Church Music

This is a round by Monica Brown from her collection, Holy Ground.

I blogged it years ago here.

My backing does not attempt the round for clarity.

I’ve blogged this one many years ago, here, but I’m posting it again in the context of this collection of mantras from Monica Brown, Holy Ground.

This is a lovely song for Confirmation and Pentecost, with the beautiful solo verses over the ostinato refrain being a highlight. You can buy the sheet music for the whole collection for the price of a coffee at Emmaus.

I made a new backing but I’m not sure it’s any better than the old one.

Mantra:

Holy sacred Spirit, breathe Your breathe on us.

Holy sacred Spirit, breathe Your life in us.

Verse 1

Create a new heart in me, oh God,

Enflame my heart with Your love, Your Spirit of love.

Verse 2

Send forth Your Spirit and renew the earth,

The longing earth, the waiting earth, the fragile earth.

© Monica Brown 1991.

You’d think puting up simple mantras would be nice and simple, but not with Monica Brown. Her penchant for changing time signatures every bar makes it rather tedious to make a Band in a Box backing, yet when you hear her sing them it seems so natural.

This one is “Lead Me, Guide Me”, which is a find personal sung prayer, but I note she made a new version as “Lead Us, Guide Us”, which makes more sense for liturgical settings. In the clip below for that version she made it 4/4 all the way through, instead of the 3/4, 4/4 that was making my life difficult.

The updated words are here, and the whole collection Holy Ground, can be downloaded for $A5 at Emmaus.

This mantra from Monica Brown’s Holy Ground, can be done simply as a personal prayer or expanded into many descants and harmonies as in her clip below.

You can buy the sheet music collection at Emmaus for $A5.

All praise, glory and honour to You, God of great love. x2

I am working though a book of mantras by Monica Brown called Holy Ground.

This site has background on the meaning of “Shekinah” and helpfully also has the lyrics of this song.

The sheet music can be downloaded for almost nothing at her site, Emmaus.

This being an acapella chant means I had to make up chords for a backing.

Entrance: Come to the Water (Andersen) AOV 1/74

Psalm 28 ( McKenna)

The Lord will bless his people with peace.

Gifts:  Baptised in Water (Saward; tune BUNESSAN) CWB II 99

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

Recessional: Springs of Salvation (Andersen)

Entrance: We Three Kings

Psalm 71 ( McKenna)

Lord, every nation on earth will adore you, will adore you.

Gifts: Star Child (Shirley Erina Murray – Carlton R. Young) AOV 2/43  

Communion: The First Noel – verses 3-5

Recessional: Joy to the World

Entrance: Joy to the World

Psalm 127 (McKenna)

Happy are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.

Gifts: What Child Is This

Communion: Summoned by Love  (O’Brien/Watts) AOV 2/18

Recessional: Angels We Have Heard On High

A long time ago in a parish far far away a liturgy team put together the Christmas liturgy of all time. Instead of a few hoary old carols there was a pre-mass extravanganza of readings and marvellously selected songs like a carols and lessons service. The mass liturgy itself was innovative, polished and practiced and was delivered with perfection and passion by the enthusiastic musicians and singers and liturgists.

… and didn’t the poor priest cop it. “We just wanted to sing carols, see the inside of a church for a change and get out,” said the less regular parishioners to their perplexed shepherd.

Hence selections for Christmas 2026 – as close as possible to 2025, 2024, etc ad infinitum.

Midnight Mass in George Town will of course be at 9pm with carols from 8.30pm. It will be still be light and something approaching summer weather has finally arrived in Tasmania.

Carols before Mass:

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Once in Royal David’s City

The First Noel

Star Child (Murray/Young)

Angels We Have Heard On High

Mary’s Boy Child

Mass of St Francis – as always – it’s the only one the assembly here knows.

Entrance: O Come All Ye Faithful

Christmas Psalm (Farrell)

Celtic Alleluia

Gifts: Away in a Manger

Communion: Silent Night

O Holy Night

Recessional: Joy to the World

We have a combined churches Carols night tonight, and all the arrangements of all the carols are different to what we will play next week so I will quickly have to unlearn all the tweaks for tonight.

Thank you to Chris W and Ryan for broadening the palate of music suggestions here for all these years and providing a rolling resource for years to come. All contributions of music selections are gratefully accepted – I have discovered many interesting hymns over the years from this source and I appreciate it.

This blog gets 700-1000 hits a day. It used to be mainly Australia and the US but recently there is a lot of traffic from China for some reason. There are also hits from all over the world. I can tell music groups are using it for practice because a random song will suddenly have hundreds of hits out of the blue. I hope it is still of use to people putting together liturgies.

Merry Christmas.

This is another of Monica Brown’s mantras that indulges her skill in mixing up time signatures. It is a sung prayer for private contemplation that would still fit in liturgy.

You can down load the whole sheet music collection, Holy Ground, that contains this mantra for $A5 at Emmaus.

Enfold me in you love/peace/grace.

Enfold me in you love/peace/grace.

Encircle me O God,

Surround me with your love/peace/grace.

Come fill me with your love/peace/grace.

© 1997 Monica Brown