Hymn Festival, 10/26/25
Mel Bringle and Ben Brody
This Sunday we are blessed to be joined by two of the leaders in modern congregational singing, wordsmith Dr. Mary Louise Bringle, and composer Dr. Benjamin Ben Brody, also known as Mel and Ben. They will be in residence at Richmond Hill this week, leading Writing the Church's Song, a retreat for fledgling hymnwriters (including Theresa and Chris!). Mel is no stranger to Grace, having led us in worship in October of 2022, but this will be the first time Ben has joined us. However, we have sung their music often. Most recently, July 6 we sang Bringle’s hymn, All Creatures That on Earth Do Dwell. Just last week we sang a hymn that Brody wrote the music for, Be With Those Who Wander/PRAESENTIA (text by Dave Bjorlin).
Mel and Ben will be leading us in a “Mini Hymn Festival” where we will sing 6 hymns. After some of the hymns, Mel will share a reflection (or a hymnily 🙂), as she weaves a story helping us to notice what God is doing in creation.
Keep reading the Music Blog to learn more about Mel, Ben, and the music we will sing together this Sunday.
Below are links to bios for Mel and Ben, and I encourage you to check them out:
Ben Brody, Whitworth University
Ben Brody, The Center for Congregational Song
But I think they would both agree that the best way to get to know them is through their music, so let’s do that too!.
The first hymn we will sing sets the theme, Come Open Your Eyes/TEICH, one of the hymns Mel and Ben have published together!
Then, following a reading of Psalm 65, we will sing a paraphrase of Psalm 66, All Creation Sings God’s Greatness, by another wonderful contemporary writer, Jacque Jones, set to Ben Brody’s tune OMNI CREATURAE.
Later in the service we will read Luke 18:9-14, and sing the classic hymn many of you may know, Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy/RESTORATION. Interestingly, the editors of our hymnal, Chalice Hymnal, chose not to include this hymn. I suspect that is because it can be hard to ask an entire congregation to sing a song that labels us as sinners- a word with much cultural and personal baggage. The word sinner is not omitted from Chalice Hymnal, showing up as early as page 5, O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing:
Jesus, the name that charms our fears,
that bids our sorrows cease;
'tis music in the sinner's ears,
'tis life, and health, and peace.
That said, there is power in both reclaiming the words sin and sinner, as parts of who we are, but not all that we are, and there is power in acknowledging that sin when we lament. As Mel points us towards the beauty of creation, we may also notice the ways we, corporately, have failed to steward that creation well. Grace has added this hymn back to our repertoire over the years, typically in Lent, most recently this past March, and 2022 before that.
Because I love a folk hymn:
Continuing our turn toward Lament we will sing One by One As Songs Fall Silent/ADVENT 17. As the hymn tune suggests, Ben originally wrote this haunting melody for an Advent text. It found its way to Mel who heard in it a song for Earth Day, or other creation lament. She ends the hymn by quoting another great writer, Shirley Erena Murray, praying that God “turn our grieving into grace.”
From there we will move to another Bringle/Brody collaboration that asks us to change the way we see the world around us. You can here Mel’s thoughts on the hymn, as well as a recent debut singing of it, in the video below.
Finally, we will finish our hymn sing by cracking open the hymnal for the first time, and singing 717 Let All Things Now Living/ASH GROVE, ending our time together with a posture of gratitude.
We too should be voicing
our love and rejoicing;
with glad adoration, a song let us raise,
till all things now living
unite in thanksgiving:
to God in the highest, hosanna and praise!
I leave you with one last video, the 1993 King Singer’s recording of The Ash Grove, which lends its tune to our final hymn.
With sorrow, deep sorrow, my bosom is laden,
All day I go mourning in search of my love.
Ye echoes, O tell me, where is the sweet maiden?
She sleeps ’neath the green turf down by the Ash-grove.