P
pgepps
Guest
I’m a lit scholar and a fairly experienced poet, but I find that two things stand in the way of writing hymns.
First, there’s a very significant difference between writing to be read (on page or aloud) and writing to be sung, and it just takes practice to anticipate how words will sound in various settings.
Second, as a convert, I find that I sometimes don’t have a very clear picture of the relationship between hymnody and liturgy–that is, a very traditional liturgy “makes sense” to me in a way that various selections from hymnals only make sense more-or-less (and sometimes not at all).
Anyway, once in a while I try my hand at hymnody, and I have a couple I think are not terrible. Could I get your comments, please? And do feel free to be as critical as you might be of something in Gather.
The first is a few years old, now (it was written about the time my now-wife and I became engaged, and we will celebrate our 5th anniversary in a month):
I’ll put a second in another thread.
If you’d like, you can listen to an organist playing this setting at youtube.com/watch?v=waGx_-TTJHg .
Thanks,
PGE
(if you’re interested, this piece is in a collection of poems, here: lulu.com/shop/peter-g-epps/the-clay-pot/paperback/product-22747311.html)
First, there’s a very significant difference between writing to be read (on page or aloud) and writing to be sung, and it just takes practice to anticipate how words will sound in various settings.
Second, as a convert, I find that I sometimes don’t have a very clear picture of the relationship between hymnody and liturgy–that is, a very traditional liturgy “makes sense” to me in a way that various selections from hymnals only make sense more-or-less (and sometimes not at all).
Anyway, once in a while I try my hand at hymnody, and I have a couple I think are not terrible. Could I get your comments, please? And do feel free to be as critical as you might be of something in Gather.
The first is a few years old, now (it was written about the time my now-wife and I became engaged, and we will celebrate our 5th anniversary in a month):
Code:
"Make us One"
God, by your almighty power,
All the world from void you formed;
Then you molded in your image
Man and woman, flesh and bone.
Now we share in one another,
Each created one by one
For the joy of loving others:
Make us holy, make us one.
Father, through your Son we pray you,
Make us holy, make us one.
As the moon the sun reflecting
Nightly deepens daily dawns.
You have led us to each other
Down the winding paths we’ve run
Through this world of joy and sorrow:
Make us holy, make us one.
Like the phoenix from the ashes
Every day Love bids us rise,
Seeking new and better chances
All your gifts to multiply.
Grant us, Father, of your Wisdom!
By the Spirit you have shown
How these mysteries we share now
Make us holy, make us one.
*setting: Beach Spring
Dedicated to Sarah on December 2, 2010, in anticipation of our wedding*If you’d like, you can listen to an organist playing this setting at youtube.com/watch?v=waGx_-TTJHg .
Thanks,
PGE
(if you’re interested, this piece is in a collection of poems, here: lulu.com/shop/peter-g-epps/the-clay-pot/paperback/product-22747311.html)
