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hymnody

Making Music Singable

This essay is adapted from Neal’s book, How to Hit the Ground Running: A Quick-start Guide for Congregations with New Leadership, Revised, scheduled for...

Praise the Lord, Ye Heavens, Adore Him

God and kings have known, at best, a strained relationship across history. Ever since Israel spurned the Lord in favor of a human king,...

Of Canons and Hymns

By Daniel Martins During my education at a decidedly non-liturgical Christian liberal arts college in the early 1970s, because I was a music major, I...

Singing in Prison

By Ephraim Radner We all have strong views about hymns. My standard is whether they can be remembered in prison, be sung aloud, and have...

The Friendly Beasts

By Amber Noel Jesus our brother, strong and good Was humbly born in a stable rude, And the friendly beasts around him stood, Jesus our brother, strong and...

O Holy Night: Beyond Sentimentality

A few Christmases ago I learned that “O Holy Night,” that Christmas Eve staple, is based on a quite serviceable French carol, “Minuit, Chrétiens,” by...

I Want to Be One Too: On All Saints’ Day

By Jean McCurdy Meade  For all the Saints who from their labors rest. (Hymnal 287) I sing a song of the saints of God (Hymnal 293) O...

I Hate That Hymn

The only thing complained about in church more often than the lousy sermon is the lousy music. Bad preaching we learn to begrudgingly tolerate...

Finding Hope in My Father’s World

We sang “This is My Father’s World” at least once every year in the church of my childhood, on the Sunday of the church...

Christ the Lily of Humanity

By Mark Clavier There’s an old tradition of finding Easter in nature. This can be seen especially in Christian poetry, perhaps most famously in Venantius...

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