Prairie View

Monday, June 05, 2017

Church Songs

Since January 1, 2017, I have been writing down the song numbers of each song sung at Center from our hymnal during a service.  I started doing this after I had bought Hymns of the Church for myself as a Christmas gift.

John D. Martin is the compiler of this hymnal.  He was my teacher years ago at a 3-week summer teacher's institute I attended in Hartville, OH, and he later married Pat, one of my sister Carol's dear friends.  Incidentally, it was also during that summer at Hartville that I heard another hymnal compiler, John Overholt, a local resident, speak about his project in compiling the Christian Hymnary.  Something in the air in that community must invigorate those with a passion for hymns.

I started writing down song numbers after I began to frequently feel deeply moved by the words of the songs we sang in church, and I wished for an opportunity to go back over the words at a later time.  Writing down the song numbers was the simplest way to keep track of those songs, and I loved using them as part of my private devotions later--usually the same week.  Right in the songbook, underneath the title, I've been keeping a record of when songs were sung.  Songs sung today will be noted like this:  C-6-4-17.  That means that we sang it in church on this date.  If the first letter is an "H" it will mean that we didn't sing it in church but I meditated on it at home--perhaps because it was based on a text from the Sunday school lesson of the week.

My notes tell me that we've sung some songs as often as three times during the first six months of 2017.  That does not include the song-of-the-month, a new song which we learn and then sing at every service during the month.  That's the idea at least.  In my book those songs are marked with an asterisk.  We did not have a new song introduced today.

In the past decade or so, our congregation has been gifted with several song leaders who are exceptionally good at helping us interpret the songs as we sing them.  We don't always pick up on the signals as well as we might--singing softly when that fits the words, and vigorously when that is appropriate--but still, leaders who are immersed in the message of a song help us all to immerse ourselves in it too.  Sometimes we sing verses in unison--which creates an emphasis on words in a different way, but usually the four-part singing that Mennonites love so much and often do so well is what happens, with variations in speed and volume to accentuate the meaning.  I think this variety has contributed a great deal to my being able to gather meaning from the words of songs.

This morning, during the devotional at church, Arlyn incorporated songs that extended and emphasized the truths he read aloud from Scripture.  We sang them together, with Shane, the song leader of the day, leading them.  The approach was very effective.

With this post I'm starting something that I hope to do for the remainder of 2017--record what is sung in church.  Usually, I'll place it at the end of a post if other content is also present.  Obviously, it will be useful mostly to those who also have in hand a copy of Hymns of the Church--at least if a reader wishes to use it also for worship.  The format may vary somewhat, and obviously, I won't be likely to record what was sung when I miss a service.

Here is the list for today--June 4, 2017:

Opening songs:

#371--If My People--Is. 57:15  (The words are almost verbatim taken from II Chron. 7:14.)
#8--Together We Seek Thee--I Cor. 1:9 (This is in the hymnal section of opening hymns.  We've sung this twice before in 2017.)

During the Devotional:

#44--O Day of Rest and Gladness--Hebrews 4:9 (In the section on the Lord's Day)
#107--Immortal, Invisible, God--I Tim. 1:17 (Soaring and stately words and music)
#117--Great God, How Infinite Art Thou--Heb. 1 :8 (Minor Key, words focus on God's being all-knowing and eternal)
#114--Before Jehovah"s Awful Throne--Rev. 15:4 (We sang this song also about a month ago.)

After Sunday School

#30 Come, We That Love the Lord--Is. 51:11 (Most people know this by heart.  We've sung it twice before this year.  People were still dribbling in from their individual classes, so the "come" invitation may have carried a double meaning.)

After Share Time

#6--O Worship the King--Ps. 104:1 (Another majestic "opening hymn."  We've sung this one also twice before in 2017, once by heart--marked with a BH in my book.)

At the Close of the Service

#375--Be Thou My Vision--Jn. 14:6 (We sang the last verse in a higher key--perfect for a verse that starts with "High King of Heaven . . . "  This was the fourth time for this song in 2017.)




1 Comments:

  • I like your hymn commentary idea very much & will be glad if you continue it.

    By Anonymous Vernon Kuhns, at 6/12/2017  

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