Church Music

This is the last song in the section about creation in Heaven Shall Not Wait. The next part is ‘God, Coming Among Us,” so that should be good to do soon for Advent.

This song with a tune by John Bell and lyrics by John Bell and Graham Maule attributed to the Iona Community, takes as from creation to resurrection via Christmas, parable and Calvary. The text is on pages two and three of this bulletin.

The sheet music can be purchased in the collection Heaven Shall Not Wait at Wild Goose.

The music is glorious but it goes a little high.

This song of lament is based on Psalm 13. John Bell has written a blues, which fits the text well.

The words are on page 5 of this bulletin. The sheet music can be purchased very cheaply as part of the collection Heaven Shall Not Wait at Wild Goose.

John Bell often uses familiar tunes for his new texts. This Trinitarian song in praise of the Creator is set to the well known hymn PRAISE MY SOUL/LAUDA ANIMA by John Goss.

It is available from Wild Goose in the collection Heaven Shall Not Wait.

The text is here.

I have made a backing for this tune before but is was too slow and used poor organ sounds. This is still BIAB fake organ but it is less lethargic.

Real organ is preferable:

This is song rooted in the humility that our knowledge of God is individual, incomplete and contradictory. It sings well too, to the English traditional tune HERE’S TO THE MAIDEN. The sheet music for that is here.

The text is by John Bell and Graham Maule and credited to the Iona community. You can find it on page five of this bulletin.

It is available in the collection Heaven Shall Not Wait that can be purchased at Wild Goose.

There’s a lot of 6/8 going on these hymns.

This is the folk song where the tune originates.

For the season of creation I am looking at songs from the part of the collection Heaven Shall Not Wait headed “God, Caring and Creating”. The songbook can (and should) be purchased from Wild Goose.

This is a paraphrase of Isaiah 49 from the Iona Community set to DIED FOR LOVE (trad).

The text is here.

This is the folk song “Died for Love”.

I’ve already blogged this song here, because it was in Gather Australia.

I made a new backing just for fun.

This is a delightful song of hope and possibility, in the midst of real life from the Iona Community. The tune, THE SONG, is by John Bell and he wrote the words with Graham Maule.

Once again it is from the book, Heaven Shall Not Wait, which can and should be purchased at Wild Goose.

It is meant to be played brightly, but I doubt my backing is quite what they had in mind. On the other hand, maybe they could have been dance hit makers.

1 What is the song that circles creation,

Ushering day from night?

What is the song that brings from the past

The hope of a future that’s bright.

Chorus The song is love, greater than pleasure;

The song is pleasure, greater than pain;

The song is pain that finds an ending

As life begins where death has once lain.

2 What is the song that promises freedom

Where liberation is a dream?

What is the song that says, with conviction,

People are more than they seem.

3 What is the song that speaks of recovery

When hope is ebbing away?

What is the song that leads to discovery,

Bringing new insights each day?

4 What is the song that tells how tomorrow

Can be both different and great?

What is the song that drowns the refrain

That life is the servant of fate?

Words and Music © 1987 WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow G2 3DH, Scotland

For the season of creation I am blogging the songs of “God, Caring and Creation” from Heaven Shall Not Wait. Buy the collection at Wild Goose.

This song is by John Bell and Graham Maule and is meant to be danced to unaccompanied singing.

The text is below this YouTube clip, although it is a bit slow for dancing.

The tune is PULLING BRACKEN (Scottish Trad.) I found some chords from the internet to make my backing.

The music is PD of course and never forget to access the amazing small church music site where the sheet music has been made available. He also has backing tracks in various forms for this and thousands of other public domain tunes.

PULLING BRACKEN is the tune for Faerie’s Lament.

I am looking at songs of creation from the Iona Community’s book Heaven Shall Not Wait, that can be purchased at Wild Goose Publications. This is more sung poetry from John Bell and Graham Maule set to Bell’s music SHAKE UP.

The text is here (scroll down). Hymnary have a preview of the sheet music because it turned up in Gather Comprehensive.

This amazing song of creation from the Iona community mates the joy of the world to the imperative of mission. The tune, GOODNESS, was by John Bell and he created music that sounded like an old Scottish tune, except it was new. The text was attributed to the Iona Community and so was by John Bell and Graham Maule. I’ve been trying to figure out what is so attractive about their lyrics and the closest I can come to is that it is as if Wisdom literature was set to music.

The sheet music is available very cheaply with 61 other fantastic songs in Heaven Shall Not Wait at Wild Goose Publications.

I had to make up chords again and strip my backing back to just strummed guitars. I’m not sure if should be a little slower… probably.

1 The goodness of God is the source of our gladness,

Surrounding the world with a harness of care,

Enabling surprise and allowing for sadness,

The hope of recovery, present as air.

2 The life of the world is a heavenly treasure,

A pleasure to ponder, a summons to move,

A radical bias of God in creation

Assuring the small and weakest of love.

3 The song of the earth has an infinite chorus,

Resounding from birth through the silence of death,

Expressive of anguish, frustration and laughter,

It praises the Lord of music and breath.

4 The gifts of the poor are the means of our mending,

As, touching their need, we are healed by their pain:

The almost forgotten are meant by their Maker

To challenge the rich to forfeit their gain.

5 In Jesus the goodness of God was incarnate,

The life of the world was redeemed and restored,

The song of the earth found the key to its meaning,

The gifts of the poor were never ignored.

6 And Jesus is present in word and in Spirit

Where all that is greatest belongs to the least,

Where sign matches song in complete correspondence

And those who were low sit high at the feast.

© 1987 WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow G2 3DH, Scotland.