Here’s another hymn I never heard before–I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, performed here by Joshua and Jeremy. Haunting melody, isn’t it? I wonder how it would sound with Johnny Cash singing it. I wonder how it’d sound with Joshua and Jeremy singing it.
I hadn’t heard this hymn in many years–so many, I forgot the melody.
Well, let’s bring it back: I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, published in 1846, sung here by the Antrim Mennonite Choir. Background sets by God the Father.
It doesn’t get more high church than this–Westminster Abbey, with the British royal family attending and the choir and congregation singing, I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say.
I’ve never been inside a building anything like Westminster Abbey. Even on the small screen, it’s overwhelming.
But to God be the glory.
Wednesday’s hymn, Take Two: Let’s see if I can actually post this to appear Wednesday morning while I’m stranded at the doctor’s office.
I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, written in 1846 by Horatio Bonar, sung by the Antrim Mennonite Choir–I expected this to be sung to the same melody as I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, which is the same melody (I think) as Fling Out the Banner… oh, well.
This is the hymn they had for Aunt Joan’s funeral mass today, I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say (1846).
There were only six of us. One of my cousins and his wife came all the way down from Connecticut. And one of Aunt Joan’s long-time co-workers stopped in at the viewing. But if you live to be over 90, as Joan did, most of the people you’ve known and loved have already died.
I would like to tell you a little story about her, as a memorial.
She and her twin sister, Aunt Florence: little girls who shared a bedroom, rainy day, what to do? Well, they had one of those old-fashioned beds with an iron frame and bars at the foot. These bars looked like the bars on a jail cell! So the girls decided to play Robin Hood. One of them would be Maid Marian, in the Sheriff of Nottingham’s prison, and the other would be Robin Hood, and rescue her.
So Maid Marian gripped the bars and poked her head through, to cry, “Help! Help!” That was fine, as far as it went. But she couldn’t pull her head back in! And Grandpa had to come upstairs with all his tools and take the bed apart…
The twins are back together now.
By reader request–and I don’t know who these performers are, but they do a lovely job.
I’m also not altogether sure I’ve got the hymn that was actually requested. So, Jaroc, let me know if this was the one you wanted. If not, I’ll go back for another look.
But this one will certainly do to start the day.