A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days is always a work in progress. That is part of my design of the project; it can continue as long as my body and faculties do. I am, by the way, on Version Pi of the Ecumenical Calendar during 2022. I know that, if I get to Version Omega, I will have to think of how to name each new version of the Ecumenical Calendar afterward. Naming versions of the Ecumenical Calendar based on the Greek alphabet does have a certain appeal, but it is also a strategy that may require a new naming system in time.
Work on the next installment–“new” saints with feast days in April–is underway. I have some drafts in longhand in a notebook. My revised list contains names of saints about whom I have yet to take notes.
I affirm the wisdom of writing in longhand. Doing this improves retention of information. In fact, I do some of my best thinking when holding a pen or a pencil over paper.
I will start posting “new” saints only after I have completed all the drafts in longhand. I will post them in an order that emphasizes diversity and variety while, in lay terms, “being on the same team.” For example, if one post is about a martyr, the next post will not be about a martyr; it may be about a bishop, a social reformer, or a hymn writer, among other options. Needless to say (yet I write it), the order of posting will not be according to feast day.
Diversity and variety are values essential to the core of my being. Variety adds spice to live. Diversity enables societies and institutions to thrive and to fulfill all crucial functions. And conformity is frequently a vice. I read the Bible and realize that Hebrew prophets were some of the most notorious nonconformists and eccentrics in their societies. We properly regard these prophets as worthy of respect. Likewise, the diversity and variety of saints–many of them radicals and oddballs, by their contemporary standards–reminds us of the wisdom of St. Paul the Apostle, who wrote that the church, like a body, has many functions and that all parts of it are essential and precious.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 6, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF CHARLES FOX, ANGLICAN MISSIONARY IN MELANESIA
THE FEAST OF AARON ROBARTS WOLFE, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF ALLEN CRITE, ARTIST
THE FEAST OF JOSEPH GOMER AND MARY GOMER, U.S. UNITED BRETHREN MISSIONARIES IN SIERRA LEONE
I have spent much of my Easter Sunday drafting two hagiographical posts in longhand. I would draft a third one in longhand today except for two reasons:
The two posts I drafted today proved emotionally draining, given what the three saints had to endure.
The harrowing nature of the next post to draft would prove too emotionally draining, given what I have written today.
People have the capacity to be exceedingly cruel to each other. Moral courage can lead to martyrdom.
Anyhow, I have written so many hagiographies since 2009 that I know well the feeling of spiritual inadequacy. If you, O reader, ever need an antidote to hubris, read the lives of saints, especially martyrs and near-martyrs. Then ask yourself what you might have done in those situations.
Variety is the spice of life. It is also the spice of A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days.
I have working assiduously on my Ecumenical Calendar recently. Most of this work has been invisible to you, reader of this post. All the work that precedes clicking on the “publish” button has always been invisible to readers of this weblog. I have written drafts of posts in longhand, made plans for “new” saints with feast days in October, begun to draft posts of “new” saints with feast days in October, and thought about the proper order in which to create and publish posts.
This time around, my method is not chronological, by feast day. No, the method is to emphasize variety. I want the next post in my Ecumenical Calendar to be about a saint or saints quite different from the previous saint or saints. The difference may come in gender, geography, race, ethnicity, time period, denominational affiliation, vocation, et cetera. Perhaps I follow a martyr with a hymn writer, for example. Maybe I choose to publish consecutive posts about saints who would have engaged in arguments, had they met. Variety can come in a range of forms, according to a plethora of criteria. The saints, in their glorious variety, play on the same team, so to speak.
Spiritual gifts, in their variety, come from the same source. All of the spiritual gifts are essential, and nobody has received all of them. Likewise, lived Christian holiness is evident in a variety of ways and in a plethora of contexts.
I also feel free to criticize saints about whom I write. Why not? Affirming that someone was right more often that one was wrong acknowledges that one got certain details wrong. Besides, no mere mortal is above criticism, and all human beings are sinners. If being perfect were a criterion for inclusion on my Ecumenical Calendar, the project would be very small. It would consist of a few posts about Jesus. I would have completed the project a long time ago. And, if agreeing with me were a criterion, some of the saints who are here would not be here.
I seek to maintain a spiritual, intellectual, and individual balance. And I seek to be clear, so that nobody will mistake me for being someone I am not. Therefore, for example, I contextualize lives and still offer criticisms. I call out some saints for their racism, sexism, et cetera. Nevertheless, I have chosen to add some people–even canonized ones–to this Ecumenical Calendar because they have transgressed my red lines. There is the case, for example, of one Roman Catholic saint whose proposed solution to the alleged problem of homosexual men living in a particular city was to kill all of the men in that city–and let God sort them out. That saint is not here, at my Ecumenical Calendar. I hope I do not need to justify my choice to anyone. Do I want to speak to anyone who would demand that I justify my choice to exclude that saint from my Ecumenical Calendar? No!
