Actually an Artist

This is a few years late…

me, just now, pressing publish 😉

I had thought I would share another setting of Psalm 23 this week. Theo has been begging at bedtime: “Pwease ding Deperd of Yove and Peace and God and Peace and Yove” which translates to the hymn “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need” to the hymn tune RESIGNATION, a beautiful shapenote tune, which is what I think Theo likes so much about it (because I mess up the words each time so it’s definitely not the words he’s reacting to :lol:)

But worship yesterday presented me with an excellent opportunity in that they included the hymn Silence! Frenzied Unclean Spirit, which goes perfectly with the Gospel reading of the day. It also goes perfectly with the soul of our Nation, here in the USA, where madness and possession has taken over many people who have chosen to give themselves over to conspiracy theories, half truths, outright lies, and their own echo chambers. Like the hymn writer Tom Troeger penned in 1984 when writing this hymn, I too believe that spending time considering what demons and possession might mean today is an uncomfortable and absolutely necessary exercise.

There are two hymn tunes that work with this hymn, there’s this one, EBENEZER, and another, more idiomatic to this hymn, AUTHORITY which I like because of its harsh intervals and driving repeated notes. Its form recalls madness, which all of us have experienced to some degree at some time. Sure, this does affect the singability of this hymn, but I think the extra effort is worthwhile. Also… it doesn’t have to sound lovely!

What would you choose? What’s important to you in hymnody?