What is your favoourite Advent hymn, and why?

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crazyheart said:
Is City of God in the catholic hymn book @Waterfall or

am I thinking of another one.
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Hmm, you're probably right. It is written by a Catholic, I must have heard it at the church that my brother attends and I liked it. Either that or my church sang it without any regards where it came from...not sure.
 
GordW said:
I was told that Joy to the WOrld was originally written for Easter...where it also fits better than Christmas, though the eschatological piece fits with the REturn of Christ and the coming of the Kingdom (aka eschaton)
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I think Joy to the World is perfect for Reign of Christ Sunday. But some people might think I'm rushing the Advent/Christmas season. I've also heard that it was intended as an Easter hymn - the joy of Christ's resurrection.

"Joy to the World, the Lord is come; let earth receive her King ...
 
I'll bet there's none in Voices United that use Father in the first line and He three times in the next four...
 
BetteTheRed said:
And we now see why the latter was sung in no United Church in the last half century or two. Father, He, He, He...
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Actually the unadapted words are in the red Hymn Book (#429) and the hymn is in Voices United (#61) with adaptations to switch in Christ for He in the 2nd and 3rd lines (which I personally think is better grammar anyway). Interestingly that puts it in the Christmas section of both books.

So it is highly likely that some UCCan congregations have sung the hymn for the last 45 years at least.

And really it is 30-35 years that UCCan congregations have really worried about inclusive language in referring to the Godhead. Some outliers might have been doing it 40 years ago
 
Which means that I bet correct, yes? I wouldn't have joined the UCCan 30-40 years ago. It's much more naturally inclusive now. Think how many (female) people got turned off for a long time.

(I'm saying this with the assumption, probably wrong, that most UCCan congregations switched to Voices United when it became available.)
 
It would be interesting to know how long it took for VU to "take" given the expense of replacing hymnbooks. I am actually old enough to remember singing from the Red Hymnal's predecessor as a child (black cover entitled just The Hymnary IIRC). I am not sure how quickly we switched after the Red came out, though.

On topic, since it was mentioned up thread:

 
What a lovely way to start the morning. My singing wasn't great but it was a memory.

thank you waterfall . I wasn't Catholic but I wish this hymn was sung in United Churches.
 
BetteTheRed said:
And we now see why the latter was sung in no United Church in the last half century or two. Father, He, He, He...
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"Of The Father's Love Begotten" is #61 in Voices United. It's in the Christmas section and not the Advent section, and I've always thought of it as a Christmas hymn rather than an Adent hymn. The words have been slightly inclusivized (if that's a word) in Voices United, so that the opening words are now:

Of the Father's love begotten
ere the worlds began to be,
Christ is Alpha and Omega,
Christ the source, the ending he.
...

I love the tune to this song. It has, to me, a very meditative and soothing sound. I have certainly used it at times.
 
revsdd said:
"Of The Father's Love Begotten" is #61 in Voices United. It's in the Christmas section and not the Advent section, and I've always thought of it as a Christmas hymn rather than an Adent hymn. The words have been slightly inclusivized (if that's a word) in Voices United, so that the opening words are now:

Of the Father's love begotten
ere the worlds began to be,
Christ is Alpha and Omega,
Christ the source, the ending he.
...

I love the tune to this song. It has, to me, a very meditative and soothing sound. I have certainly used it at times.
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It's not intolerable without the Father, He, He, He... Are there any men (or any other women?) who find this sort of language so deliberately provocative as to absolutely ruin any feeling of worship?
 
Is a single reference to God as Father followed by three references to Christ as "He" (which he is) deliberately provocative?
 
Speaking personally. I don't love the references to God as Father but I can live with them especially if there is no good substitute musically speaking.

But since Jesus was a male person I don't see any problem whatsoever in referring to him as "he". Even "He" is okay with me.
 
Jesus was a he, there is no escaping that. God as Father is one that can be avoided, though how you do it in a given passage or hymn can be a challenge. Changing it to "mother" just sets up a bias the other way and "parent", while the same number of syllables, doesn't always fit comfortably metrically in places designed to have either "mother" or "father". Same with "Lord" which is very much a masculine term. I can't think of a synonym that is gender neutral, same number of syllables, and fits metrically in all places that "Lord" does. Even "Lady" doesn't work in this case since it is two syllables to "Lord"'s one.

In the end, probably better to find hymns that were written without that language in the first place but it is hard to ditch old favorites, I know. In UU'ism, while we do have some inclusive versions of Christian hymns, we often nick the tunes and add new words. Plus, of course, there are original songs from contemporary writers who are UU or UU-friendly, but those are as likely to not mention God at all as find new language for God.
 
revsdd said:
Is a single reference to God as Father followed by three references to Christ as "He" (which he is) deliberately provocative?
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IMO no. Inclusive language is a big picture thing, not an every instance thing. That being said, we could use more hymns with alternate language for the Godhead, preferably actual new lyric sets, not attempts to inclusivize (we have now both used that verb so it must be a word-despite what spell check tells me) older lyrics as that often does not work well...
 
Back when I walked with a congregation rather well-known for its progressive stance, we sang "Love" in place of "Lord" in many hymns. Most of the time the substitution did not make any sense in the context of the lyrics.
 
Ditching hymns or rewriting everything that contain "Father" is problematic to me. I'm fine with a balance of "Father" and "Mother" and "Parent" and other generic sort of references, but I don't want just a bunch of bland, generically worded hymns.
 
BetteTheRed said:
It's not intolerable without the Father, He, He, He... Are there any men (or any other women?) who find this sort of language so deliberately provocative as to absolutely ruin any feeling of worship?
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My take is that Jesus, who knew God better than anyone, said Father. So whenever I hear someone who has obviously gone to the trouble of removing the word father, they have also removed something of true understanding about God that Jesus has shared. Just because they want to walk around with a stick up their butt. And keep waving it in everyone's faces. Look at my stick, isn't it offensive? What is offensive is that they hold the stick to a higher level of importance than knowing the God of Jesus.
 
By the way, I apologize for participating in this thread getting a bit side tracked. Let's remember that it's about favourite Advent hymns, not the pros and cons of inclusivizing hymn language.
 
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