“Praise to God, Made Known to Humans”
This month we continue our Hymn of the Month series in which one or more hymns drawn from collections published by Leupold Editions will be posted on the opening page of the website for consideration by pastors and musicians who may wish to introduce the hymn to their congregations the following month. The Hymn of the Month will often be thematically appropriate for a particular season of the church year or it may be related to a more general theme about the church’s mission in contemporary society. Thus, pastors and/or musicians may wish to have the choir introduce the hymn on the first Sunday of the month or season and then invite the congregation to join with the choir in singing the hymn on each of the remaining Sundays. Additional hymns will occasionally be suggested for a particular Sunday in the church year or for annual commemorations, such as the liturgies of Holy Week; such hymns may only be appropriate on the designated day, or they might be used as a Hymn of the Month in anticipation of or in response to the particular day observed on the church calendar.
The Hymn of the Month for June 2023, “Praise to God, Made Known to Humans”, by James Hart Brumm (b. 1962), serves well as a Hymn for Trinity Sunday (4 June 2023), with each of the first three stanzas offering praise to one person of the Trinity, while the first stanza also makes reference to the Creation story in the First Reading and the fourth alludes to the Great Commission in the Gospel as appointed for Year A in the Revised Common Lectionary. However, the hymn’s fourth stanza emphasis on “God’s call” for us to “share the Gospel story” lends it well thematically to the three subsequent Sundays in June, for on 11 June 2023, Jesus calls Saint Matthew to discipleship; on 18 June 2023, Jesus sends the twelve apostles on a mission trip to “proclaim the good news”; and on 25 June 2023, Jeremiah struggles with being mocked and derided for fulfilling his calling to proclaim “the word of the Lord.” Two very different tunes are available for use with this text, one a sturdy traditional melody, STAMJERAH by Sandra Gay (b. 1943) and the other a Brazilian folk melody, CIRANDINAH arranged by Joa͂o Wilson Faustini (b. 1931).
Brumm, who holds degrees from Westminster Choir College, New Brunswick Seminary, and Drew University, is an active author, editor, scholar, hymn writer, and ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America. Three volumes of his hymns texts are included in the catalog of Leupold Editions. Gay, who studied at the Eastman School of Music, lives in Webster, New York, and is an organist and composer of music for choir, organ, piano, numerous instrumental ensembles, and congregation, the latter including a collection of hymn tunes published by Leupold Editions. Faustini, a distinguished Brazilian church musician, choral conductor, composer, and hymnal editor, was educated in the United States at Westminster Choir College and at Union Theological Seminary. Four collections of his hymn tunes have been published by Leupold Editions.
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