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lutheranhymnsToday is October 24, 2020, and I have been at this for not quite two years--considering that I sometimes skip days because I'm not feeling well or not energetic or in the mood, that's not quite as far along as it sounds, but it's still pretty darn far along. And today is one of the posts that I've been most anticipating, in terms of telling myself "yes, you have to write something about all the hymns, even if it's just something short and silly, that will make the awesome ones worth it when you get there." Because this text is bleeping awesome.
This was one of the hymns that I memorized for the youth choir challenge. But unlike most of the others, I immediately identified it as being bleeping awesome, and was promptly disappointed that we almost never get to sing it! Sometimes it'd be "second hymn if communion runs long" at an early service or something, and then communion wouldn't run long and we'd skip it. Normally I'm all for not adding on unnecessary musical interludes, but not in this case.
Some highlights of the lyrics:
-use of the word "spangled" unironically in a context that isn't the US anthem
-"children of creative purpose"--God exercised creativity in making the universe; every time we exercise creativity through exploring science or making our own worlds in art, we're following in God's footsteps. (Tolkien has some great essays about this idea.)
-"probed the secrets of the atom"--specific images talking about the beauty of science, but also recognizing its technological dangers.
When I learned this, it was then in the "green book," a few pages away from a hymn called "Great God, Our Source." That one was also very 20th-century in its imagery of space and atoms; but it was also a lot bleaker in terms of "God, help us make sure we don't do anything dangerous with these nuclear machines we built." It did not make it into the "red book." So I think this speaks to this hymn's ability to be specific in its language but also more universal in its theme. (Then again, "And Have The Bright Immensities," which is amazingly over-the-top in namedropping specific constellations (!!), is not bleak and didn't make it either. Sometimes there is such a thing as too much astronomy for a hymnal.)
This was one of the hymns that I memorized for the youth choir challenge. But unlike most of the others, I immediately identified it as being bleeping awesome, and was promptly disappointed that we almost never get to sing it! Sometimes it'd be "second hymn if communion runs long" at an early service or something, and then communion wouldn't run long and we'd skip it. Normally I'm all for not adding on unnecessary musical interludes, but not in this case.
Some highlights of the lyrics:
-use of the word "spangled" unironically in a context that isn't the US anthem
-"children of creative purpose"--God exercised creativity in making the universe; every time we exercise creativity through exploring science or making our own worlds in art, we're following in God's footsteps. (Tolkien has some great essays about this idea.)
-"probed the secrets of the atom"--specific images talking about the beauty of science, but also recognizing its technological dangers.
When I learned this, it was then in the "green book," a few pages away from a hymn called "Great God, Our Source." That one was also very 20th-century in its imagery of space and atoms; but it was also a lot bleaker in terms of "God, help us make sure we don't do anything dangerous with these nuclear machines we built." It did not make it into the "red book." So I think this speaks to this hymn's ability to be specific in its language but also more universal in its theme. (Then again, "And Have The Bright Immensities," which is amazingly over-the-top in namedropping specific constellations (!!), is not bleak and didn't make it either. Sometimes there is such a thing as too much astronomy for a hymnal.)
