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Summary: If you're a Christian singer, you delight in this supplement
Review: If you haven't had a chance to hear the wonderful music in this supplement, you are in for a treat. Recently, the Nativity choir joined with other local Episcopal parishes for a sing-through of many of the songs in the supplement. What a wonderful job the committee has done in providing new praise music and some traditional overlooked spiritual gems. If you are a Christian singer, you won't want to be pass this by.Wonder, Love, and Praise, for the most part, moves us on in time to contemporary composers and writers. Many of the hymns in the supplement contain verses with modern language and address contemporary issues. The musical styles are also varied. Many hymns come from other Protestant traditions. But there were also chants from the Taize Community as well as some Plainsong that is being "re-presented." This supplement is a very impressive work which helps to expand our Episcopal music horizons. Appearing below is an example of the more contemporary texts from one of the hymns that we sang that Saturday. When Jesus came to Golgatha - third verse
When Jesus cries, "Forgive them for they know not what they do,"
and still it rains the winter rain that drenches through and through;
the crowds go home and leave the streets without a soul to see,
and Jesus crouches 'gainst a wall and cries for Calvary. The verse is very "here and now" with reference to the homeless, but it was actually written just after World War I by a British theologian, Rev. Geoffrey Studdert-Kennedy. WLP gives background notes on the hymns: "He (Studdert-Kennedy) worked tirelessly to open the eyes of the privileged to the suffering of the lower classes." And the second stanza which is not quoted herein mentions "indifference" which was a reference to the industrial slum of that time in Birmingham, England. The hymn has been re-presented with the verbs changed to the present tense to highlight the text relevance for us today. Karla Porter
Music Director
Church of the Nativity, Sarasota
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