“Beat Drums! Blow Trumpets!”
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.
Text: “Beat Drums! Blow Trumpets!,” James Hart Brumm, Alleluia All Our Days, p. 6. Suggested Tune: JUDAS MACCABEUS (truncated)
In “Beat Drums! Blow Trumpets!”, author James Hart Brumm has created an Easter Vigil hymn that alludes to the Exodus Old Testament reading about Israel’s deliverance at the Red Sea, the Romans New Testament Reading about walking in “newness of life” through Holy Baptism, and the Exsultet, the ancient extended Latin hymn chanted at the beginning of the liturgy just after the lighting of the Paschal candle. It is therefore an excellent choice for a Hymn of the Day or Sermon Hymn at the Great Vigil of Easter and one that will be readily accessible to most congregations because of familiarity with an Easter tune, albeit truncated, that many will be singing the next morning anyway.
Brumm is an active author, editor, scholar, hymn writer, and pastor serving as Director of the Reformed Church Center, the Seminary Archives, and the Theological Writing Center at New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Jersey. Four volumes of his hymns, Alleluias All Our Days, Out of the Ordinary, Rhythms of Praises and Sing the Good News set to tunes by Iteke Prins has been published by Leupold Editions.
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