Lord, I'm retired. What was the 4:40 AM wakeup about? I really don't need to wake up that early. And what's with the hymn running through my mind as I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to fall back asleep? Lord, are you trying to tell me something? Perhaps George Bush is not the only US citizen that you talk to. Amen.
My dear readers, after prayerful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that God wants me to share this hymn with you. Here are two verses:
Alleluia! sing to Jesus! His the scepter, His the throne.
Alleluia! His the triumph, His the victory alone.
Hark! the songs of peaceful Zion thunder like a mighty flood.
Jesus out of every nation has redeemed us by His blood.
....
Alleluia! bread of angels, Thou on earth our food, our stay;
Alleluia! here the sinful flee to Thee from day to day:
Intercessor, Friend of sinners, Earth’s Redeemer, plead for me,
Where the songs of all the sinless sweep across the crystal sea.
It's a lovely hymn and familiar to many of us, and it is one of my favorites. I like that it makes clear who is boss and puts the powers and principalities nicely in their place. I like the "friend of sinners" part, too.
I'm sorry that I can't put up a musical version of me singing the hymn. I'll let you use your imagination: think of a voice something like a cross between Joan Baez and Joan Collins - the two Joans - and you'll have an idea of what my voice is like. I say this in all humility, but I must speak the truth. Read the words, and hear me singing in your mind's ear, and I think you will profit. Why you could even join in and sing along with me.
We're singing that hymn Sunday at the 7:30 am English-language service. Last Sunday for Alleluias!
ReplyDeleteThat's right, Padre, the Alleluias go. I miss them, but then come Easter, I appreciate them all the more. That's the value in fasting from Alleluias.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mimi, I needed that today. Our bright sunshine and cool temps make singing it indoors more appealing.
ReplyDeleteShare Cropper, I'm pleased you joined in. I tell you, I could hear you - in the Spirit - you know.
ReplyDeleteThat's one of my favourite hymns. I sing it a lot! I'll think of you next time I sing it.
ReplyDeleteHere at St. Margaret's we're not so strict about fasting from Alleluias during Lent (kinda goes along with our nasty liberal 'We like to sing Christmas carols during Advent' approach!!!). Nonetheless, as it does every year, Lent is arriving in the nick of time for me.
Our children will be burying the Alleluia's this Sunday. Just to add to the fun, the children are told that everytime they catch someone saying, "Alleluia" during Lent, they have to fine that person. The minimum fine is $1. At the end of Lent, the "fines" are donated to ERD - this year toward an MDG.
ReplyDeleteWe're singing this hymn this Sunday. It will be lovely to think of your voice contributing to ours.
Tim, ah, yes. Y'all are the hymn outlaws.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful of you lovely people to think about me when you sing this hymn.
Elizabeth, your idea of burying the the Alleluias and the fines is a good one. I'm going to suggest that we do that with our children. It's not too late.
In a parish where I once led the choir, the Sunday School kids drew alleluias with whatever the word made them think of. Then during worship the pastor talked about Lent and had the kids put their alleluias in a trunk which was then locked. On Easter Sunday the trunk was opened and the art work was displayed around the altar so all were visible at communion.
ReplyDeleteThe worst/best alleluia withdrawal/celebration was in a NJ church where the kids were told to quietly remind anyone who said the word during Lent. Then on Easter Sunday all the kids (and my choir) received noisemakers with the instructions to use them whenever they heard either Alleluia or Hallelujah. Of course there were none until the very end of the sermon. It was annoying but fun.
Pseudo, more great ideas. I'll suggest yours, too. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Last year I gave up swearing for Lent. Never thought of giving up alleluias. I always thought praising the Lord was a year-round activity...
ReplyDeleteBut then again, I've often been told that I'm a very weird Anglican.
Well, Tim, you COULD say "glory to God" for Lent like everyone else ;-). Silly man, we don't stop praising God. Then again, I am an Advent purist. (But I played Christmas music at home till Candlemas!)
ReplyDeleteTim, Caroline is correct. We don't stop praising God, because we don't say "Alleluia". However, as I said, I do miss saying it during Lent, but then, I feel joyful when we start it again, and I find that we say it and sing it with special enthusiasm during the early Easter season.
ReplyDeleteCaroline, what you do in the privacy of your home is your own business, right? ;o) Have your Christmas music until Candlemas Day.
Mimi,
ReplyDeleteJust to let you know, the dreaded scan went routinely...now, I only have to wait for the results. Appointment with the Dr. Tuesday. I'll let you know..and thanks for your prayers.
Alleluia: from Hebrew 'Hallelu Jah' - "Praise Yahweh".
ReplyDeleteSusan, thanks for the update. I'll keep praying. I know what the waiting is like, too. It's hard. I'll pray for peace for you during this time.
ReplyDeleteTim, I'm still willing to sit at the table of the Lord with you, though you do not follow the proper traditions regarding appropriate hyms for the seasons of the church year. It's nothing to break communion over, my dear brother in Christ. ;o)
ReplyDeleteHey,if I ever come to the Deep South, I know where I'm going to go to church, and I'll make darned sure we stand together when we go to the Lord's Table!
ReplyDeletePsuedo, at San Cristóbal we ring bells everytime we say Alleluia during the season of Easter, something I learned as a seminarian at St. Mark's, Berkeley, where I met the notorious Susan S.
ReplyDeleteNotorious? Notorious? I ain't notorious! I ain't got no notorious! I don't got to show you no notorious!
ReplyDeleteHyrfydol... our congregation always sings the third verse in four-part harmony unaccompanied. It has become a tradition here, no one panics when the organ drops out and, even better, when it comes back in, we're still in the same key... all 30 of us this morning. It's a great way to retire the alleluias until Easter.
ReplyDeleteCaminante, That's wonderful, too. I love it. So many lovely traditions.
ReplyDeleteTim, are your sure you don't want to get with the program?
Okay, Off Topic...
ReplyDeleteSo, I realise now that my particular development(outburst) of the word 'notorious' would make no sense to anyone who had not seen "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" starring Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston. The actual quote concerned "badges," but I am prone to taking almost any word and inserting it into the quote.
Thanks for ignoring it.
Now back to the actual topic under discussion. We buried the A-word today with hymn #123 complete with finger cymbals, tambourines, triangles and small drum. We have done that every year I have been at St. Mark's.
Also, due to a misprint in the bulletin. for the communion hymn we sang "Let all Moral Flesh Keep Silence." :-P
That is all.
Susan, I don't think we neccessarily have to understand everything everyone else says here. If the lunatics rave at MadPriests place, then eccentricity rules here, and if commenters say odd things from time to time, we pay no mind. ;o)
ReplyDeleteTruly, I am going to make a note of the intriguing customs that you have mentioned and offer them for use in my my church for next year.