Comments | wiredferret: Hymn-based commentary

wiredferret

Hymn-based commentary

Nov 10, 2008 00:31

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 ( Read more... )

wayside, church, faith

Comments 11

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wiredferret November 11 2008, 02:56:52 UTC

Sarah Hoffman.

rivka November 10 2008, 12:47:31 UTC

"Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing" is also known as "The Black National Anthem," so no, I don't think you're imagining the political connection. It's got a long, long connection to the Civil Rights movement, historically black universities, et cetera.

Now I'm kind of wondering why it wasn't one of the hymns at our church, given that we sing it fairly often. Let me tell you: once you've really gotten the melody down? That hymn rocks.

wiredferret November 10 2008, 17:49:54 UTC

I'll confess to having played the midi file and sung through it 4-5 times. It's making a little more sense now.

rivka November 10 2008, 19:36:42 UTC

Here's a fantastic version on YouTube, performed by R&B singer Kim Weston. Some of the visuals are disturbing.

miep November 10 2008, 13:31:13 UTC

when I was attendning the MCC in New York (I couldn't keep going. The cathedral spoiled me), we sang "Lift ev'ry voice" every week. and I cried. every week.

yesterday's hymns at my church, as per usual, were selected by the organist, and therefore included "jerusalem, my happy home" and "guide me, O thou great Jehovah." I couldn't figure out any scriptural reference, or cultural...

talkswithwind November 10 2008, 15:33:13 UTC

I admit my first reaction to reading about the difficulty of Lift Every Voice was, "clearly, you didn't grow up Midwestern-Lutheran, with 4 part harmony standard Hymn fare." Then I heard the tune on the Midi file and I realized. Hey wait, we did this for Children's Choir a number of times. So I had the benefit of practice. And yeah, the triplets are tricky for the non-musical. The hippy church I went to played this one a lot too.

fairoriana November 10 2008, 19:01:06 UTC

During pregnancy, the #1 place my weepy hormones showed up was during hymntime at church. Any Boston-area folks wanting to find Christians who are not socially conservative, my church is also open.