Church Music

This is an odd song by Jennifer Martin with a text based on repetition of words that end in “tion”. The text is here and shows a very weak first verse but  better work on the second and third. I don’t know to what use the song can be put as it is intensely personal – perhaps to sing to yourself while queuing for reconciliation. It is the focus of a reflection here.

I can’t find anywhere selling the sheet music online, but you can listen to the rather breathless original here.

Here’s a use – in a prayer service:

This is another song by Sarah Hart. I’ve moved into the section of Spirit & Song Vol 2 for Praise and Worship songs. Since an awful lot of the songs for communion in this collection were really P&W songs that might not mean much change, but at least I won’t be griping about the songs being solo vehicles as much.

The text is at spiritandsong where the sheet music can be purchased for download. You can listen to the original here. My son says this song is just “This Little Light of Mine”with minor variations.

It’s meant to be Gospel rock but I just went for funk:

This is a fun cover by a band called LPSEVEN, whose guitarist got a wah wah effect pedal for Christmas:

This song by Sara Hart and Dwight Liles might find a place in a second rite of reconciliation.  The refrain is singable and the verse is a nice tune but gets difficult in the second half due to slow motion syncopation. There are some lazy lyrics – eg putting in “then” in the first line of the second verse so she can find a rhyme for friend.

The text is at spiritandsong where the sheet music can be purchased for download.

Sarah Hart:

Cover versions:

An fine ensemble that gets ragged in the second half of the verses:

Jesse Manibusan wrote this song in the Communion songs section of Spirit & Song Vol 2. A song in praise of God can certainly be used for Eucharist, but I’m not sure I’d specifically call this a song for that purpose.  Great care would be needed with this one as the text tends to be a bit on the saccharin and sentimental side. I thought it might be a children’s song but the verses suggest not.

The text should be at spiritandsong where the sheet music can be purchased for download but where it says lyrics there are none.

I am providing the lyrics so you can judge if they go do over board.

Refrain

We praise you, God of life, sacred and good.

We thank you, God of hope, faithful and true.

We praise you, God of love, in all we are.

We thank you, God, with all our hearts.

1. In our fear we lose our senses, forgetting all we are.

But you love is unrelenting, healing ev’ry broken heart.

2.When our ignorance confines us, we are consumed by fear.

Your amazing grace unbinds us, giving us the strength to care.

3. When the light of hope is fading, when judgement tears us down.

Help us see in ev’ry person holiness where you are found.

You can listen to the original here, which starts with a child’s voice that raises the sweetness quotient even further.

My backing keeps it simple.

This fine version with just piano and two harmonising male voices just about rescues the song, especially in the a capella last refrain.

This is an Advent song that I noticed from Chris’s parish. I had never heard it probably because it had gone out of fashion like many of the other early SLJ songs.

I spent $US1.75 to get the sheet music from OCP.

I love the flute and harpsichord in, what I assume is, the original.

The lyrics are there as well.

The only problem is the range. If you lower it to the key of C the second verse goes too low to sing. If you don’t, the high held “E”s will kill off the assembly.

My backing is in strict tempo, so does not speed up and slow down like the original.

This is another very folky rendition:

This is a lovely song about the real presence by Tom Kendzia that even appears to be singable by an assembly. It has an instrumental interlude after two verses leading to a key change and a third verse and final chorus.

The text is at spiritandsong where the sheet music can be purchased for download.

My backing is not quite relaxed enough.

The original has the “easy, walking feel” prescribed and some pedal steel guitar.

These choirs sound better than the original recording:

This is a nice solo cover with guitar accompaniment:

Entrance: Prepare the Way (Boniwell)

Advent Wreath: All is Wonder (Watts) AOV NG 4

Psalm: To You O God I Lift Up My Soul (Hurd) AOV 2/14

Gifts: Emmanuel (Angrisano) SAS 2/290

Communion: Shepherd Me O God (Haugen) AOV 1/33

One Bread One Body (Foley) AOV 1/129

Thanksgiving: Advent Chant (Porter/Kirkland) AOV 2/123

Recessional: Sing Out Earth and Sky (Haugen) AOV 2/32

This is an especially lovely song  by Steve Angrisano for Eucharist that, like many in this collection, seems to have been written with a solo performance rather than an assembly in mind. There are many people who just can’t sing a song permanently suspended in syncopation like this one so if participation is to be strived for above all else this song is hard to recommend. The verses have enough little quirks to further complicate things, for while the chord progression is the same in each the tune meanders off in different directions for each verse.

The text, which is very serviceable, is at spiritandsong where the sheet music can be purchased for download.

My backing is as written not as performed by Mr Angrisano.

This is Steve Angrisano not singing what he wrote:

Tom Booth wrote this excellent pop song. I don’t think it is a communion song for an assembly however, but it’s great as a solo vehicle.

Some of the lyrics are in this reflection at spiritandsong, but the link to the lyrics in the article is dead. You can listen to the original here. I can’t find a purchase for download version of the sheet music so you have to use Spirit & Song Vol 2 I suppose.

I spent far too long on this backing:

Refrain

Lord, help us to live in the present moment.

Help us to pray in the light of this day.

Lord, help us to live in the present moment,

For we know not the time. so we give our lives,

Placing our trust in you in the present moment.

 

1. May I not dwell on the failures of the past,

Drowning in sin that you have set free.

May I just be with you and be who I’m meant to be.

 

2. May I not dream of the glories of the future,

Things that may never come to be.

May I just be with you and be who I’m meant to be.

© Tom Booth 2004.

I really like this gentle song for Eucharist by Sarah Hart. It does has a bit of Broadway show tune about it with the occasional octave leap and I’m not sure it would survive congregational singing.

The text is here (bottom of the page) and it is used as part of a reflection at spiritandsong. I can’t find a place to purchase for download for the sheet music. You can listen to original here.