Gather Us In hymn

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I love the hymn since I was a child. It’s one of my favorites. I often reflect on how I myself have gone from the “we are the young” group to “we are the old” group in the hymn.

There are a lot of people who dislike all modern hymns such as those by St. Louis Jesuits.
There are a lot of people who dislike anything that isn’t a traditional organ, or Gregorian chant.
People’s hymn preferences are a continuous topic on here.
 
Man, it’s really depressing to see people making puke faces at one of my favorite hymns.
I think I’ll take a break from this forum for a while.
Bye bye
 
Whoa! Sorry! Next time I hear it, I’ll take it like a man. Moreover, I’ll try to see good in it. I mean it. You’re too likeable to offend.
 
Matters of taste cannot be disputed.
It’s a little bit too contrived for me, though. Every note matches an equal beat and word for the most part, almost mathematical, and that bothers me. I don’t know, I can’t put a finger on it. But it is catchy.
 
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Maybe if Gordon Lightfoot sang it, we’d like it???

“And the Church bells rang, they rang out the three times, for each member of the Ho-o-ly Trinity…”

Basically, any song written since the 1960s is biased toward 24/7 justice and peace (what about faith and the Gospel?), or is just horrid on its own.

“We are the light of the world” works better than Syrup of Ipecac.
 
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I really hate this song, and most of Marty’s. I like to sing at Mass, a lot, but I won’t sing the songs of Mary & Friends. “Some heaven light years away” - I feel like I am being blasphemous in church! At Mass! In front of Our Lord, in front of all those angels ! Those sing-songy wishy-washy tunes. They just are not WORSHIPFUL Celebrations of “We the people!”. I block it out, I read the scriptures for the day,or pray my rosary. That’s how I get through it.

Another thing I do is go to the Latin Mass downtown sometimes in the evening instead. It’s a long drive, and I prefer morning Mass. But my husband knows the Latin and loves it, and I pray my rosary in the beautiful basilica and look around at all the holy art and admire the truly sacred rites being performed with reverence and it gives me confidence and peace. I could follow the Latin with an English translation, and I have, but truly I love to let go of the study and just be there. Being there is just good. It’s a tonic. Then I can go back to my local parish and tolerate/actively-ignore Marty again…
 
Once again, I sigh when I see folks throw around the word hate. Really? I may not care for the song, but do I hate it? For me, the tune is too simple, like a children’s singy song. Is that a word? 🙂
 
It is honestly one of my least favorite hymns of all time – right there with “On Eagle’s Wings.”

At my house, I have shelves of music from mass – books, sheet music, choral arrangements. I love the St Louis Jesuits, and I actually love a lot of stuff that I would never want to sing or play at mass, even if it is in the hymnal.

But music is an art form that is intrinsically personal. I could probably go on and on about why I don’t like a particular piece of music (don’t even get me started on the Beatles – blech!), but in the end, it’s really just a matter of opinion.

I don’t like the song. Big deal. If I attend a mass where it’s the opening hymn, I’ll just calmly stand and enjoy the enthusiastic singing of others. :+1:t4:
 
CTBcin said:
Also, people joke that the melody sounds similar to “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” which is actually pretty accurate.
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Well, let’s not go down that road, or someone might point out that you can sing the lyrics of “Amazing Grace” to the tune of “Theme from Gilligan’s Island.”

And no one wants to know that.
 
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Eliza10 said:
I block it out, I read the scriptures for the day,or pray my rosary.
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Eliza,
That is really too bad. I was born in 1940 and went to Catholic school thru high school. I was an alter server and loved the Latin mass. When I was in the 4th grade, well before V-II, sister explain to us that it was not proper to pray the rosary during mass. That the mass was the church’s prayer and participation by all attending was important.

After V-II, when the English Mass was very foreign to most of us, I read an article in the Ligorian (sp?) that said how important it was to sing out in church with the new music. The sense I had was that we had to stretch ourselves so we could accept the changes in the mass.

I love the new mass. It has so many elements of worship that make the experience complete for me. Including an OT reading and the homilist focusing on the readings , to mention two.

My prayer is that others would learn the beauty and value of English mass.
 
Why do I like Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee better? It has a similar sound. It’s seems a little more uplifting and regal, I guess.
 
That’s what I thought, too. At least I can sing it. Some of the songs in our hymnal are hardly singable.
 
KyPerson said:
Like many have said, it is trite. I find the lyrics to be pretty lame. Here are some parodies:
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That is really naughty, but I was 😃 ing all the way, until I got to the last verse – 😭 . We do more than a few things from the Haugen-Haas Hootenany Handbook, but I am grateful that this isn’t one of them.

D
 
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