“We Join Today with All Who Long for Freedom”
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.
Since 1976, every US president has officially designated the month of February as African-American History Month. In observance of that commemoration, the Hymn of the Month for February 2024 is We Join Today with All Who Long for Freedom by Edith Sinclair Downing (1922-2016), which extolls the life, work, and dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), who was martyred for his leadership of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Given that Lent begins so early this year, with Ash Wednesday occurring on 14 February 2024, this hymn might actually be introduced on 14 January 2024, the day before Martin Luther King Day, and sung as a Hymn of the Season for Epiphany through the Transfiguration of Our Lord on 11 February 2024. The majestic tune, FINLANDIA, should be familiar to most congregations and hence readily singable.
Downing was a remarkable woman, holding degrees in cello performance, religious education, and theological studies with a concentration on worship. She began writing hymns in her late sixties and ultimately completed four collections of hymn texts, three of which were published by Leupold Editions, two in 2009, namely, Through Joy and Sorrow and Sing Praise for Faithful Women, followed
by For Us, God’s People Now in 2011.
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