“Have Mercy on Us, Lord”
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.
A suggested hymn for Ash Wednesday on 14 February 2024 is , Have Mercy on Us Lord, a text by R. Fredierick Crider, Jr. (b. 1941). Based on Psalm 51, the appointed psalmody not only for Ash Wednesday in every year of the Revised Common Lectionary, but also for Lent 5 in Year B, the hymn could be used on both occasions in 2024, either as a hymn somewhere in the liturgy or as a Psalm paraphrase in place of chanting or reciting Psalm 51. The familiar suggested tune of SAINT MICHAEL makes the text readily accessible to most congregations.
Crider is a retired United Methodist pastor who holds degrees from Lebanon Valley College (BA) in Annville, Pennsylvania; United Theological Seminary (MDiv) in Dayton, Ohio; and Wesley Theological Seminary (D. Min.) in Washington, DC. He has long been writing occasional hymn texts for use in congregations he served, usually to accompany a certain biblical text or preaching theme. Retirement has given him more time to devote to what he believes is a “second calling.” His first collection of hymn texts, Extravagance Instead, was published by Leupold Editions, Inc., in 2013.
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