On May 13, 1970 Johnny Cash and his mother, Carrie Rivers Cash, performed “The Unclouded Day” on The Johnny Cash Show. She accompanied him on piano just as she did when he sang this hymn for his first public performance at the age of 12. Cash clearly enjoyed their duet and if you listen closely as the audience applauds, you can hear him tell his mother, “That was perfect.”
In God’s Trombones, James Weldon Johnson names the trombone as “the instrument possessing above all others the power to express the wide and varied range of emotions encompassed by the human voice — and with greater amplitude.”
Today I found a trombone quintet reading through “Jesu, meine Freude” (Jesus, Priceless Treasure), a hymn tune composed by Johann Crüger in 1653 and harmonized by J.S. Bach in 1723. Though this is an instrumental version, I’ll include the words that are most familiar to me. Catherine Winkworth’s translation of the original German has often been tweaked and modernized, so that now you can find quite a few variations. I’ve always liked the reference to Psalm 42 in this one, the idea of “fell conflict” and the phrase “Lord of gladness.”
Jesus, priceless treasure,
Source of purest pleasure,
Truest friend to me;
Long my heart hath panted,
Till it well-nigh fainted,
Thirsting after Thee.
Thine I am, O spotless Lamb,
I will suffer naught to hide Thee,
Ask for naught beside Thee.
In Thine arms I rest me;
Foes who would oppress me
Cannot reach me here.
Though the earth be shaking,
Every heart be quaking,
Jesus dispels our fear;
Sin and hell in conflict fell
With their heaviest storms assail us:
Jesus will not fail us.
Hence, all thoughts of sadness!
For the Lord of gladness,
Jesus, enters in:
Those who love the Father,
Though the storms may gather,
Still have peace within;
Yea, whate’er we here must bear,
Still in Thee lies purest pleasure,
Jesus, priceless treasure!
When I turned to my social media channels after the bombing, among the news updates and messages from friends telling us they were safe, I saw many people repeating Fred Rogers’ account of his mother advice to “Look for the helpers” in times of disaster. Certainly the city of Boston is filled with helpers–people who ran to help the injured, investigate the bombing, open their homes to strangers. It comforts me to know that they are there, that there is light in darkness. It also reminds me that, while we may see it most clearly in times of violence and sorrow, the darkness is always with us. We are always called to bear witness to the Light, and to serve one another.
Brother, sister, let me serve you, let me be as Christ to you;
Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too.
We are pilgrims on a journey. We are brothers on the road.
We are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.
I will hold the Christ-light for you in the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you; speak the peace you long to hear.
I will weep when you are weeping; when you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow till we’ve seen this journey through.
When we sing to God in heaven, we shall find such harmony,
Born of all we’ve known together of Christ’s love and agony.
Words and music: Richard Gillard, copyright 1977.
Here’s the composer singing his own song. It sounds quite different from all the pipe organ versions I found–more lyrical and interesting. The video description notes that Gillard is using a Drop D tuning with the capo at the first fret.
Peace unto Zion.
Peace, peace to the faithful,
And a crown of rejoicing
And a crown of rejoicing
From your Heavenly Father.
When Zion shall be cleansed
She shall flourish as a rose
I will walk in her midst
And will bless all those with a tenfold blessing
And their sorrows shall cease
For I’ll cry upon her walls
Peace, sweet peace
Something about the Shakers speaks to me. Something American, but otherworldly–sort of like pioneer Benedictines, perhaps. I first heard Kevin Siegfried‘s wonderful arrangements of Shaker songs performed by the Tudor Choir on the album Gentle Words. It remains one of my all-time favorite CDs and a source of beauty, nourishment and healing for me. I especially love John Lockwood’s hymn “The Burning Day” (“Redeemed Souls, your voices raise…) and the title track “Gentle Words” (“What the dew is to the flower/gentle words are to the soul”). Siegfried’s arrangements are modern interpretations, not historical recreations, and they are wonderful both in their own right, and in the way they reveal the extraordinary melodies and texts of the original Shaker compositions.
As a small sample of this collection, here is “Peace” sung by the Murray State University Concert Choir.
In anticipation of the light that is coming: Jonathan Dove’s choral setting of Amos 5:8 and Psalm 139, ‘Seek Him That Maketh the Seven Stars’
Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion
and turneth the shadow of death into the morning.
Alleluia, yea, the darkness shineth as the day,
the night is light about me.
