What Is Your Favourite Hymn?

[w00t]

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I like 'I Vow to Thee My Country' To Holtz's Jupiter. It is a surprising choice as I am not patriotic in the flag waving sense!


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I Vow To thee My Country


I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love:
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

And there's another country, I've heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness and all her paths are peace.

Sir Cecil Spring-Rice

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[Smoke]

Stille Nacht. Not Silent Night; it must be in German. Not my favorite on its own merits, but it reminds me of my grandmother.

 

[w00t]

Stille Nacht. Not Silent Night; it must be in German. Not my favorite on its own merits, but it reminds me of my grandmother.

That is my favourite carol, in German or in English!

 

[blackout]

In spite of having worked as a paid church musician for over 10 years,
I cannot think of a single one.:areyoucra

Could that be one of the reasons I left?

 

[w00t]

In spite of having worked as a paid church musician for over 10 years,
I cannot think of a single one.:areyoucra

Could that be one of the reasons I left?

That is a bit sad, even my husband, an atheist, has favourite hymns!

 

[blackout]

Nah. Not sad.

Lot's of wonderful non-church music are my "hymns".

The Pat Metheney Group,
John Coltrane/McCoy Tyner,
Wes Montgomery/Jimmy Smith
Evanescence these days...

and of course my own music.

 

[gnostic]

My favourite hymn is to Hermes. It is belong to one of the Homeric Hymns. It tells of the witty, amusing and downright silly early (infant) life of Hermes.

In English, it can't be sung, like what you would expect from a hymn.

 

[Smoke]

That is a bit sad, even my husband, an atheist, has favourite hymns!

My favorite hymn for its own sake is Tin Timioteran (in Greek), a hymn to the Mother of God written in the 8th century by St. Cosmas the Melodist. In English, it is:

More honourable than the Cherubim
And beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim
Without corruption thou gavest birth to God the Word
True Theotokos, we magnify thee
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When I was Orthodox, I always liked to stand near an icon of the Theotokos during Matins, so I'd get to be one of the ones to set the lampada swinging during this hymn. This hymn occurs in most Orthodox services, and as the refrain between the verses of the Magnificat.

I also always liked the Nunc Dimittis (Nyn Apolyeis) in any language. It's sung at Vespers in the Orthodox Church, and I always especially liked evening services.

 

[Muffled]

Asking a Libra rising about favorites doesn't work too well. I love them all. However there is one that strikes achord in my soul __________

I've Found a Friend

I can only remember the first two lines _____________

I've found a friend, oh, such afriend
He love me ere I knew Him

I don't know the composer or poet because my daughter walked off with my hymnal.

 

[ayani]

Be Thou Our Vision

How Firm a Foundation

Seek Ye First

This is my Father's World

 

[Muffled]

Be Thou Our Vision

How Firm a Foundation

Seek Ye First

This is my Father's World

I attended church with someone who had "Be Thou Our Vision" as their favorite because it s an Irish hymn. I like "Fairest Lord Jesus" because it is a Welch hymn.

 

[ayani]

I attended church with someone who had "Be Thou Our Vision" as their favorite because it s an Irish hymn. I like "Fairest Lord Jesus" because it is a Welch hymn.

oh, yeah. i'm Irish-American, so it definitely strikes a chord with me because of that.

well... Irish-French-Anglo-Jewish. close enough.

Let All Things Now Living is a Welsh tune, i believe.

 

[ChristineES]

In the Sweet By and By is my favorite hymn. It was written in 1868 by Sanford Fillmore Bennett (words) and Joseph Philbrick Webster (music). I love the melody and the words. I want it sung at my funeral.

There's a land that is fairer than day,
And by faith we can see it afar;
For the Father waits over the way
To prepare us a dwelling place there.

In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

We shall sing on that beautiful shore
The melodious songs of the blessed;
And our spirits shall sorrow no more,
Not a sigh for the blessing of rest.

In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

To our bountiful Father above,
We will offer our tribute of praise
For the glorious gift of His love
And the blessings that hallow our days.

In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

 

[Muffled]

Stille Nacht. Not Silent Night; it must be in German. Not my favorite on its own merits, but it reminds me of my grandmother.

I suppose there can be sub-categories. My favorite carol is "Come All ye Faithful."

My grandmother used to sing hymns while in her rocking chair on the porch. I don't remember her favorite but she did like "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning." My great grandfather was a ships cook before he retired and became a baker. Maybe that was one of his favorites since the hymn has a sailors theme.

 

[Ozzie]

I don't know any.

 

[Muffled]

I don't know any.

Maybe you know a mantra or is that a different religion?

 

[Ozzie]

Maybe you know a mantra or is that a different religion?

Rock and roll might constitute a Christian song nowdays. I love rock and roll without God content, and might have found some God rock grooved me in the past without understanding the lyrics.

 

[lilithu]

My favorite hymn, hands down, is Amazing Grace. The first three verses only; not the last verse. It even gave me nightmares as a child.

Most of my other favorite hymns are UU hymns which are probably unfamiliar to most of you. Tangnefedd, your choice reminds me of this one, which, like Amazing Grace, brings tears to my eyes every time we sing it:

This is My Song

This is my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;
But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.

words by Lloyd Stone
music ("Finlandia" ) by Jean Sebelius



Heck, I'm cryin now just reading the words. :sad4: The tune to which it's sung has a lot to do with it too.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

My favorite hymn, hands down, is Amazing Grace. The first three verses only; not the last verse. It even gave me nightmares as a child

I did a quick search and found several versions with different numbers of verses, but nothing that might cause a child nightmares.

I've got a CD of bagpipe music that includes, according to the track listing, a song called "Amazing Graze"... I guess it's the version for cows.

My favourite hymn/carol is probably either "O Holy Night" or "Abide With Me".

 

[ayani]

Lilithu- i love that hymn! it's in a Quaker hymnal a friend uses for worship, and it always makes me tear up, too.