sinden.org

In "Jerusalem, My Happy Home":

There Magdalen hath left her moan,
and cheerfully doth sing
with blessèd saints, whose harmony
in every street doth ring.

Is this the only reference to Mary Magdalene in our hymnody?

Textually, we believe so, though Arthur Sullivan has a tune called St. Mary Magdalene.

Labels: hymns, Mary Magdalene

A funny note in an otherwise sad news story from London:

Gene Robinson, an openly gay U.S. bishop was forced to stop his sermon at a west London church after a member of the congregation began to heckle him . . .

Robinson halted his sermon while a hymnal [sic] began playing. The man was escorted from the south west London church at which time Robinson resumed his sermon and asked for the congregation to pray for the man.

TransWorldNews: Gay U.S. Bishop Heckled During Sermon at London Church 13 July 2008. Emphasis added

I want that hymnal!

In all earnestness, I love Gene Robinson's preaching, and I intend to read his sermon this afternoon, heckles and all.

Powerful video of the heckling at the BBC.

Labels: Anglicanism, Episcopal Church, hymns, journalism

This is a nifty Purcell anthem that sets text from Psalm 63.

But it is perhaps most noteworthy for its concluding Halleluia section, the source of the tune WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

Purcell played the organ at Westminster Abbey, and is in fact buried near that organ. So, in modern terminology, one could say that Purcell played WESTMINSTER ABBEY at Westminster Abbey.

The tune WESTMINSTER ABBEY is most often sung to the text "Christ is made the sure foundation".

Score at CPDL: O God, Thou Art My God

Labels: hymns, Purcell

Finally, a pretty good illustration/prop for a talk I gave a while ago entitled "Put hymns on your iPod"

Hymn Book leather cover for iPod (via Patrick Moberg of the recent nygirlofmydreams.com fame.)

Labels: hymns