Tacky Hymns 117

Picking up at the "Witness" section of hymnal supplement All Creation Sings ...

1045 is "Come, share the Spirit" by Gracia Grindal (b. 1943, alt.) to the tune ST. PAUL'S, ARDMORE by Robert A. Hobby (b. 1962). I rather like it. Grindal nails the power of Christ's word and mixes it with baptism and the Lord's Supper. Lightly sketched though her portrayal of the sacraments may be, she does speak of "drowning sins" and connects baptism to Christ's Easter rising, and actually comes right out and calls "his body, bread, his blood, the wine" – strides ahead of where the general pack of sacrament hymns in this book and ELW are running. 1 tack for omitting the accompaniment.

1046 is "As rivers flow from a distant spring" by David Bjorlin (b. 1984), set to HÖKELUND by William Beckstrand (b. 1962). The lyrics are a series of analogies from nature (rivers, trees, woods) to the relationship between our lives and God. It seems to conclude with thanksgiving for the Creator's "worlds that witness to your care," proclaiming his glory, etc. 1 tack for omitting the accompaniment.

1047 is "What is the world like" (when God's will is done?) – apparently a paraphrase of Jesus' words "To what shall I compare the kindgom of God" – by Adam M. L. Tice (b. 1979), to the tune NEW WORLD by Sally Ann Morris (b. 1952). The hymn's five stanzas are, accordingly, a paraphrase of several of Jesus' kingdom-of-God parables. In some cases the language is, um, I don't want to say "dumbed down" but let's say creatively reinvented to the point that you have to think hard to recognize what parable is being paraphrased. I'm still at sea regarding stanza 3. The unforgiving servant maybe? If so, it's an incredibly abstract depiction of that parable. The conclusion that "this is a new world where God's will is done" suggests, to me (and could it be just me?) that Tice's thinking about all these parables – the mustard seed, the prodigal son, the wise and foolish virgins, etc. – are intended to instruct us about how to behave rather than proclaiming what God does for us. For that vaguely discomfiting impression and the lack of accompaniment, 2 tacks.

1048 is "Founded on faith", words and music by Paul D. Weber (b. 1949), a hymn in that stanza structure that has three 10-syllable lines followed by an Alleluia. It squeezes many merits into a compact structure, acknowledging in st. 1 that proclaiming the gopspel is the mission of the church (not, as some hymns suggest, each individual Christian's God-given vocation) and powered by the word of God; rooting it in the cross, baptism and the Lord's Supper in st. 2. It perhaps takes back a little of the merit of st. 1 by acknowledging, in st. 3, the place of each Christian's particular gifts and seemingly reverting to that "everyone is called to do mission work" stuff. Then it veers into social justice warrior territory in st. 4 (the vaguely postmillennialistic suggestion that the "world restored" that we yearn for is on this side of the end times). My quibbles may be paranoid vapors but, nevertheless, I'm giving it 2 tacks, one of them due to the missing accompaniment.

Moving on to the "Lament" section, 1049 is "Before the waters nourished earth" by Jeannette M. Lindholm (b. 1961), set to the Irish tune ST. COLUMBA (cf. "The King of love my Shepherd is" in ELW and LSB). Stanza 1 describes creation thus: "a Love conceived the universe." In st. 2, that Love grieves man's fall in Eden and "each tragic human story." St. 3 acknowledges a deep, paralyizing despair but says it "cannot revoke Love's claim to dwell within our dying" – by which I think it means to be with us in the hour of death; though the syntax here is open to multiple readings. The hymn concludes that the Love that called creation good, turns death to life. It's not a bad hymn, but I think it would be better if it named God personally, or explicitly mentioned Christ and His work, or let its promise of resurrection cut through the cloud of metaphor in literal terms. For being perhaps too artsy-fartsy for its own good, 1 tack.

