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)

Hello, friends!

Here’s the third in my series of five new songs/carols/hymns for Advent and Christmas. This one is about the way God leads us, starting (but not ending) with the Star of Bethlehem. The sheet music with hymn parts is here:

Beacon of Bethlehem (legal size, for folding)

Beacon of Bethlehem (letter size)

Hello, friends!

I’m working on five new songs (hymns? carols?) for Advent and Christmas. Here’s the first: Be Born in Us Tonight. There’s a verse for each Sunday in Advent, and one for Christmas Eve. The “full” sheet music has a keyboard accompaniment; the “voice” sheet music  has just hymn parts, and it’s laid out for a US legal-size sheet, to print and fold.

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.