Church Music

This Monica Brown song must have been in a school liturgy I helped out with – they really wanted my son the drummer so I carried the drums and strummed a bit. You can hear a sample and buy the music from her website here. This song is written with Australia in mind but I love the idea of Northern hemisphere kids singing about their “southern land”, since we get to sing all the seasonally inappropriate Northern hemisphere songs.

I suspect a teacher objected to the “gonna”s and replaced them with “here to”s – I prefer gonna, which acknowledges participation over proper English.

My backing aims for a 60s girl group flavour.

Chorus

We’re gonna celebrate, yes we are,

We’re gonna celebrate who we are.

We’re gonna celebrate the spirit here,

The spirit of this southern land.

Celebrate it. Celebrate it.

Celebrate, celebrate, the spirit here.

Verse 1

In the outback town and desert plains,

You can feel it here, the spirit here.

In golden fields and rolling hills,

You can feel it here, the spirit here.

In rivers and seas and mountain tops,

In country towns and city streets.

It’s ev’rywhere you go, in ev’ry place you know.

The spirit’s here.

Chorus

Verse 2

In the people you meet on any street,

You can feel it here, the spirit here.

In the way we live, work and play,

You can feel it here, the spirit here.

In our hearty laugh and silent tears,

In what we hold dear to us,

It’s ev’rywhere you go, in ev’ry one you know.

The spirit’s here.

Chorus (key change)

© Monica Brown and Emmaus Productions 2001.

This is a Marty Haugen song that I like but didn’t catch on locally. It is in his “All Are Welcome” collection and I bought that to get “The Hand of God Shall Hold You” and found the Eucharist song in the collection, well, because I’m always looking for Eucharist songs.

The text is here (scroll down).

The refrain uses bread, fish, wine or room depending on what was sung in the preceding verse. I can’t imagine anyone doing ten verses, so pick those that fit the liturgy.

It probably should be done call and response, but we did it unison. It goes too high in the verse so guitarists might as well leave the capo off one and bring it down half a tone.

You can hear at sample and buy the music at GIA here. This is a sweet version.

I came across this song by Bernadette Farrell when going through Spirit & Song looking for new communion songs.  I was initially taken with the text and was pleased to find the tune was just as good. We have used it, but not frequently unfortunately. You can hear a sample and buy the sheet music here. This choir sings it forever but can only be heard properly from several minutes in. You can hear the original in full here.

We can’t do it quite as slowly as intended – my backing is at 65 bpm.

Refrain
Bread for the world:
a world of hunger.
Wine for all peoples:
people who thirst.
May we who eat
be bread for others.
May we who drink
pour out our love.

1. Lord Jesus Christ,
you are the bread of life,
broken to reach
and heal the wounds
of human pain.
Where we divide your people,
you are waiting there
on bended knee
to wash our feet with endless care.

Refrain

2. Lord Jesus Christ,
you are the wine of peace,
poured into hearts once broken
and where dryness sleeps.
Where we are tired and weary,
you are waiting there
to be the way which beckons us
beyond despair.

Refrain

3. Lord Jesus Christ,
you call us to your feast,
at which the rich and pow’rful
have become the least.
Where we survive on others
in our human greed,
you walk among us
begging for your ev’ry need.

Refrain

© Bernadette Farrell 1990.

This song has always been very popular at our church.  It is by Michael B. Lynch, otherwise known as Ukelele Mike. (To digress, it is a sin not to learn the uke – or to put it another way, buy my brother’s book.)

This is very singable Eucharist song and so will always find a place. I’ve read objections to “symbol of Your love,” as denying real presence, but this is a narrow view of symbol ignoring the idea that symbols are real -much more real than prosaic arguments over the nature of transubstantiation.

You can buy it from OCP here, and listen to an exceptional piano version here.

I fear we haven’t always been as delicate and gentle with this one as we should have been.

Verse 1
Jesus, you’re the one I love,
You’re the one I know.
You’re the one who makes me strong,
Spirit in my soul.
From the clouds of yesterday,
Through the night of pain,

Teach me, Lord, to know your way

Know it once again.

Refrain
Bread, blessed and broken for us all;
Symbol of Your love from the grain so tall.
Bread, blessed and broken for us all;
Bread of life you give to us, bread of life for all.

Verse 2
May the bread we break today,

May the cup we share,

Lift the burdens of our hearts,
Lift them ev’rywhere.
Passing on to each of us,

A measure of your love

Love to make us whole again,

As we share your Word.

Refrain

© Raven Music 1978,1979.

This is a hymn from Bob Dufford SJ, and we used to use the first verse and refrain as the the “Lamb of God” when we used his Mass. It had an odd unbalancing effect because, for some reason, it was taken to with surprising vigor and sung more enthusiastically than anything else, so we had a celebration where the high point was the Agnes Dei.

OCP has sample sheet music here and you can hear a sample and buy the music here. They do it very slowly.  This church is doing it more the speed we did it and this piano version fairly rockets along. The whole original can be heard here.

If you get beyond verse one and the chorus the text is for the Easter season.

My backing is a render of an old MIDI I made to try to learn the whole song.

1. Behold the Lamb of God, Behold the Lamb of God,

who carries our burden, who knows our pain,

who bears the sins of the world.

Refrain:

Behold the Lamb of God,  Behold the Lamb of God,

Jesus, Jesus is the Lamb of God.

 

2. Surely he has borne our grief

and carried the sorrows of us all.

Struck down in our stead, rejected and scorned,

and by his wounds we are healed.

Refrain

3. Father, forgive them; they do not understand.

They do not understand what they do.

