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Category: Songwriting

We Thank Thee Lord | a Harvest Hymn to Last of the Summer Wine

Ruth and I have been writing lots of new songs this summer. Yesterday she said “this tune reminds me of something”. When I pointed out what it reminded me of, we fell down a rabbit hole setting Last of the Summer Wine as a hymn tune. The best we came up with was a harvest hymn we found on the internet but we can’t find an author for it.

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Once in Royal David’s City

We’re at Sanctum talking about music in worship. After a conversation about writing Mary’s Lullaby, Ruth Sutherland mentioned her reworking of Once in Royal David’s City to one of the other delegates. I was going to share it in the Sanctum group and discovered it had slipped through the cracks.

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Mary’s Lullaby (Away in a Manger) | A Rewrite

Since the late 19th century, The Church has been held hostage to one of the most theologically facile songs that has ever been sung during a service. All of the accusations of “pie in the sky when you die” and a “bearded man in the sky” can be found in this universal favourite.  When combined in a service filled with “baby” Jesus and the Christmas “Story” references, The Church has been inoculating people to the revolutionary faith we have in Christ.

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Hail Holy King | A Hymn for Christ The King

About six months ago we were talking about the highly infectious ancient hymn, Hail Holy Queen. If you’ve ever watched Sister Act you can’t help but sing along.  We wanted to sing it at Rock Mass with Metanoia but needed to make it work in a service that takes place monthly. We have reworked it to fit with the feast of Christ The King.  When we have played it at Rock Mass, it worked really well.

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