Monday, March 14, 2005

notes

1) February was unusually warm. Our March temps should be in the 50s (F). Today we will reach 40 degrees, the warmest day in over a week. I am merely saying that it has been cold this month and I am tired of waiting for spring.

2) Saturday was our choir's hymnathon -- a well-intended attempt to raise money for our trip to England this summer that requires us to sing one verse of each hymn in the hymnal. Sponsors contribute for each hymn sung. I had to work in the morning but joined in the afternoon. Partner was there for the whole day. I suppose that if there is something good about this exercise it is to affirm that there are reasons why some hymns are never sung.

I was surprised to see that Onward Christians Soldiers and Just As I Am are in the hymnal. I'd never noticed that before. The Baptist Hymnal (1956) is in my head, and rarely does that book intersect with the Episcopal hymnal, with the exception of Wesley and Watts hymns. The American folk tunes of the 19th century generally don't make our hymnal. The tune used for the Baptist hymn Brethren, We Have Met To Worship (it includes a reference to sistrens or some variation for the women folk) does show up in a couple places.

3) Franklin the dog is limping again. I feel guilty and worried. I let him run in the backyard and monitored it so that he wouldn't overdo it. Just a little was overdoing it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow--doing a hymnathon is a great idea. And I loved the last line of 2). How true.

Sorry to hear about Franklin.

Hugh said...

Ditto Rob. I think that a hymnathon should be mandatory for all parishes. Not necessaily to raise money, but to expose people to the wealth of material that the Hymnal 1982 offers. There are plans for reading the Bible in one year, why can't there be a plan for going through all 720 hymns in two years. Yes, no one will like everything, but it's fun to sing "Alleluia, Sing to Jesus" not with the common tune (Hyfrydol, #460), but with the equally hymn-like, non-modern, Alleluia (Wesley), #461.

Don said...

Rob & Hugh -- this is the second time we've done this. We've also sang through all the psalms alternating between plain chant and Anglican chant. Since we have children choristers, this turns out to be a very popular way for them to raise money for our trips to England.

James -- I am oh so ready for spring. Container gardening is harder than dirt gardening -- in the hot months you must usually water each day. Somewhere I've blogged about this but cannot find it through the Google search for this blog. I'll try and find it.