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dragonlady7If anyone wants to see pictures of Dave's Gram's funeral brunch (warning: ADORABLE three-year-olds), those are online here.
It struck me recently that of all the lovely hymns I learned during my brief sojourn among the Protestants (of which "Jerusalem" remains my favorite, no fear), the following is the one I want performed at my funeral. I cannot deny-- the various Protestant sects have far better music, on the whole, than the Catholics. That is a part of my heritage I don't mind getting in touch with (being a half-breed Catholic and an unorthodox-raised one at that [dad thinks you should be able to have an abortion up until the 'fetus' is 20 years old; my mother is Dutch Reformed, similar to Methodists but with different church administration structures]).
I'm not a particularly religious person (see above paragraph); I like going to church because it was always something lovely I did with my father and sisters (we would all put our arms around one another's shoulders during the homily and feel very close, regardless of what the priest was going on about), and I have a sort of unexamined simple belief that sure, God must exist, and I should respect that. Sometimes I am deeply filled with a sense of the spiritual, and I devote considerable thought to it now and then, but it's not something that I worry deeply about. But, what with all the funeral business of late, I remembered this hymn, and revisited it, and thought I'd post it.
The words and lyrics are on this site, which is totally weird, but also accurate. (No, I don't know why the writer of the site writes all syllables separated with a dash. No idea. Crazies.) The MIDI is awful but also accurate. Fiona sent me this site so we could learn the hymn we had to sing at Katy's wedding (The Gift Of Love, if you were wondering, in a three-part arrangement).
The song is "Abide With Me". The words were written in 1847 by a minister dying of tuberculosis; he died three weeks after finishing the hymn.
The third verse quoted (the seventh of the full version) is my favorite one, I think. I don't know quite what moves me so about the song. I like the idea of the deity as a comfort to the faithful. I like the thought of the deity as the only constant in a changing world. I like the courage that can be derived from simple faith. And I like the continuation of that idea of change to accept that the diety remains an unchanging, comforting presence even through the frighteningly unknowable, ultimate change of death.
Amazing Grace is another wonderful song that I have always loved, but it's not so funeral-specific. And everyone always has Ave Maria at their funeral, and honestly I don't like that song that much. I totally dig on the weird semi-pagan cult of the Virgin, sure, and I am as big a sucker for Latin as anyone, and really the Hail Mary is a beautiful prayer that I do like, but it's just not... as beautiful, as immediate, as intellectual, as comforting as Abide With Me.
I have an mp3 of the tune (far better than the awful MIDI on that site), performed by an unidentified military band with Highland bagpipes. It's lovely.
Abide With Me, 1.3 MB, duration 1:53
So, I suppose I'll stop talking about death and funerals now. That's probably a suitable punctuation, there.
It struck me recently that of all the lovely hymns I learned during my brief sojourn among the Protestants (of which "Jerusalem" remains my favorite, no fear), the following is the one I want performed at my funeral. I cannot deny-- the various Protestant sects have far better music, on the whole, than the Catholics. That is a part of my heritage I don't mind getting in touch with (being a half-breed Catholic and an unorthodox-raised one at that [dad thinks you should be able to have an abortion up until the 'fetus' is 20 years old; my mother is Dutch Reformed, similar to Methodists but with different church administration structures]).
I'm not a particularly religious person (see above paragraph); I like going to church because it was always something lovely I did with my father and sisters (we would all put our arms around one another's shoulders during the homily and feel very close, regardless of what the priest was going on about), and I have a sort of unexamined simple belief that sure, God must exist, and I should respect that. Sometimes I am deeply filled with a sense of the spiritual, and I devote considerable thought to it now and then, but it's not something that I worry deeply about. But, what with all the funeral business of late, I remembered this hymn, and revisited it, and thought I'd post it.
The words and lyrics are on this site, which is totally weird, but also accurate. (No, I don't know why the writer of the site writes all syllables separated with a dash. No idea. Crazies.) The MIDI is awful but also accurate. Fiona sent me this site so we could learn the hymn we had to sing at Katy's wedding (The Gift Of Love, if you were wondering, in a three-part arrangement).
The song is "Abide With Me". The words were written in 1847 by a minister dying of tuberculosis; he died three weeks after finishing the hymn.
Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.
Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
Earth's joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
The third verse quoted (the seventh of the full version) is my favorite one, I think. I don't know quite what moves me so about the song. I like the idea of the deity as a comfort to the faithful. I like the thought of the deity as the only constant in a changing world. I like the courage that can be derived from simple faith. And I like the continuation of that idea of change to accept that the diety remains an unchanging, comforting presence even through the frighteningly unknowable, ultimate change of death.
Amazing Grace is another wonderful song that I have always loved, but it's not so funeral-specific. And everyone always has Ave Maria at their funeral, and honestly I don't like that song that much. I totally dig on the weird semi-pagan cult of the Virgin, sure, and I am as big a sucker for Latin as anyone, and really the Hail Mary is a beautiful prayer that I do like, but it's just not... as beautiful, as immediate, as intellectual, as comforting as Abide With Me.
I have an mp3 of the tune (far better than the awful MIDI on that site), performed by an unidentified military band with Highland bagpipes. It's lovely.
Abide With Me, 1.3 MB, duration 1:53
So, I suppose I'll stop talking about death and funerals now. That's probably a suitable punctuation, there.