1050 is "Sometimes our only song is weeping by Tice, set to the "North American traditional" tune WAYFARING STRANGER. There are two stanzas here. The first covers "the Spirit helps in our weakness" (praying what we do not have the strength to utter, etc.) when God seems to be sleeping. Stanza 2 claims that we someitmes hear "the faintest humming," a sense that the Spirit is coming, singing that Christ has shared our laments and restoring our souls to sing God's song. What's missing from this hymn is, to start, a clearer and more complete argument that Christ has borne all manner of sorrow and shame for our sake, and what He has assumed, He also redeemed. And second, any sense that this vague humming sense of the Spirit coming has anything to do with the means of grace. Also taking into account a missing accompaniment, 3 tacks.

1051 is "For the troubles and the sufferings" (of the world), one long stanza of Spanish lyrics by Rodolfo Gaede Neto (b. 1951) and their English translation by Simei Monteiro (b. 1943) and Jorge Lockward (b. 1965), set to Gaede's own tune. The lyrics implore God's mercy for a world in its labor pains. But the anticipated answer to that prayer is "peace that comes from making justice" and "power that will sustain your people's witness." Hmm. I smell a rodent of the social gospel persuasion. For that, its out-of-place bilingualism (an argument I don't need to repeat again) and omitting the accompaniment, 3 tacks.

1052 is "When our world is rent by violence" by Bjorlin, set to Carl F. Schalk's (†2021) tune FORTUNATUS NEW (cf. "Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle" in LSB and ELW). It's a hymn for the collapse of civilization, which I suppose is a timely message these days. Stanza 2 calls on God to "waken justice from the dead" for the poor and imprisoned. St. 3 answers the despair that runs hot and cold in our time with a "Come, Lord Jesus, to redeem." The final stanza hits notes of restoring beauty, ending violence, and giving us a vision of a future where (to paraphrase Tolkien) everything sad will come untrue. I'll give it a pass other than 1 tack for omitting the accompaniment.

1053 is "A river flows through Babylon", apparently written in English by Tice but also in a Spanish translation by María Eugenia Cornou (b. 1969) and Carlos Colón (b. 1966) and set to the latter's tune, SOJOURN. This is taking the unnecessary bilingualism to the next level. And though the hymn actually has three stanzas, each one is set to its own strain of music, causing it to spread out across two pages (without accompaniment). And to a degree, I'm not sure why, because stanzas 1 and 2 are melodically identical. Stanza 3 throws in some rhythmic and melodic kinks, however. Based on Psalm 137, it's a legit lament, but I think its structure undermines the culture and purpose of hymn singing. 4 tacks.

1054 is "God weeps with us who weep and mourn" by Thomas H. Troeger (b. 1945), set to Morris' tune MOSHIER, which falls into the same structural rut as 78.2 percent of contemporary worship tunes. The lyrics sympathize with God, who bears the heavy burden of sympathizing with us. It all winds up nicely with an expression of confidence that God will receive and keep those who grieve, touching our hearts with "love's renewing springs." I'll give it the benefit of the doubt, apart from 1 tack for omitting the accompaniment.

1055 is "Ayúdamos, oh Dios", words and music by Mark A. Miller (b. 1958), which repeats the same line of Spanish lyrics six times and, in between reps 4 and 5, squeezes in a single line of English ("Oh, help us, save us, grant us peace, O God"). And a squint-worthy pronunciation guide in the footnote. And no accompaniment. The tune is also quite repetitive, which naturally leads the newspaper reporter in me (always keen for a way to shorten a story) to propose omitting at least three phrases of it with no net loss of material. Or just eliminate it altogether, because (first) we should expect more out of a hymn than this one delivers, and (second) this is not a Spanish-language hymnal, etc., etc. So, 4 tacks.

Totaling up today's butcher bill, I see 23 tacks. That brings ACS's running total to 304 tacks in 155 hymns, or 196 percent. Yowza! And just wait, the next two sections include a hefty pile of hymns about social justice and environmental stewardship – everything poor, miserable sinners don't need when they come to the cross. We'll have to talk seriosuly, pretty soon, about whether the ELCA is the place for them to do that.