on Band In a Box. I don’t think he had a blues in mind.

This is what you are looking for:

The Saturday vigil mass I now play at locally has not had consistent live music for many years. The Sunday mass has a stalwart organist who has kept the flag flying for decades, but she can’t be everywhere. Getting us all used to singing again will take some time.

I will also have to look at song selections carefully. As with many Australian parishes who bought the hymn books and started using As One Voice in the 1990s the music repertoire stalled right there, likely due to the comprehensive nature of the collection. I will need to base music choices there and introduce new music slowly. Lent was an opportunity to use Alonso’s “Merciful God” for the whole season so hopefully in years to come there is a memory of the tune. For the fifty days of Pentecost, we can celebrate the joy of the Resurrection with O’Brien and Ogilvie’s “Jesus is Risen” every week and next year maybe add other new songs for the Easter season. I’ve already used “Blessed be Our God” several times for the “Procession of the Gifts” so hopefully it will get a foothold.

Glory and Praise to Our God (Schutte) AOV 1/16

We Walk By Faith (Haugen) AOV 1/63

Jesus Is Risen (O’Brien- Ogilvie) AOV NG 82

Be Not Afraid (Dufford) AOV 1/114

At my previous parish in Queensland they selected these songs:

This is another excellent song from the Iona Community that uses an old tune with fresh lyrics, from the collection Heaven Shall Not Wait. It is set to O WALY WALY and covers the life of Christ from birth all the way to coming again.

The outstanding text is here.

I made a new backing for this tune.

To recover from too many American hymns I’m going back to Heaven Shall Not Wait from the Iona Community by John Bell and Graham Maule. Bell’s texts are never bland and often surprising and illuminating. The book is for sale at Wild Goose.

I’m up to the section, “Jesus, One of Us”. The song “The Word of Life” takes us from Christmas to Easter in five verses. The text is here and is fresh and delightful. It is set to WILD MOUNTAIN THYME, which is a familiar tune. It can purchased as a single sheet at Presto music.