Mary and Music Ministry Musings
Friday morning greetings to you! I have moved to a new day in order to highlight some of the music we will be singing on Sunday mornings. Today we look at Hymn 525, The Church’s One Foundation and Hymn 487, Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life. Please watch the video to listen to our tenor Darrius Pugh and our bass Corbin Phillips sing these two hymns.
The text for The Church’s one foundation (first published in 1866),was penned by the Rev. Samuel Stone to address the need for his parishioners to understand Christian doctrine, notably the Creed. This particular hymn text had the heading “Article XI. The Holy Catholic Church: the Communion of Saints”. At that time there was intense controversy (“schisms”) brewing over various disagreements on sacramental theology and even the challenges posed by Darwinism. Ultimately these tensions brought forth the first Lambeth Conference in 1867 to address and resolve these and other controversies. The tune we know for this hymn was composed by Samuel Sebastian Wesley and first appeared on the hymn scene in 1864 in the hymnbook Selection of Psalms and Hymns, in which various texts could be sung with a variety of tunes. Apparently Mrs. Wesley named the tune ‘Aurelia’. Wesley’s tune and Stone’s text finally met up in 1868 in the Appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern.
Hymn 487 is a setting of the poem The Call by the great English mystical poet George Herbert (1593-1633). Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he ultimately became a priest and served a small parish near Salisbury, where he devoted himself to caring for the welfare of his parishioners, visiting the sick and providing food and clothing to those in need. Herbert suffered from poor health himself and died of tuberculosis at age 39. He left behind a treasure-trove of metaphysical poetry. The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams set this and four other of Herbert’s poems in a work for baritone soloist, choir and orchestra entitled Five Mystical Songs. This one, The Call, is the only one of the five settings set entirely for solo baritone.
The Call first appeared as a congregational hymn in our present Hymnal 1982. The marriage of Herbert’s text with Vaughan Williams' music is much loved, and rightly so. I would also recommend that you consider meditating on the text alone, which in three compact verses gives us much to ponder: Christ as my Way, my Truth, my Life, my Light, my Feast, my Strength, my Joy, my Love, my Heart.
Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
such a way as gives us breath;
such a truth as ends all strife;
such a life as killeth death.
Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:
such a light as shows a feast;
such a feast as mends in length;
such a strength as makes his guest.
Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
such a joy as none can move;
such a love as none can part;
such a heart as joys in love.
There is so much richness in our hymns! Some are much-loved, others are new and unfamiliar. Sometimes it is good just to read the texts as meditations, and I encourage you to try this. If you don’t have a Hymnal 1982 at home, you can purchase one online from Church Publishing at churchpublishing.org. Wonder, Love and Praise, Lift Every Voice and Sing II, and Voices Found can also be purchased there as well. They make wonderful additions to a daily meditation practice.
