We should “gather us in” an entire volume of these tunes specifically in one volume. Then the entire thing can hopefully be declared “not usable”. No need to list songs. Just the whole schmear.
I just p(name removed by moderator)ointed another thing that I think bothers me about the phrase “gather us in”.
It reminds me of the 80s phrase “Color me-----------”(fill in the blank w/ any adjective).
Funny. When I hear “Gather Us In,” I think of Matthew 23: 37- “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”
Or Isaiah 41:11–“Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm, He will gather the lambs, and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”
I guess it just depends on where your mind is set.
Oh, BTW, when Jesus uses the words “hen” and “chicks,” and when Isaiah uses the words “flock,” “lambs,” and “ewes,” they are using poetical terms. They do not literally mean that we will all turn into chickens and sheep.
Kind of like some of the phrases in “Gather Us In.” They’re poetry, and as those of you who are theology students know, you can’t use poetry to teach theology. Poetry is meant to appeal to a different part of the human being, the heart.
As many of you know, my husband and I were kicked out of our Protestant church. We were so hurt by this that I cried out, “I will never go back to a church unless I am wooed in.”
The first time I ever heard the song, “Gather Us In,” I sat there and cried, and then I found a napkin in my purse and copied all the words down so that I could read them during the lonely, sad days. This song gave me great comfort as a displaced child of God. The very idea that God would gather us all in and find a place for us was immensely comforting to me.
At that time, I didn’t NEED theology, I needed a strong arm to “gather me in” and carry me along for a while.
Yes, eventually I needed the theology of the Catholic Church. And I got it, from three years of study, and an excellent RCIA program.
But at the very beginning of my journey home, I needed to be “gathered in” first, then taught.
I agree that theology is important, but I think there is a place for some very personal and heartfelt poetry, especially as an Processional Song in the Mass. I would not want to see an entire Mass of poetry and “feelings” songs, but they definitely have a place. Singing and music is an act of the emotions. Sometimes those of us who play or sing forget this as we work for technical acumen. But music appeals to the emotions, not the mind.
Oh, by the way, I knew “Holy Holy Holy” by heart, because it was one of the first songs tht I ever learned as a PROTESTANT. Same for “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name.” To me, these songs were PROTESTANT because that’s where I sang them all my life. I already knew all about theology.
But Gather Us In–I had never heard that song before coming to Mass, and I love it and I’m glad that our bishop uses an instrumental version of it for his weekly radio show.
Up until a few years ago, BTW, I had never heard “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” I frankly don’t see the resemblance between Gather Us In and The Wreck song.
I also love “Here I Am, Lord,” because it was the song played at the Mass where the Bishop welcomed all of us catechumens and candidates into the Church. We were crying all the way through it. Again, this is a POETRY song, not a theological teaching tool.
I don’t see the point of this thread other than to rant about something that you can do nothing about. Why not think about more wholesome things that will edify the Church?
I am a student of both.