Musical Friday Five!
- What is your favorite pre-1950 hymn? Jesus Love Me. While I remember it from my childhood, it is a memory from my internship in 2002 that makes it stand out for me. I was visiting the nursing home and one of the men, who had severe dementia, that the only thing he could remember was this hymn. Ever since then, I have thought that if this is the only thing I remember at the end of my life, it will be enough.
- What is your favorite post-2000 hymn? VERY hard to decide, so I am going to give you five! Winds of Change, In the Bulb, We Are Pilgrims, Let Us Build A House.
- What is a “secular” sing that you find spiritually meaningful? I have been lucky to sing with a community choir whose director chooses spiritually uplifting music around a theme each season. Right now I am finding Buffy St, Marie’s We Are Circling particularly meaningful. You can find it here. And almost anything by Leonard Cohen, his music has been the soundtrack of my life since I was 14.
- What is/are your preferred musical instrument(s) for worship? I like a variety, but if I could only have one, it would be piano.
- What is your favorite hymn for Lent? O God We Call, we used it as our opening sung meditation last year during Lent.
My Window on God's World 
I worked in the geriatric unit at a state mental hospital one summer. One thing (among many) that I learned is that music is stored in a different part of the brain than speech. So often people who can’t speak, will be able to sing, especially something they learned in childhood. The brain is an amazing thing.
Thanks for playing!
Indeed it is! I often say to my congregations that they may forget what I have preached, but they will remember what we sing, and they will become part of them at a heart level and that’s why I choose hymns so carefully.