Christmas Song: All Shall Be Well, Noël

Hello, friends!

Here’s the fourth in my series of five new songs/carols/hymns for Advent and Christmas. This one draws on a phrase from the writings of Julian of Norwich, an English woman who lived from 1342 to 1416. Julian was an anchoress—that is to say, she was a sort of hermit who lived in a cell built into the wall of a church. She had many visions, and she wrote them in her book Showings, which might be the first book written by a woman in the English language. In chapter 27 of the long text of Showings, she wrote:

But Jesus, who in this vision informed me about everything needful to me, answered with these words and said: Sin is necessary, but all will be well, and all will be well, and every kind of thing will be well. … These words were revealed most tenderly, showing no kind of blame to me or to anyone who will be saved.

Julian accepted that “all will be well,” and trusted in God to know better than she how this is to be accomplished. I think there’s something very beautiful, and rather Christmas-like, in that moment of enlightenment and acceptance.

All Shall Be Well, Noël (full score) (letter size)

All Shall Be Well, Noël (vocal parts) (legal size, for folding)

 

2024-11-26T12:59:51-06:00November 26, 2024|0 Comments

Christmas Song: Star-Struck by the Stable Gate

Hello, friends!

Here’s the second in my series of five new songs/carols/hymns for Advent and Christmas. This one is a different take on the old story of the Animals’ Christmas. What if the animals at the stable were just waiting for human beings to finally get a clue? The sheet music with hymn parts is here:

Star-Struck by the Stable Gate (legal size, for folding)

Star-Struck by the Stable Gate (letter size)

2024-12-04T18:03:44-06:00November 23, 2024|0 Comments

To a Horse’s Rear

Hello, friends!

Here’s a little song in response to the recent election here in the United States. (We all have our own ways of coping!) The lyric is in sonnet form—plus a few parenthetical phrases. It’s just a trumpery little sonnet, really, and I offer it with apologies to William “Shifty” Shakespeare.

2024-11-14T09:21:30-06:00November 14, 2024|6 Comments

An Evening Wasted with The Merry Mystic

Hello friends,

I’ll be emerging from my cave next month to give a live concert. The dates are Friday, October 18th, 7:00 p.m., and Saturday, October 19th, 2:00 p.m. The location is the Open Prairie United Church of Christ, which is at 25 E. Marion Street in Princeton, Illinois—behind the Apollo Theater. (Long ago, the Apollo had a stage for vaudeville shows. That’s fitting: my songs are vaudeville-adjacent!) Admission is free, with a free-will offering to support the host church, and refreshments will be offered at the intermission.

The Merry Mystic's head is packed
    with all the songs he'll spout.
That's why his hair is growing thin:
To flee the madcap mess within,
    the crew is bailing out!

Hope to see you there!

Bright blessings,

Adam

2024-09-09T11:00:02-05:00September 9, 2024|0 Comments

The Buddha Kicked My Butt

My little church, the Open Prairie United Church of Christ, is probably the only church for a hundred miles where I could sing this song on a Sunday morning. (It followed my sermon.) Be the Light, Merry Mystics!

2024-07-07T13:15:21-05:00July 7, 2024|9 Comments

Love Small

I love my small town: Princeton, Illinois. At least, I love it now. Hated it when I first moved here…

2024-04-21T10:18:07-05:00April 21, 2024|10 Comments

Me and Joe and What’s-His-Name

Here’s a song I wrote, inspired by a story from the Gospel of Luke. I performed this at the close of our Sunday morning soulcare at the Open Prairie United Church of Christ on Palm Sunday, 2024.

2024-03-24T13:22:07-05:00March 24, 2024|0 Comments

Surely You Know the Change I Need

I wrote a new hymn for the first Sunday in Lent. (It goes with my sermon, “Time for a Change“.)

Exhortations to change are a big part of the Christian tradition: change your heart, change your mind, change your life. Traditionally we’ve used the word repent for that; repent is the usual translation of Jesus’ exhortation in biblical Greek, μετανοεῖτε, which presumably was a translation of something Jesus said in Aramaic. But however we ended up with that word, I think it’s inadequate. Repent has all kinds of sorry associations: it’s what one does while sitting in sackcloth and ashes, overcome with remorse, perhaps punishing oneself for one’s misdeeds. And sometimes, yes, change begins with remorse—but not always.

These are the words of the hymn:

Surely You Know the Change I Need

Surely you know the change I need;
help me to know it too.
Free me of all my lethargy
and show me the path to you, to you,
and show me the path to you.

When I am wrong, oh help me feel
fully a right remorse.
Then help me leave remorse behind
and find me a better course, a course,
and find me a better course.

Mover of all, may I be moved,
cherishing every chance,
Ready to hear you say my name
and call me to join the dance, the dance,
and call me to join the dance.

Ready to fly, the wild goose waits,
ready to sprout, the seed.
So make me ready, God of life
for changes you know I need, I need,
for changes you know I need.

As always, sheet music for Surely You Know the Change I Need is available in our Free Stuff Area. Also, you can see and hear it being sung for a church service here.

2024-02-19T10:00:07-06:00February 19, 2024|0 Comments
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