Refrain

4. The kingdom of this world

has become the kingdom of Christ,

and he shall reign for endless days.

Worthy is the Lamb.

Refrain

© Robert Dufford 1985.

I’m scratching my head to remember this, but it sounds like an advent song and is by Bob Hurd. You can hear a sample and buy the sheet music at OCP.

My backing is fake church organ.

Refrain

Await the Lord with hope.

Await the Lord with joy.

Keep vigil for the coming of the reign of God.

 

1. Those who wait for God:

They shall not be put to shame.

 

2. Prepare a way for the Lord,

A path of justice for our God.

 

3. Let your hearts be strong,

For the Lord is coming soon.

 

4. Daughter Zion, rejoice;

The Lord your God is in your midst.

 

5. Blessed are those who believe

that God’s promise shall come true.

 

© Bob Hurd 1996.

This is one of the highlights of Holy Thursday liturgies for me.  A song that can be as long as you need to have as many feet washed as you could possibly want.  Dan Schutte has written a devious and memorable tune with a text based on John 13-16. OCP has a sample of the music to view here, and you can buy it here.

This is the original. This is a church doing it well.

Refrain

I, your Lord and Master, now become your servant.

I who made the moon and stars will kneel to wash you feet.

This is my commandment: to love as I have loved you.

Kneel to wash each others feet as I have done for you.

Verse 1

All the world will know you are my disciples

By the love that you offer, the kindness you show.

You have heard the voice of God in the words that I have spoken.

You beheld heaven’s glory and have seen the face of God.

Refrain

Verse 2

I must leave you now only for a moment.

I must go to the Father to make you a home.

On the day of my return, I will come to take you with me

To the place I have promised where your joy will have no end.

Refrain

Verse 3

I am like a vine you are like the branches.

If you cling to my teaching you surely will live.

If you make your home in me, I will come to dwell within you.

You can count on my mercy when you ask for what you need.

Refrain

Verse 4

I have called you friends, now no longer servants.

What I told you in secret, the world longs to know.

There can be no greater love than to give your life for others.

As the Father has loved me, so I love you as my own.

Refrain

Verse 5

You will weep for now while the world rejoices.

But the tears of your sorrow will soon turn to joy.

As a mother cries in childbirth and her pain is turned to gladness,

You will know great rejoicing on the day of my return.

Refrain

Verse 6

I will give you peace; this will be my blessing.

Though the world churns around you, I leave you my peace.

I have told you all these things that my peace may dwell within you.

Let your faith be unshaken and your hope ever strong.

Refrain

© Daniel Schutte 2001.

This is a restrained hymn from Estelle White. We’ve used it a lot but it can be very dreary if not done with care. You can listen to a solo vocals of the song here and here.

It was in a collection called 20th Century Folk Hymnal and I recall we had a tattered handwritten copy at church that I transcribed on an ancient notation program in the Win98 era. I gather McCrimmons hold the publishing rights but I’m not sure if you can get it from them.

My backing is at 96 bpm.

Oh, the love of my Lord is the essence
Of all that I love here on earth.
All the beauty I see, He has given to me,
And his giving is gentle as silence.

Every day, every hour, every moment,
Have been blessed by the strength of His love.
At the turn of each tide, He is there at my side,
And his touch is as gentle as silence.

There’ve been times when I’ve turned from his presence,
And I’ve walked other paths, other ways,
But I’ve called on his name, in the dark of my shame
And his mercy was gentle as silence.

© McCrimmon Publishing

I think we did this for Holy Thursday one year.  It is by Fred Pratt Green and the tune is a waltz version of “The Water is Wide” (O Waly Waly). Listen to a solo vocal version here. You should seek the music from the publisher if you need it.

My backing is 54 bpm and it needs to be that slow.

1. An upper room did our Lord prepare
   for those he loved until the end:
   and his disciples still gather there,
   to celebrate their Risen Friend.
2. A lasting gift Jesus gave his own,
   to share his bread, his loving cup.
   Whatever burdens may bow us down,
   he by his Cross shall lift us up.
3. And after Supper he washed their feet,
   for service, too, is sacrament.
   In him our joy shall be made complete
   sent out to serve, as he was sent.
4. No end there is! We depart in peace.
   He loves beyond our uttermost:
   in every room in our Father’s house
   he will be there, as Lord and host.

Text © Stainer and Bell

This is a good song that we have sung often by Tom Conry. You can hear a (noisy) version at OCP and buy the sheet music there. This is an enthusiastic version.

For some reason this always struck me as bluegrass song, although my wife’s excellent taste would never allow this to be used at Mass. My backing is at 95 bpm.

Refrain
We are called, we are chosen.
We are Christ for one another.
We are promised to tomorrow,
while we are for him today.
We are sign, we are wonder.
We are sower, we are seed.
We are harvest, we are hunger.
We are question, we are creed.

1. Then where can we stand justified?
In what can we believe?
In no one else but he who suffered,
nothing more than he who rose.
Who was justice for the poor.
Who was rage against the night.
Who was hope for peaceful people.
Who was light.

Refrain

2. Then how are we to stand at all,
this world of bended knee?
In nothing more than barren shadows.
No one else but he could save us.
Who was justice for the poor.
Who was rage against the night.
Who was hope for peaceful people.
Who was light.

Refrain

3. Then shall we not stand empty
at the altar of our dreams:
When he promised us ourselves.
Who mark time against tomorrow.
Who are justice for the poor.
Who are rage against the night.
Who are hope for peaceful people.
Who are light.

Refrain (long gap before “we are creed” in the last refrain.)

© OCP 1978,1979.