Bless this Food is a three-part round by James E. Clemens that can be used as a table grace or meal blessing. Find ideas for how to use it on the MMC blog.
"Bless this food and bless your people.
God be with us. Amen."
The piece can also be sung in Spanish, Japanese, and Korean.
The song is published in Table Songs: Hymns for Worship, available from the composer.
Here's a video of Marilyn Haskel teaching it at an MMC workshop in Ottawa, Ontario.
Paul Vasile wrote this song in December of 2015 at St. Lydia's Lutheran Church, and it's sweeping melody often elicits lush harmony when invited.
Written by John Bell as part of the St. Bride setting, this paperless response incorporates call and echo learning to encourage community participation. The melody rises and falls gently, inviting a quiet, focused energy. When learned well, the piece can be sung as a canon in as many as four parts (with groups entering each measure).
It could sung a cappella or accompanied by a drone instrument (a shruti box or a soft unison or open fifth on the organ) to support the community's voice.
"Lamb of God you take away the sin of the world,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God you take away the sin of the world,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God you take away the sin of the world,
grant us your peace."
Teaching note from Paul Vasile: Practice the response before worship and encourage the community to trust your gestures, even if they seem to be too soon. The overlapping parts generate energy and the confidence of the community will grow in time.
Copyright for the piece is held by GIA Publications, Inc. so you'll need a OneLicense membership to print the text or music.
Sheet music can be found in Singing In Community, our latest songbook published by Augsburg Fortress. The setting is also published in Come All You People, Singing the Faith, and the Iona Abbey Music Book.
This South African traditional song from the singing of the Mooiplaas congregation was transcribed and arranged by John Bell of the Iona Community.
To lead it, sing through it once or twice, perhaps reinforcing the shape of the melody with your hand. It's easy enough that folks will start singing with you quickly. Encourage harmony and add the leader part once the group is confident.
Swahili:
"Woza nomthwalo wakho,
Woza nomthwalo wakho,
Woza nomthwalo wakho,
Uyes’akasozathi hayi.
English singing translation:
"Come, bring your burdens to God,
come, bring your burdens to God,
Come, bring your burdens to God
for Jesus will never say no."
Copyright for the piece is held by GIA Publications, Inc. so you'll need a OneLicense membership to print the text or music.
Find sheet music for the song here. It can also be found in We Walk His Way.
Here's a recording of the song from The Iona Community:
Whoever Eats This Bread is by composer and consultant Eric Law of the Kaleidoscope Institute. It is an excellent example of a notated composition found in a hymnal that can be easily adapted for paperless singing.
Commonly used during the Distribution of Elements within a eucharistic liturgy (the time when the bread and wine are shared), the antiphon/antiphon can be taught through call and echo patterns. Once confident, it can be sung as a three-part canon; secondary canons can also be added on the verses.
The piece can be sung a cappella or accompanied by an ostinato chord progression played by a keyboard instrument or guitar.
Antiphon:
Whoever eats this bread will live for ever.
1. This is the true bread
which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world. Antiphon
2. Whoever believes in me
shall not hunger or thirst,
for the bread which I give
for the life of the world is my flesh. Antiphon
Copyright for the piece is held by Church Publishing, Inc. If you don't have copies of The Episcopal Hymnal or Wonder, Love, and Praise in your community, you'll need a OneLicense membership to print the text or music.
Sheet music can be found in The Episcopal Hymnal #S170, as well as in the supplemental hymnal Wonder, Love, and Praise. It is also available for purchase here.
Here is a recording of Eric Law teaching the piece at our Music that Makes Community workshop in Los Angeles in October 2008.
Kerri Meyer wrote There Is Enough at a Music that Makes Community workshop and it became an instant hit! The melody was adapted from a Peter Mayer refrain and she also composed a descant to sing over the tune.
The song is easy to teach through call and echo. Simple hand gestures can help reinforce the subtle differences between the phrases, especially the first and third. And harmony is so intuitive it may show up before you invite folks to add it.
We've seen the piece shared in so many settings - from church suppers and stewardship campaigns to a protest in the office of a United States senator.
"There is enough!
There is enough!
There is enough, oh,
Enough and some to share!"
Descant:
"God has blessed her people, God has blessed us!"
The Rev. Breen Sipes of Tri-Saints Lutheran Parish in rural Nebraska shared additional verses she's used with young people in her community:
"I am enough..."
"You are enough..."
"God has enough..."
Kerri has given faith communities permission to sing and share the song without copyright restrictions.
Sheet music can be found here.
Hear an audio clip of Kerri leading this song at our 2014 Musical Test Kitchen in San Francisco.
And here's a video of AnnaMarie Hoos leading this song at our Winter Retreat at The Bishop's Ranch in 2015.
Sylvia Miller-Mutia created Come to the Feast at a Music that Makes Community gathering in January 2015. While created as a song for people to sing in procession to the table for communion, it is easily adapted to serve as an invitation or transition into any part of the liturgy.
"Come to the feast!
Come, one and all. Come to the feast."
Alternative texts:
Come, hear the Word...
Come, pray with us...
Go now in peace...
Here's a video of Sylvia leading her song at The Bishop's Ranch in Healdsburg, CA:
This contemplative, layered setting of Psalm 65 by psalmist Richard Bruxvoort-Colligan is a dialogue between two phrases in different languages.
Dumiyah
Tibi silens laus
Hebrew translation:
Silence
Latin translation:
For you, silence is praise
Richard's music is licensed through CCLI, OneLicense.net and Worldmaking.net. Be sure report use of the piece if you print the text or music for your community.
Sheet music for the song is available in the "Our Roots are In You" collection on the PsalmImmersion website.
Here's a recording of the song by Richard:
Tar a thighearna is a beautiful Gaelic chant by singer and composer Ruth Cunningham. Translated "Come, Lord, come thou Being," the piece is a powerful invocation and useful for centering/gathering, prayers, and times when a gentle, focused energy is needed.
The text and the melody can be learned through call and echo. Take your time and repeat passages that need extra care, especially those with ornamentation. Invite improvised harmony when the community is ready.
Gaelic:
Tar a thighearna.
Pronunciation: tahr ah hear-nah, tahr-ah-hee
English translation:
Come, Lord, come thou Being.
Ruth has given faith communities permission to sing and share the song without copyright restrictions.
Sheet music can be found in Singing In Community, our latest songbook published by Augsburg Fortress. It also appeared in Music By Heart, MMC's first collection of paperless music.
Ruth and Ana Hernández recorded the song on Blessed By Light. Here's a link to a recording of Emily Scott teaching the song, then offering suggestions for how to lead it without paper.
Watch Rachel Kroh lead Tar a thighearna at Union Seminary in September 2015:
This is a gorgeous setting of an Orthodox funeral liturgy, written by Daniel Schwandt at our MMC Composers' Gathering in Brattleboro, VT in 2013.
Here's an audio recording of Dan teaching the song in Vermont right after he wrote it.
Here's the sheet music for this song.
Here's a work of art inspired by this song by Rachel Kroh.