Friday, March 25, 2005
Sacrament Meeting Hymn Themes
My church calling is Ward Music Chairman. I really enjoy it. Among other things, it's my responsibility to pick out the hymns we sing each week in sacrament meeting and stand in front of the congregation to lead them. One friend of mine, when she heard this was my calling, was duly impressed: "I don't think I've ever seen a male sacrament meeting chorister before," she said. Well, I have, but I do believe I'm rare.
And while this is my stewardship, I have decided to make the most of it. I've started arranging my sacrament meeting programs into themes. Not necessarily themes that correspond with the topic of the talks, but themes that relate all the hymns to each other. My other main goal is to sing more than just the 20 most popular hymns in the book. We have 341 hymns; shouldn't we sing them?
This has become a fun game with those ward members who have caught on to the fact that I do themes. Each week they take a close look at the hymns and try to figure out what they all have in common. Then, after the meeting is over, many people will come up to me and present their theories as to the theme, and I will tell them if they're right or wrong, or explain why I picked a particular theme for a particular day.
There has been enough interest in my themes that I would like to share with the world my records. I have a few more really good themes planned for the future, which I'm not going to give away here (I know some people in my ward read this blog, and that would be cheating!). But here are some of my favorite hymn themes from the past. You're welcome to copy me.
Parley P. Pratt
1: The Morning Breaks
196: Jesus Once of Humble Birth
59: Come O Thou King of Kings
Eliza R. Snow
122: Though Deepening Trials
186: Again We Meet Around the Board
266: The Time Is Far Spent
Ebenezer Beesley
280: Welcome, Welcome, Sabbath Morning
177: 'Tis Sweet To Sing the Matchless Love
16: What Glorious Scenes Mine Eyes Behold
The Number 83
83: Guide Us, O Thou Great Jehovah
183: In Remembrance of Thy Suffering
283: The Glorious Gospel Light Has Shone
Scripture Chain (The sacrament hymn references two scriptures; one is also referenced in the opening hymn, the other is also referenced in the closing hymn.)
240: Know This That Every Soul Is Free
170: God, Our Father, Hear Us Pray
155: We Have Partaken of Thy Love
"Thoughtfully"
148: Sabbath Day
188: Thy Will, O Lord, Be Done
293: Each Life That Touches Ours For Good
Valentine's Day (Love)
87: God Is Love
176: Tis Sweet to Sing the Matchless Love
113: Our Savior's Love
308: Love One Another
Presidents' Day
60: Battle Hymn of the Republic (To commemorate Lincoln)
181: Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King (Jesus is our true ruler)
292: O My Father (Washington was the Father of our country. OK, I know that's a stretch, but you try finding a Washington-themed hymn in the hymnbook!)
Included in the first LDS Hymnbook
85: How Firm a Foundation (including the awesome 7th verse)
192: He Died! The Great Redeemer Died
25: Now We'll Sing With One Accord
And while this is my stewardship, I have decided to make the most of it. I've started arranging my sacrament meeting programs into themes. Not necessarily themes that correspond with the topic of the talks, but themes that relate all the hymns to each other. My other main goal is to sing more than just the 20 most popular hymns in the book. We have 341 hymns; shouldn't we sing them?
This has become a fun game with those ward members who have caught on to the fact that I do themes. Each week they take a close look at the hymns and try to figure out what they all have in common. Then, after the meeting is over, many people will come up to me and present their theories as to the theme, and I will tell them if they're right or wrong, or explain why I picked a particular theme for a particular day.
There has been enough interest in my themes that I would like to share with the world my records. I have a few more really good themes planned for the future, which I'm not going to give away here (I know some people in my ward read this blog, and that would be cheating!). But here are some of my favorite hymn themes from the past. You're welcome to copy me.
Parley P. Pratt
1: The Morning Breaks
196: Jesus Once of Humble Birth
59: Come O Thou King of Kings
Eliza R. Snow
122: Though Deepening Trials
186: Again We Meet Around the Board
266: The Time Is Far Spent
Ebenezer Beesley
280: Welcome, Welcome, Sabbath Morning
177: 'Tis Sweet To Sing the Matchless Love
16: What Glorious Scenes Mine Eyes Behold
The Number 83
83: Guide Us, O Thou Great Jehovah
183: In Remembrance of Thy Suffering
283: The Glorious Gospel Light Has Shone
Scripture Chain (The sacrament hymn references two scriptures; one is also referenced in the opening hymn, the other is also referenced in the closing hymn.)
240: Know This That Every Soul Is Free
170: God, Our Father, Hear Us Pray
155: We Have Partaken of Thy Love
"Thoughtfully"
148: Sabbath Day
188: Thy Will, O Lord, Be Done
293: Each Life That Touches Ours For Good
Valentine's Day (Love)
87: God Is Love
176: Tis Sweet to Sing the Matchless Love
113: Our Savior's Love
308: Love One Another
Presidents' Day
60: Battle Hymn of the Republic (To commemorate Lincoln)
181: Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King (Jesus is our true ruler)
292: O My Father (Washington was the Father of our country. OK, I know that's a stretch, but you try finding a Washington-themed hymn in the hymnbook!)
Included in the first LDS Hymnbook
85: How Firm a Foundation (including the awesome 7th verse)
192: He Died! The Great Redeemer Died
25: Now We'll Sing With One Accord
Comments:
A hymn theme I miss is sunset: the two Abide with Me hyms, Now the Day is Over. It is a long time since I left a sacrament service when the twilight was stealing on and nearly as long since I've sung those gloomy, wistful hymns.
Yeah, with sacrament meeting starting at 9am, it's hard to feel it's appropriate to use one of those end-of-day hymns, though they are beautiful.
The number 83 means no more to me than any other number. I just ended up using it because of the practical circumstances: sacrament hymns range from #169 to #196 or something, and I wanted one of the other two to be fairly well-known, and the other completely obscure. 83, 183, and 283 were the first combination I came across that met those requirements.
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The number 83 means no more to me than any other number. I just ended up using it because of the practical circumstances: sacrament hymns range from #169 to #196 or something, and I wanted one of the other two to be fairly well-known, and the other completely obscure. 83, 183, and 283 were the first combination I came across that met those requirements.
