Favorite Lenten hymns

After starting this blog nine years ago — with 262 posts so far — only a few mention hymns for the first five weeks of Lent. (I did previously comment on appropriate hymns for Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday).

So as I did for Advent, Christmas (in 2009, 2010, 2014 and 2015) and Easter, it seemed like a good time to provide an overview of the hymns available for Lent (including Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday and Good Friday).

I cross-referenced hymns from these periods from The English Hymnal (COE 1906), Hymnal 1940 (ECUSA) and Hymnal 1982 (ECUSA). I also matched the hymns from these lists to two Missouri Synod (LCMS) hymnals: The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) and Lutheran Service Book (2006).

Eleven hymn texts (twelve combinations) stood out. Because there’s such a small number, I found that I previously wrote about five of these texts.

Title	Tune	TEH	H40	H82	TLH	LSB	Remarks
Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended	Herzleibster Jesu	70	71.1 *	158	143	439	Holy Week
All glory, laud, and honor	St. Theodulph	622	62	154	160	442	Palm Sunday
Forty days and forty nights	Aus der Tiefe	73	55	150			Early Lent
Lord Jesus, think on me	Southwell	77	417	641	320	610
Lord, who throughout these forty days	St. Flavian		59			*	Early Lent
O sacred head, sore wounded	Passion Chorale	102	75	168	172	449 *	Holy Week
Ride on, ride on in majesty	The King's Majesty		64.1	156			Palm Sunday
Ride on, ride on in majesty	Winchester New	620	64.2		162	441	Palm Sunday
The glory of these forty days	Erhalt uns, Herr	68.2	61	143			Early Lent
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?	Were You There		80	172		456	Holy Week
When I survey the wondrous Cross	Rockingham	107	337	474	175.2 *	426 *	Holy Week

* Another tune available

Three of the hymns (all with “forty days” in the title) are both written and commonly used for Ash Wednesday or the first Sunday in Lent. Two (“All glory, laud, and honor” and “Ride on, ride on in majesty”) are clearly written for Palm Sunday. Four are about the passion of Christ, which could be celebrated on Lent 5 (“Passiontide” in the 28 BCP) or any time in Holy Week: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday or (when hymns are used) Good Friday. And in fact, these dates are when the these hymns are assigned by Hymnal 1940: Ash Wednesday, Lent 1, Lent 5, or Palm Sunday.

“…Ride on in majesty” has two tunes: Winchester New is preferred by the CoE hymnals (dating back to the 19th century Hymns Ancient & Modern), and (the considerably more difficult) King’s Majesty which was introduced in H40 and the only one kept by H82.

This is really a list of the top hymns: there are other hymns worth mentioning that weren’t quite as popular. I hope to publish a more complete list at some point in the future.

Christian penitence: Ash Wednesday

Next to Advent, Lent is my favorite season of the year. We are anticipating the most important event of the church calendar, and so Lent provides an opportunity to contemplate and prepare for that event over the next 46 days (including six Sundays).

Ash Wednesday itself is also very special. Since I returned to the faith as an adult, it’s the only time that I religiously (!) attend church midweek during the year. To me, Ash Wednesday sets the tone

Every year I also have the scramble of juggling work, commuting and spending an hour in church on Ash Wednesday. Last year, I had meetings both at breakfast and lunch, so I had to go after work.

And then there's the question of the ashes. At a previous job, I was a coward about wearing ashes to work — how people would react, having to explain, possible stigmatizing as a crazy Christian. Non-Christians (and most Protestants) did (and do) ask “what’s the smudge” as I walk through the day. (At my current job, there are two Catholics who regularly do Ash Wednesday so I don’t feel so alone.)

Ash Wednesday and Lent have historically been associated with fasting. This morning I've already failed on the fasting — in part due to forgetfulness, in part because I don’t want to fight the freeways when there’s a possibility of fainting (unlikely in the morning, a serious issue at the end of an all-day fast).

Searching for Ashes

Given my work and travel schedule, many years I’m searching for a parish to attend with a compatible schedule. In downtown London, these would be CoE, but here in California, Continuing Anglicans are few and far between.

Who might have such service?

1. Any 28 BCP parish
2. Many ACNA parishes
3. TEC parishes
4. LCMS Lutherans
5. Other Lutherans
6. Presbyterian?
7. University Chaplaincy
8. Catholic

I normally do #1, #2 or #4, but have also done #7 or #8 when that was all that worked. Since the RCC practices closed communion, I try to respect their policies and avoid that option whenever possible.

