Later on, I received a commission for a new text to celebrate a parish anniversary, I asked\u2014as I always do\u2014if they wanted a text that could be sung to an existing tune. To my delight, I was told this was NOT wanted for the text. So I went back to my three-line internal ritualization, this time with the three lines beginning with words that had some type of sonic and\/or grammatical resonance (in stanza one, this was Ready\/Mercy\/Glory). The only rhyme was the second lines of each stanza ending in \u201c\u2013ong.\u201d Working in partnership with composer Nick Palmer (and both of us with the Holy Spirit), the hymn \u201cThe Light of Christ\u201d came to be. Here\u2019s the first stanza:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/The-Light-of-Faith-Blog-box.png\")
<\/p>\n
As a fringe benefit, Nick wrote a second tune that followed the same metrical structure, but which had a completely different character. I also loved the new tune, so I said that I\u2019d go back to that metrical structure and seek a new topic\/focus for the text. I struggled, and asked for the Spirit\u2019s intercession. She came to my rescue in an excellent sermon one Sunday that featured the writings of Hildegard of Bingen on the Holy Spirit, including an arresting phrase by Hildegard referring to the Spirit as \u201cglistening life.\u201d Hildegard and Romans 8 combined for a new text in which the three-line internal ritual became litanic. Here\u2019s the second stanza of \u201cHoly Spirit, Fiery Love\u201d (with gratitude to Hildegard and St. Paul):<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Holy-Spirit-Fiery-Love-Blog-Box.png\")
<\/p>\n
Usually I find any creative artist speaking\/writing about their \u201cprocess\u201d about as intriguing as watching pudding set. So I\u2019ve shared this experience only to say that it has re-affirmed my belief that this new text\/new tune approach allows the creative artists fuller engagement with the Spirit, and the end result\u2014when offered to<\/em> and then offered by<\/em> the Body gathered as their sung prayer\u2014opens up possibilities for the movement of the Spirit, as their new song to the Lord is learned, grows in familiarity, and joins the song of the whole communion of saints gathered to worship at the throne of grace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “\u2026 this is what I call the ‘pasta’ approach to hymn tunes: that, by and large, the tunes don\u2019t contribute all that much, since it is the text that provides the real flavor, the ‘sauce’ of the hymn.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":39431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3118],"tags":[332,2056],"class_list":["post-39427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ars-celebrandi-new-ws","tag-holy-spirit","tag-liturgical-music"],"yoast_head":"\n