Donna drew my attention to this Marty Haugen song:
One of our favourites of Marty’s music at Holy Spirit Parish Cranbrook is Love Beyond All Telling published by GIA as a piece of sheet music. It was written for a wedding or a wedding anniversary I believe but we use it at offertory and communion time. It fits many themes including creation and God’s love and mercy to all.
It is indeed lovely.
GIA sell the sheet music and the text is in their preview there.
I made a BIAB backing as usual, but removed the extra instrumental and chorus at the end.
There are other versions with varying texts including this one:
In fact here are some more lyrics I found:
What shall we give to the Son of Mary? What shall we give that He will find fine? We shall give well weighed raisins, We shall give a basket of figs.
What shall we give to the laddie of Mary? What shall we give to the beautiful Child Raisins and figs and nuts and olives Raisins and figs and honey and curd.
Tam-tam-tam-pa, the figs are not ripe, Tam-tam-tam-pa, they’ll surely ripen. If they’re not ripe on Easter, They’ll mature on Palm Sunday.
OCP says this Dan Schutte song is for RCIA and it has specific alternative words in the refrain for dismissal. It is a gentle singable waltz that could be uses elsewhere in the liturgy as a reflection or even Gifts.
Mass was “uncancelled” for this week after all and is definitely on next week – maybe. The local spread of Covid 19 appears to have stopped again, so I’m out of scrubs at work again, but who knows. Since, for the most part, governments in Australia listen to their health advisors, our outbreaks tend to be a combination of bad luck, incompetent application of policy and strange decisions made by individuals to defy precautions. All of the above are likely to recur so everything remains provisional.
Our meetings have been getting messed up by all this as well, so our leader has done the next few weeks on her own. She loves Marty Haugen music, as do I.
Entrance: All Are Welcome (Haugen) CWB II 535
Psalm 68 (McKenna)
O God, let all the nations praise you!
Gifts: A Trusting Psalm (Bates) AOV 1/115
Communion: In the Breaking of the Bread (Hurd) AOV 1/58
Thanksgiving: Be Merciful (Haugen)
Recessional: God of Day and God of Darkness (Haugen) AOV 1/56
This is a hymn by Peter Jones with a text based on Te Deum laudamus. It is a song of praise suitable for gathering when alleluias are allowed. The instructions are to play the song “as fast as seems reasonable”!
This is a restrained song of praise that has two extra verses for weddings. The text based on Psalms 135 and 136 is by Mike Balhoff. The music is by Darryl Ducote and Gary Daigle. The were all members of The Dameans.
OCP will sell you the sheet music and provide the text in their preview. GIA have a choral arrangement that takes the key from C to Eb if you are in performance mode.
It was lovely to hear from Greg again, who has once again sent a song he has written and invited its general use.
He said:
In 1994 the Mary Mackillop Secretariat commissioned me to write a hymn in the lead up to the beatification Mary Mackillop. Since it was first published in an anthology entitled If I Could Tell The Love of God it has been revised. Prior to the pandemic we have used it at Holy Trinity Church Minto as a thanksgiving hymn for weekend masses closest to her feast on August 8. While congregational singing is out of the question in 2020 it may be possible, albeit at fairly short notice, for a cantor to learn this and sing it for the refection hymn… feel free to use it unencumbered by copyright compliance obligations or any form of royalty payment. Liturgy is a gift, not an industry and I’d be delighted if the hymn simply became public property for anyone who wants to celebrate.
Mary Mackillop died 111 years ago on August 8th, which is her feast day.
This is Greg’s text:
1 Living gift she gave to us and showed a wisdom you give.
Dwelling in a land where she she was born your Spirit had always lived.
Her search was to know where your heart yearned to go.
A place no princes could build she trusted in the words of life.
Refrain 1 Your promises would be fulfilled x4
2 She braved the heat, the drought, the flood a lonely distance to know.
Burdens of a people long forgotten calling her to go.
Communing with those your kindred have made.
Outsiders in your place, her action spoke of love she shared.
Refrain 2 Your mem’ry alive in the common bread x4
3 Teaching us in words we know she helped your people to bring
to our darker side your shining light that gives us heart to sing.
Let strangers and poor cry out at your door.
Let children see your face, we praise the gift she did not hide.
This is, unsurprisingly, a song for gathering. Theodore Baker translated the Dutch original Wilt heden nu treden using all sorts of flourishes with clever internal rhymes and alliteration. I wonder if the original is as much fun. It is set to KREMSER.
1 We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing; he chastens and hastens his will to make known; the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing: sing praises to his name; he forgets not his own.
2 Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining, ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine; so from the beginning the fight we were winning; thou, Lord, wast at our side: all glory be thine!
3 We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant, and pray that thou still our defender wilt be. Let thy congregation endure through tribulation: thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
The spoilsports at OCP use this version, destroying the internal rhyme in the second line of the second stanza to make the rhyme with “yours” work:
1 We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing; he chastens and hastens his will to make known; the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing: sing praises to his name; he forgets not his own.
2 Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining, whose kingdom calls all to love which endures. so from the beginning the fight we were winning; you, Lord, were at our side: all glory be yours!
3 We all do extol you, our leader triumphant, and pray that you still our defender will be. Let your congregation escape tribulation: your name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
I've worked my way through the As One Voice books and other collections making backings on Band in a Box to help me (& you if you're interested) learn new songs for church. This is aimed at churches and musicians that own the collections but haven't exploited them fully. If you don't have them they are certainly worth buying. This site is educational, nonprofit and designed to enhance the commercial prospects of songwriters. This site does not distribute copyrighted sheet music.
Disclaimer
Any opinions expressed here are personal views and not the responsibility of any Church.
All music backings posted are created by myself and the intention is for them to be used to learn the songs. If any copyright holder wishes me to cease publicising and promoting their wares and directing people to where sheet music can be legally purchased please let me know.
Mason’s “Mass of Glory and Praise”
To access my backings for Paul Mason's mass go to Feb 2011 in the archive.