Today I went to an Anglican Catholic Church, one of the four founding provinces from the Affirmation of St. Louis that kicked off the Continuing Anglican movement. It reminded me of an English village church, with a small sanctuary (<100 seats in the pews) and a young rector and his wife.

It was a wonderfully moving procedure. After many months of ACNA worship in a strip mall, it was great to hear the classic liturgy again. Most of all, it was great to be kneeling again: it’s hard to imagine the Lord’s Prayer (let alone the General Confession or the Prayer of Humble Access) without kneeling, particularly during Lent.

In general, any parish that bothers to hold Ash Wednesday services tends to convey the theology correctly. For me, the culmination is to hear the phrase “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (which is not in the 1928 BCP but is in the 1979 prayer book). Still, the Lutherans — with Luther’s fixation on us as “poor miserable sinners” — tend to be particularly evocative this time of year.

Ash Wednesday Music

One thing I’ve always had mixed feelings on is music at Ash Wednesday (and Good Friday). During my LCMS days, the choir showed up for Ash Wednesday and we all sang a hymn or two. I don’t doubt that there are pieces that could be programmed, such as excerpts from masses during the golden era of sacred music (roughly from Palestrina to Brahms)

However, to me Ash Wednesday is a penitent, somber event and so a simpler, less ornate (and less celebratory tone) seem most appropriate. In fact, if the normal Sunday service is a nicely done high mass, the contrast of the spoken service (IMHO) emphasizes the somber and penitential nature.

For a contrary perspective, I listened to this year’s Ash Wednesday service from St. John’s College, Cambridge, as part of the BBC’s semiweekly Choral Evensong broadcast. It was great to hear the service begun with the full General Confession (not the Confession Lite begun with the 79 prayer book). And the plainchant for the service music does link the service to the weekly liturgy.

Ancient Penitence

For the first time in many years, I began Ash Wednesday with a service and the imposition of ashes. (In previous years, the only service I could attend was at night but this year it was the other way 'round).

One advantage of doing it early is that it makes fasting until service pretty easy. (Just to avoid this loophole, I had bread for lunch and held off on a real meal until dinner). Another (dis)advantage is facing the world with a smudge on my forehead.

To prepare for any conversations, I tried to do a little research on the practice. In my Oxford History of Christian Worship, it mentions Ash Wednesday only twice. In one, it speculates that a penitential Lent began in the late 4th century and the 46 days (pushing it back to Wednesday) was common “before the late fifth century.” (P. 118) It also mentions Ash Wednesday as a time of penitence, established by the late 4th century in the Gelasian Sacramentary. This oldest extant Roman missal mentions scheduling Ash Wednesday (p. lxxiv in the 1894 English edition) but not ashes.

Fortunately, I was also watching my favorite podcast, Issues Etc., and their Monday show included a discussion of the topic. The third segment was entitled “Does the Season of Lent Have Pagan Origins?” and was a 25 minute interview with Pastor Joseph Abrahamson of Clearwater Lutheran Parish, a group of LCMS churches in Minnesota. (Highly recommended for anyone contemplating the meaning of Lent).

The gist of the interview was to summarize his research for the article “Redeeming Holy Days from Pagan Lies — Ash Wednesday and Lent,” published earlier this month online on the Steadfast Lutherans website. Pastor Abrahamson had much better information than the learned scholars from my liturgical library.

Here’s the money quote:

St. Athanasius, who led at the Council of Nicea to defeat Arianism—a denial of Christ being truly God and man in one person—was a bishop in Alexandria, Egypt. He wrote annual Festival letters to the Church as they prepared to celebrate Easter. In the year 331 he wrote in order to encourage his congregations in Egypt to keep the Lenten fast for 40 days. Athanasius directs the readers to many Scriptural examples and exhortations to moderation, self-control, and fasting for repentance, Athanasius gives several Bible examples of the 40 day fast, especially of Christ’s 40 day fast...

He continues

That this was practiced in Rome and elsewhere is seen in St. Athanasius’ letter from the year 340 A.D. when he returns from a meeting of pastors/bishops from all around the world, and he encourages his own congregations to continue in the same practice of the 40 day Lenten fast as does “the rest of the whole world.”

So for my Christian (particularly low church) friends, I’d say that Lent was practices at least as early as 331, as old as the Council of Nicaea (325) and older than the final Nicene Creed itself (381). For my non-Christian (or unknown) friends, I’d give a simple punchy statement: “Ash Wednesday was already the norm by 340 A.D.”

