We Gather Together

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ethelzguy

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We attended Mass out of town this weekend, and one of the hymns was “We Gather Together”…an old traditional favorite of mine.

Yet the words were “We gather together to sing the Lord’s praises”, or something to that effect.

As I remember it, it went something like this:

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,
Sing praises to His name: He forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, wast at our side, All glory be thine!

What struck me odd, is recalling the many threads here that pump up “traditional hymns” as being “about God”, where “modern” hymns are “about us”.

Yet, the “old” version of this hymn seems to be more about “us” than the “new” version I was exposed to last night.

Interesting. :hmmm:
 
“We Gather Together” was written by Dutchman Adrianus Valerius, known in his lifetime for strongly anti-Catholic and nationalistic poetry, so I suppose it isn’t surprising that a hymn he’d write would not reflect Catholic theology.
 
ibkc said:
“We Gather Together” was written by Dutchman Adrianus Valerius, known in his lifetime for strongly anti-Catholic and nationalistic poetry, so I suppose it isn’t surprising that a hymn he’d write would not reflect Catholic theology.
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Interesting. Why then, is it clearly an “old standby” hymn in the Church?
 
ethelzguy said:
Interesting. Why then, is it clearly an “old standby” hymn in the Church?
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“Spirit of Vatican II”? 😛

Seriously, this hymn’s composer was a fairly rabid anti-Catholic. Google him for more information. This particular hymn is definitely traditional in the Protestant sense, but it is yet another one of those “what is this doing in a Catholic hymnal?” type songs. Here is a page with old hymns of a Catholic origin:

midihymns.homestead.com/midiindex.html

You may find some with lyrics to bolster your observation, I don’t know.
 
“We Gather Together” is actually a Dutch Protestant hymn. There is an interesting opinion article about the origins of the hymn. The Protestant Dutch used it as a hymn overcoming domination and religious oppression by the Spanish Catholic king Philip of Spain. It’s something I learned a number of years back and is why my parish and a few parishes in my area no longer use the hymn at mass. I think the last time I heard it used for mass was back in the 1980s when I was a kid. I also liked this hymn melody as a child and even now, but when explained why my music directors no longer used it, I can understand their reasoning.

Anyway, here’s the article:

opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110007583

christianmusic.suite101.com/article.cfm/thanksgiving_we_gather_together
 
VociMike said:
I can only speak for myself, but I’d never heard of this hymn before today. Maybe it’s a regional favorite?
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You’re kidding me, right? 😃

I’ve heard this song at Mass for YEARS…even back before I started getting gray hair. 😛

Ironically, the next parish over televises their Sunday Mass a week later on Cable public access for the homebound. That hymn has been the opening music for 20 years now.
 
Sarabande said:
“We Gather Together” is actually a Dutch Protestant hymn. There is an interesting opinion article about the origins of the hymn. The Protestant Dutch used it as a hymn overcoming domination and religious oppression by the Spanish Catholic king Philip of Spain. It’s something I learned a number of years back and is why my parish and a few parishes in my area no longer use the hymn at mass. I think the last time I heard it used for mass was back in the 1980s when I was a kid. I also liked this hymn melody as a child and even now, but when explained why my music directors no longer used it, I can understand their reasoning.

Anyway, here’s the article:

opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110007583

christianmusic.suite101.com/article.cfm/thanksgiving_we_gather_together
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Fascinating! Just goes to show ya…
 
ethelzguy said:
Fascinating! Just goes to show ya…
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Yes, I’m quite certain that those parishes who still use this hymn do not know the origins of the piece. It’s basically the same reason why most of the parishes in my area also do not use “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”. (Another hymn I haven’t heard since the 80s.) I’m usually surprised when I hear that people still use both for mass, but, again, I’m sure those who are planning the music just don’t know the background.
 
ethelzguy said:
You’re kidding me, right? 😃

I’ve heard this song at Mass for YEARS…even back before I started getting gray hair. 😛

Ironically, the next parish over televises their Sunday Mass a week later on Cable public access for the homebound. That hymn has been the opening music for 20 years now.
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I’ve never heard of this hymn before today either, and as a military dependent I’ve lived in more parishes than I care to remember, not all of them military parishes.
 
Phemie said:
I’ve never heard of this hymn before today either, and as a military dependent I’ve lived in more parishes than I care to remember, not all of them military parishes.
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Years ago, before it was not PC to “ask the Lord’s blessing”, this hymn was sung on many Thanksgiving shows, such as Lawrence Welk, and many “specials” around Thanksgiving time.
 
Sarabande said:
Yes, I’m quite certain that those parishes who still use this hymn do not know the origins of the piece. It’s basically the same reason why most of the parishes in my area also do not use “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”. (Another hymn I haven’t heard since the 80s.) I’m usually surprised when I hear that people still use both for mass, but, again, I’m sure those who are planning the music just don’t know the background.
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Now, I haven’t heard that one since the 70’s 🙂

I’ll grant you, some of the “newer” music out there just doesn’t seem to fit the idea of a reverent Mass, but some of these “golden oldies” seem to have a few flaws of their own. :eek:
 
For those not familiar with the tune, maybe I’ll set up a camera and play it on my organ later today and post it to youtube…

NOT :rotfl:
 
ethelzguy said:
Now, I haven’t heard that one since the 70’s 🙂
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haha! Well, I wasn’t around until the very tag end of the 70s, so the earliest I can remember back is around 1981 when I was about 2 and found out that John Lennon was murdered. Yes, I know strange thing to remember, but for some reason my little nursery school classmates told me all about it.
ethelzguy said:
I’ll grant you, some of the “newer” music out there just doesn’t seem to fit the idea of a reverent Mass, but some of these “golden oldies” seem to have a few flaws of their own. :eek:
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Yes, but these are not even considered “golden oldies” by many people. Although I like the melodies, I don’t consider them as such, especially since these weren’t hymns commonly used in Catholic churches until recently. None of my older family and friends remember singing those hymns until the 70s and 80s.
 
The tune is familiar so I wonder if I’ve actually heard this at a Protestant at some point. It’s not in the Canadian Book of Worship Version II & III so no surprise that I haven’t heard it at the parishes where I lived.
 
I’ve always known this as the “Thanksgiving Hymn.” I remember learning it in first grade as part of learning about Thanksgiving. I always thought it had been written by the Pilgrims!

Well, ya learn something new every day!

Ruthie
 
ethelzguy said:
Interesting. Why then, is it clearly an “old standby” hymn in the Church?
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IT isn’t in my church. We use the adoramus hymnal.

[Edited]

One thing I have learned about progressives/liberals is that they believe popularity trumps truth.
 
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