Amen.
Christianity Today once published a survey of the most popular hymns appearing in the 28 mainline Protestant hymnals from the late 1800s through the 20th century. This study of 4,905 hymns produced some interesting results:
The table presents the 13 hymns that have appeared in all 28 hymnals, as well as 9 others that appear in 27 of the 28 hymnals, and 5 more that appear in 26 of the 28 hymnals. The average date of the top tier of hymns is 1788 (excluding “O Sacred Head”). Still, wide acceptance of these and other hymns did not come until the middle of the 19th century, after a prolonged contest with the once-predominant practice of singing the Psalms.
When I read the list I was happy to find that all my years of church-going had taught me something, and I could bring to mind all but one of these hymns. Good to know I’ve at least caught up to the 19th century.
I enjoy hymnals and the interesting bits of church history they reveal. Most denominations will produce a new hymnal about once a generation with a lot of old favorites and a few newfangled ones to try out and see if they’ll make the cut. Some songs will stay and some will go, but every hymnal will say something about the time in which it was produced and the denomination that put it together. That’s why so many of us have hymns we remember singing when we were young that we just don’t sing anymore. And that’s why it can be a good thing to go back to older books and sing through some of our grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ hymns. It can give us a feel for their experience of faith and worship.
And speaking of history, I learned the other day that “Modern Worship” (a.k.a. Contemporary Worship Music, or CWM–part of the larger category Contemporary Christian Music) turned 10 in 2008. Given that children now dress up for “90s day” at school, I’m thinking that Modern Worship barely qualifies as modern anymore. At this point it’s practically traditional, with people complaining that CWM has become too predictable, emotionally monotonal, and lacking in creativity.
Meanwhile some folks, notably the late Robert Webber, have advocated for ancient-future worship which views worship as a retelling and reenactment of God’s story. Ancient-future worship is liturgical and often makes use of shorter songs based on biblical passages. Depending on how you think about it, that could represent a return to the counter-cultural Jesus Movement songs, or it could be taking us back to that place in history where the Church was singing the Psalter. I guess that means the next movement to follow will look like the the days when Isaac Watts came in to shake things up by writing…hymns.
The moral of this story for me is that worship and worship music are a bit like a pair of shoes. They’re a little uncomfortable when you first put them on, then you break them in and they fit perfectly–until you’ve worn them so long that they don’t really do their job anymore. One day you look at them and they seem old-fashioned and they don’t feel good. It’s time to try something new. Some styles are classics (think pumps and penny loafers), and others are failed experiments or just fun while they last. But you shouldn’t be surprised to one day find you need a new pair.
Finally, here’s a bit of fun to remind us to keep our perspective, and laugh at ourselves when we need to. Because as long as we keep gathering together, the Church will continue to explore what it means to worship God in spirit and in truth. There’s a lot of new music to be written, a lot of practicing to do, until we join the heavenly choir and find the songs we were created to sing.
Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine, Domine, quis sustinebit? Quia apud te propitiatio est;
If thou wilt mark iniquities, O Lord, O Lord, who could stand? For with Thee there is forgiveness
Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won
Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or two, but wallow’d in, a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.
I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
And, having done that, thou hast done;
I fear no more.
Today I’m thinking about contemporary hymns, and I thought you might enjoy this interview with English composer Stuart Townend about his hymn “How Deep the Father’s Love.” It’s followed by Benjamin Esh playing the hymn on mountain dulcimer–an instrument that gives the contemporary tune a much older feel, so that what’s new is old again.
If you’re interested in dulcimer music, take a look at http://thedulcimerhymnal.com/
Today we hear of a musical resurrection: I first came across this story on NPR, then on the Brooklyn Vegan and Heavy Light Records website.
In 1970, the Revs. Gean and Tommie West started a gospel group called The Relatives. The Relatives were Texas legends in the ’70s, playing genre-bending gospel and psychedelic soul and sharing bills with The Staple Singers, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, and The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi. By 1980 the group disbanded, but a few years ago a Texas DJ and record collector contacted the group about a reunion. Now they’ve released their first album of original work in 30 years: The Electric Word on Yep Roc Records, and they’re on tour.
If you can’t catch The Relatives live, Heavy Light Records has put out a compilation of their obscure 45s from the 1970s, and they have a YouTube channel –so you can listen while you’re waiting for the CD to arrive in the mail.
