This morning at Grace Church we celebrated All Saints Day. And, of course, we sang A Song of the Saints of God, possibly one of the most insipid and trite hymns in the 1982 Hymnal. The tune isn't bad, but the text is just awful. Even though it was written in the 1920's, it is full of Victorian English imagery (meeting saints at tea...). Ick.
Victorian imagery haunts us in many of our hymns. "All Things Bright and Beautiful," for instance, where Cecil Alexander's words were set to a melody lifted from a book of dance tunes. Alexander is also responsible for the text of "Once In Royal David's City." It is a popular hymn for Christmas services. I love the stateliness of it, but it romanticizes the conditions in which Jesus was born.
Nor are more modern hymns exempt from odd imagery. It's almost impossible to get through "Earth and All Stars" without giggling, especially when you reach the line about the loud boiling test tubes!
There's a reason I don't write hymns!
Peace,
Jeffri
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