Tacky Hymns 112

Good wee hours of the morning! Apropos, this installment picks up with the "Morning" section in the hymnal supplement All Creation Sings.

992 is "Now that the daylight fills the sky," a J.M. Neale translation of a medieval Latin hymn, set to the tune LAUREL by Dale Wood (†2003), exactly as in the Lutheran Service Book (LSB). Which, interestingly, features a canon at the octave between the melody and the tenor line, at a time delay of 2 beats. If the last note of the tune wasn't held for five beats, you could even sing it as a round. 0 tacks.

993 is "God is here today" by Javier Gracias (b. 1956), both in the original Spanish and C. Michael Hawn's (b. 1948) English translation, to its own tune also by Gracias, accompaniment omitted. Its single stanza consists of the first line, already mentioned, and three "as certain as" clauses. It's not exactly dripping with edifying richness. At its extremely brief length, and saying as little as it does, it's hard to see where this has any use in the divine service. For that and other obvious reasons (I mean, just read backward in this thread), 3 tacks.

994 is "The night you gave us, God, has ended" by Wayne L. Wold (b. 1954) set to ST. CLEMENT by Clement C. Scholefield (†1904) – the same church-carillon tune to which one hears John Ellerton's "The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended" in LSB. Actually Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) also has Ellerton's evening hymn set to the same tune as well, only with the Thees and Thous "alt."-ed out of it as though Ellerton's (†1883) choice of Jacobean language wasn't a conscious decision on his part. The editors of this book, with the editors of ELW, apparently follow that same double standard that allows Thous by nearly-contemporary authors to stand while tampering with the poets of a previous century who, likewise, understood yous but didn't choose to use them. But enough about ELW. Here's a Boomer "original" that flips Ellerton's evening-hymn concept around to the morning. And I would be hypocritical to, ha ha, tax it for doing pretty much what I did with the Dies irae and the Stabat mater. So, 0 tacks.

As the "Evening" section kicks in, 995 is "Come, be among us, O Jesus" by Anonymous, set to his or her own tune without accompaniment, both in Spanish and in Greg Scheer's (b. 1966) translation. There seems to be a little to it, in comparison with, say, 993, but when you step back, some of that is "fast falls the eventide" (which we've heard before, in a longer, deeper and richer hymn) and about one-third of it is repetition. And there isn't that much to repeat, after all. One stanza that says the same thing two or three different ways, in not altogether original terms, and repeat, repeat, repeat. 3 tacks.

996 is "Watch, O Lord" by Marty Haugen (b. 1950), purportedly based on a prayer by St. Augustine, to Haugen's own tune without accompaniment. It's a bit like one of Haugen's all-but-patented psalm or canticle settings, with lines of chant alternating with a refrain; but instead of a regular chant tone, it has a dialogue between "Leader" and "All" where the response is varied every third time (from "in your love, Lord" to "in your love, O Lord of all") to set up the next refrain. I actually understand how this would be used in worship, but you know what? It's liturgy, not hymnody. 2 tacks.

997 is "Behold, unveiled the vesper skies" by Susan Palo Cherwien (again, read backward in this thread), set to David Cherwien's (b. 1957) VESPER SKIES, without accompaniment. Interesting use of "vesper" as an adjective, there. The poetic language of this hymn is impressive, but I'm confused by its liturgical lingo. After so evocatively setting the scene for an evening prayer office ("Vespers," don't cha know), all of a sudden in stanza 3 it starts talking about the Lord's Supper, which is quite another thing. The grammar stumbles here as well, with a verb form ("beckons") that doesn't fit the sentence structure; and what it says "the table Christ has spread" beckons us to is just "breaking of the bread," a completely inadequate description of the sacrment. I think S.P.C. should have put it through another draft. 2 tacks.

998 is "In silence we wait" by Susan Masters (b. 1957), words and music, without accompaniment. It's just three phrases, the other two (spoiler!) being "in darkness you come to us; bring us your light." No repeats or anything. It's literally two staves of melody squeezed at the bottom of the page, which quite possibly is the whole purpose for it being there, its usefulness as a hymn in actual worship being so slight. 2 tacks.

999 is "Your canopy of vigil lights" by Susan R. Briehl (cf. 958), set to Haugen's tune CANOPY. The first line is a reference to the stars in the night sky, you know. Stanza 1 moves swiftly from creation to the redemptive significance of Christ's incarnation ("binding us to your dear Son, renewed our life, destroyed our death"), so a pleasant surprise so far. Stanza 2 again hints at an evening celebration of the Lord's Supper, inviting Christ to stay with us at the close of day, "our unknown guest, our host and feast." This stanza's "evening meal" language again leaves me wondering whether Vespers is even a thing in the ELCA. Not that I'm complaining if it means having the sacrament at every opportunity, including (for example) an Easter Vigil, an Epiphany or Ascension day service (which almost must be at night), etc. Then stanza 3 starts talking about it being the sabbath night (even pitching in a "shalom"), which either confirms that this is an Easter Vigil hymn or suggests a messianic Jewish context. I'm aswim in speculation. For omitting the accompaniment, 1 tack.

It's a brief entry, sure, but we got through two sections of hymns and the hours are still wee, albeit less so than when I began. So, it's back to bed with me now. We've put on another 13 tacks, bringing the running total to 182 in 99 hymns, which is actually about 184 percent. Now down with you, canopy of night!