This article by L. Roger Owens is an interesting reflection for those who are finding the ban on singing in church problematic –
The pandemic calls for closed hymnals
L. Roger Owens teaches Christian spirituality and ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and is author of Threshold of Discovery: A Field Guide to Spirituality in Midlife
Methodist Conference – Sunday Service 2020 For start of Service go to 9:36
Provided by the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland
This coming Wednesday (1st July) marks the beginning of what we hope will prove to be an exciting and innovative project.
As, due to the Corvid-19 virus, we have been unable to hold our annual July Conference, we have, instead, initiated ‘Hymn for the day’.
Throughout July, from the 1st to the 31st, our website will contain a ‘Hymn for the day’. This will comprise the full hymn text of a hymn selected by one of our members. It will be accompanied by a reflection on the words by the person who has selected it. In addition there will, in some cases, be a video link where the hymn and reflection are read by the contributor. Possibly, also, there may be a YouTube connection to the hymn being sung.
As the month progresses, the list will expand until, by 31st July, there will be thirty-one ‘Hymns for the day’. All of them will remain available on our website throughout the whole of August after which, due to copyright considerations for some, they will be taken down.
In these times which, for many, are proving rather difficult and dismal, we hope that this initiative will prove to be interesting, informative and enriching, and an encouragement to log on to our website each day for a ‘Hymn for the day’ to brighten your life!
Our website address is as always:
The will for domination leaves carnage in its wake,
as neighbours are berated, while peace and justice quake.
A dream once spoke of freedom, embodied hope and grace,
now all of that is challenged, with hatred in its place.
Hostility is breeding as loving is outlawed.
Hypocrisy and violence once left a saviour floored.
So what is there to save us when leaders lose all sense?
When governments are faulted, we daren’t sit on the fence?
Our common human nature, the seed of human love,
must hold us at the centre beyond the push and shove,
must live beyond this moment, must meet each human need,
when other things divide us, while neighbours die or bleed.
God bind our lives together, fulfil our living dream,
that hearts might cleave together beyond each human scheme,
that love might reign triumphant in every human heart.
Now is the time for building, the time for us to start.
Andrew Pratt 2/6/2020
Words © 2020 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, http://www.stainer.co.uk.
Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd.
Metre: 7.6.7.6. D set as 13.13.13.13
Tune: AURELIA; CRUGER; PASSION CHORALE;
NEW TUNE SETTING BY JOHN KLEINHEKSEL
Click link for setting: Pratt.v.Will.4.Domination.George.FloydPratt.v.Will.4.Domination.George
Click link to access audio:
hymnsandbooks 