Hymn-based commentary
The UCC got in a lot of trouble earlier in the year because the IRS though that having a prominent church member speak at the General Synod might have violated the church's tax-exempt status. As you can imagine, that made the local congregations even more sensitive about not electioneering. As we should be.
However, the general feeling leaked through here and there. In addition to al the usual people getting cancer prayer-and-concerns, we also had about 1/3 of the speakers represent hope and joy at the election outcome. I think it also showed up in the hymn selection. We had a guest-pastor this week, the oh, I've forgotten what they call it in the UCC. The pastor's pastor. (ophanim, he knew who you were when I asked. Weirdly, later in the day I ended up talking to an SU student who recognized your name from email. You are my Baader-Meinhof of the day.) Anyway, said guest pastor preached the lectionary, which was the parable of the 10 virgins. He did so with vigor and a complete lack of recourse to notes. Impressive. However, nowhere in this admittedly thorny text was there an association with the hymns. Ok, maybe, if you REALLY stretched, you might be ok with "This Little Light of Mine", which was the first hymn. The second was seasonal, being the Navy Hymn, or as most hymnbooks have it, "Eternal Father, Strong to Save".
The third, though, it's hard not to impute motive to the third hymn, which was "Lift Every Voice And Sing" (link plays music, but as midi music goes, not bad). As I noted in my twitter, this song is a CAST-IRON BITCH to sing. It's got triplets, and this whole middle section of each verse which totally changes the feeling of it, and you have to be on your toes. And... it was written by two black men around 1899. I'm pasting the lyrics in below so you can see why I think it was political.
Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.
There WERE dry eyes in the congregation when we got done, but they didn't belong to me, or the guy standing next to me.
...Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?...
Next time you're looking for Christians who are not socially conservative, come to church with me.
However, the general feeling leaked through here and there. In addition to al the usual people getting cancer prayer-and-concerns, we also had about 1/3 of the speakers represent hope and joy at the election outcome. I think it also showed up in the hymn selection. We had a guest-pastor this week, the oh, I've forgotten what they call it in the UCC. The pastor's pastor. (ophanim, he knew who you were when I asked. Weirdly, later in the day I ended up talking to an SU student who recognized your name from email. You are my Baader-Meinhof of the day.) Anyway, said guest pastor preached the lectionary, which was the parable of the 10 virgins. He did so with vigor and a complete lack of recourse to notes. Impressive. However, nowhere in this admittedly thorny text was there an association with the hymns. Ok, maybe, if you REALLY stretched, you might be ok with "This Little Light of Mine", which was the first hymn. The second was seasonal, being the Navy Hymn, or as most hymnbooks have it, "Eternal Father, Strong to Save".
The third, though, it's hard not to impute motive to the third hymn, which was "Lift Every Voice And Sing" (link plays music, but as midi music goes, not bad). As I noted in my twitter, this song is a CAST-IRON BITCH to sing. It's got triplets, and this whole middle section of each verse which totally changes the feeling of it, and you have to be on your toes. And... it was written by two black men around 1899. I'm pasting the lyrics in below so you can see why I think it was political.
Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.
There WERE dry eyes in the congregation when we got done, but they didn't belong to me, or the guy standing next to me.
...Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?...
Next time you're looking for Christians who are not socially conservative, come to church with me.