Voices Found

                                              From the  Las Huelgas Codex  of medieval Spain Voices Found #3 Verbum Bonum,  a  joyful processional chant,  hails Mary as   "the one who bore Daylight, ark of the new covenant, sign in the thorn bush, and the mistress of angels. "   Dating from the    the    13th century, this chant was compiled and copied into the Las Huelgas manuscript by the nuns of that Spanish convent. The text celebrates  Mary as  bride of the highest Word who delivered the Christ child into our fallen world, to amend us, and asks her to commend us as amended, to her Son the Christ. Verbum bonum Voices Found  # 3 1a. Verbum bonum et suave personemus illud Ave per quod Christi fit conclave virgo, mater, filia. 1b. Per quod Ave salutata  mox concepit fecundata  virgo ...

  Queen of Sheba, biblical archaeology Voices Found #155 Wisdom freed a holy people, blameless from oppressor's sword, and withstood with signs and wonders, ruler's dread, to serve the Lord. Through the Red Sea safely brought them, led along the waters steep, but their enemies she swallowed, overwhelmed them in the deep Words: Patricia B. Clark, adapt. A Song of Wisdom Music: Halton Holgate, William Boyce, (1711-1779) The Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church( by Wilda C. Gafney) appoints 1 Kings 1-10 and Luke 11:27-32 to be read on Lent V year C In Sheba,  a land  on the Arabian Peninsula bordering  the Red Sea,  an adventurous ruler  heard of King Solomon's wisdom.   She was  Queen of Sheba and she wanted to know more about this King of the Israelites and  the God who had delivered them out of Pharaoh's Egypt through the Red Sea waters.  Now the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon ascribed to the Name of the Most High and she...

Voices Found #21 God of the women  who walked Jesus' way giving their resources,  learning to pray, Mary, Joanna,  Priscilla, and more may we give freely  as they did before. Words: Carolyn Winfrey Gillette Music:  Slane,  Irish ballad melody Slane  is a familiar melody derived from  an old Irish love song called "With my Love  on the Road." It became a hymn when David Evans  arranged the tune to set the text, "Be Thou My Vision" in 1927.   The tune is named for a hill in County Meath, Ireland, where St. Patrick is thought to  have set an Easter fire in defiance of a pagan king.    Gillette's hymn is an example of   contrafacta,  or   hymns created by using  familiar folk tunes, often associated with  love songs,  to set  sacred texts.   In "God of the women," the author offers new words to celebrate  women in Scripture from Sarah of Genesis in the Hebrew Scriptures, to the...

      After Miriam led the Israelites across the Red Sea following Moses into the desert, the whole congregation of women and men grumbled against the leaders. They missed the meat, bread,  and garlic of Egypt.   The Wellspring of Life  told Moses that She would provide them with bread raining down from heaven and that the people would have enough to eat, even in the desert.  Moses told his people,  " When the Gracious One gives you all by evening meat to eat and bread in the morning, to the point of satisfaction, because the God Who Hears  has heard the grumbling that you grumble against God, what are we?  Your grumbling is not against us, but against the Mother of Creation." Exodus 16: 8, tr. Gafney                                    Many centuries later, St. Julian of Norwich wrote of God as Mother Creator;  Julian's  ima...

  Voices Found # 94 In boldness look to God for  help, like womenfolk who dared to ask that Jesus heal a child, that crumbs of grace be shared, that outcast ones be welcomed to  the feast God has prepared. In boldness lean on God for strength, and healing from disease, of mind and body, heart and will, whose bondage Jesus frees. Reach out and touch the hem of Christ,  and gather spirit's ease. Words: Mary Louise Bringle Music:  Morning Song , melody att. Elkanah Kelsey Dare (1782-1826), harm. Thomas Foster There was a woman who had a [vaginal] hemorrhage for twelve years, and though on physicians she had spent her entire life [savings] , not one was able to cure her.  She came up behind Jesus touching the fringe of his garment and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. (Luke 8: 43-44, tr. Gafney) Voices Found # 23 A father came to Jesus  with only one request: "My daughter needs your help now. They say that you are blest Come Jesus hea...

Voices Found # 53 Spirit of God, unseen as the wind, gentle as the dove: teach us the truth and help us believe, show us the savior's love! Words: Margaret Old (1932-2002) Music:  Skye   Boat Song,  traditional Scottish melody Queen Elizabeth II loved the Skye Boat Song.  Bagpipers played it at the funerals for the Queen and the Queen Mother.    It  was the theme song for the  TV series "Outlander." In 1782, William Ross composed the original Gaelic song entitled Cuachag nan Craobh, or " Cuckoo of the Tree." In  Cuckoo the composer laments his unrequited love for Lady Marion Ross.   Like many love songs, it became a hymn as composers and poets changed the words from from singing of secular love to texts celebrating the sacred love of God.   Such adaptations of folk songs are called contrafacta.  The hand of God Who Dwells Above the Cherubim came upon me and God brought me (Ezekiel) out through the Spirit of God Whose...