Abrahamson is not very helpful on the ash question itself: the name is known, but the imposition of ashes is not explicitly mentioned. He recites various examples of why ashes were a common form of penitence in the Old Testament, but no smoking gun.

Thus armed, I walked out to a variety of meetings at work today, dreading the awkwardness but reminding myself that we need to live our beliefs (and not leave our light under a basket). Among my coworkers, one Christian said she wished she could go to service today but probably couldn’t; another talked about his dilemma as a moderate Presbyterian as the PCUSA splits into its traditionalist and loony left contingents. Several others recognized the significance but didn’t otherwise comment. Only two people said “you have something on your forehead,” one of whom was corrected by another person in the same meeting: “It’s Ash Wednesday.”

Perhaps the most interesting discussion was with a Jewish woman in her 30s who (to the later distress of her mother) had ashes imposed in her parochial school kindergarten: it’s her oldest religious memory. We talked briefly about penitence: it was a rare chance at work to highlight Judeo-Christian commonalities in an increasingly secular culture.

We (Jew, Christian, Muslim, atheist) are all imperfect, sinful beings following down the millennia-old path of our spirtual forebears, Adam and Eve. As the priest quoted Genesis this morning as he imposed the ashes: “you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

What's the smudge?

When I was in college I acquired two albums of Christian musicals. Godspell was better Gospel and (IMHO) better music. The more successful (but less enjoyable) musical succeeded as spectacle — but today Jesus Christ Superstar is perhaps best remembered as the third work (and first megahit) of the 20th century genius, Baron Lloyd-Webber. One of his more bombastic songs was “What’s the buzz”.

I was reminded of the song when three times this afternoon I was asked (in effect) “what’s the smudge” on my forehead. I decided beforehand to just say “Ash Wednesday”. I would have been unprepared to answer, if I hadn’t read (LCMS member) Mollie Hemingway’s post last night:

At my last newspaper job, my colleagues loved celebrating Mardi Gras (aka Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, last day before (Western) Lent). A favorite co-worker, from New Orleans, of course, would bring in a King Cake and we would feast. Some people would wear beads, etc. And then the next day when I came to work with ashes on my forehead, dozens of people would ask me what that was for. I never quite understood celebrating Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday without Ash Wednesday being the next day.

Among those who didn’t ask (and so presumably knew what was going on) were those with Italian or Irish names, who I thus assume either were Catholic or had Catholic relatives. This got me to thinking.

I’ve gone to Ash Wednesday services at Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran churches. (Of course, it’s also observed at continuing Anglican parishes). My Orthodox friends, of course, observe Ash Wednesday — even if not on the same calendar.

But who else observes the day? The fasting? The imposition of ashes? Among liturgical Christians (as Mrs. Hemingway calls us), there may not be that many others. It’s controversial among Presbyterians. Ironically, after being part of the 1662 BCP praised by John Wesley was restored to (U.S.) Methodist liturgy through their postmodern prayer book.

Will Ash Wednesday survive in Protestant worship? It’s clearly there in the 1662 BCP and thus presumably in AMiA’s 21st century update. But interestingly, it makes not mention of the imposition of ashes (because it’s assumed, or because it’s a rejection of the Catholic church)?

Still, ashes and midweek devotionals seem like an Anglo-Catholic thing. I guess next year I need to got to an AMiA or other “low church” Anglican to see what they do.

We didn’t have hymns at today’s noontime service. But one of those called out for today is my favorite Lent hymn — the first Lenten hymn in the 1940 Hymnal, #55:

Forty days and forty nights
Thou wast fasting in the wild;
Forty days and forty nights
Tempted, and yet undefiled

The 17th century tune from Nürnbergisches Gesangbuch is even better than the 19th century words.

BTW: Easter is early this year (March 23); according my 1928 BCP (p. liii), only one year in the past 200 years had an earlier Easter: March 22, 1818. However, Ash Wednesday that year was Feb. 4 (because Ash Wednesday is a day later on Leap Years).

Update: On Wednesday, the LCMS radio show Issues Etc. had a very interesting discussion in the last half of the first hour of the show. Host Todd Wilken talked about the origins of Lent, Ash Wednesday and the imposition of ashes with Dr. Paul Grime, a new faculty member at the LCMS seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

An extended (but parallel) exposition of the meaning of Ash Wednesday can be found in Touchstone magazine, which reprints a March 2004 column by editor David Mills. (H/T: The Continuum).