May you, O reader, join me in agreeing with Lesbia Scott:
For the saints of God are just folk like me,
And I mean to be one too.
Pax vobiscum!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 26, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARGARET CLITHEROW, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 1586
THE FEAST OF FLANNERY O’CONNOR, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC WRITER
THE FEAST OF GEORGE RUNDLE PRYNNE, ANGLICAN PRIEST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF JAMES RENDEL HARRIS, ANGLO-AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALIST THEN QUAKER BIBLICAL SCHOLAR AND ORIENTALIST; ROBERT LUBBOCK BENSLY, ENGLISH BIBLICAL TRANSLATOR AND ORIENTALIST; AGNES SMITH LEWIS AND MARGARET DUNLOP SMITH GIBSON, ENGLISH BIBLICAL SCHOLARS AND LINGUISTS; SAMUEL SAVAGE LEWIS, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND LIBRARIAN OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE; AND JAMES YOUNG GIBSON, SCOTTISH UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND LITERARY TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT LUDGER, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF MUNSTER
FOR THE COMMON GOOD AND THE GLORY OF GOD, OF COURSE
I have been preparing new entries for A GREAT CLOUD OF WITNESSES: AN ECUMENICAL CALENDAR OF SAINTS’ DAYS AND HOLY DAYS. Two of the three “new” saints for whom I have written rough-drafts of posts in longhand have been women who violated societal conventions of femininity and did much to serve God in the process.
I like outliers, odd balls, eccentrics, square pegs, and other unconventional people. I am one, after all. My life is one of being a default contrarian. My interests and my sense of self lead me down a path less traveled. When I merely pursue my interests, I most likely behave in a way contrary to most of the people around me. So be it. Therefore, take my word for it, O reader, that I consider “conform” and “conformity” the two most profane words in the English language.
My spiritual task is to be the best version of myself possible. My spiritual task is to be the person God created me to be. My spiritual task is not to be the person anyone else wants me to be. My spiritual task is to be God’s square peg, in a square hole. Those who would try to make me fit into a round hole err.
This helps to explain why I add so many outliers, odd balls, eccentrics, and square pegs to my ECUMENICAL CALENDAR. I call attention to such wonderful human beings with great pleasure.
God calls you, O reader, to be the best version of yourself possible. I encourage you to answer that sacred call affirmatively. Be a square peg. Be one of God’s square pegs. Be the square peg God wants you to be. And help others be the square pegs God wants them to be.
So, here is to God’s gloriously square pegs! They shine with the light of God and challenge comfortable, complacent conformity. They expose the injustice of certain societal norms. They renew society and work for the common good. They glorify God.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
FEBRUARY 21, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, ENGLISH ROMANC CATHOLIC PRIEST-CARDINAL
THE FEAST OF SAINT ARNULF OF METZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT GERMANUS OF GRANFEL, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND MARTYR, 677
THE FEAST OF AUSTIN CARROLL (MARGARET ANNE CARROLL), IRISH-AMERICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN, AUTHOR, AND EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT ROBERT SOUTHWELL, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1595
THE FEAST OF SAINT THOMAS PORMORT, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1592
The COVID-19 pandemic has granted me much more free time than I anticipated I would have when 2020 dawned. I have spent that free time in a number of ways, including the following:
I have watched some entertaining and poorly made science fiction movies from the 1950s and 1960s. I have watched the entire run of Jon Pertwee’s Doctor Who serials (1970-1974). (By the way, critics of “wokeness” in current Doctor Who would have strong emotional and physical reactions if they were to watch the Jon Pertwee serials closely. Barry Letts made his positions obvious.)
I have transferred the contents of PUNS BLOG to SUNDRY THOUGHTS and deleted PUNS BLOG.
I have written about many saints at this weblog and posted many lectionary-based devotions through the end of the next liturgical year at spinoffs of this weblog.
I have blogged my way through The Chronicle: News from the Edge (2001-2002).
Off-blog, I have been taking notes for Revised Common Lectionary-based discussions for Sundays through the end of this liturgical year.
This morning, I started taking notes for Propers 23-25, Year A, otherwise known as October 11, 18, and 25, 2020. (I intend to complete those notes today.)
I have been leading weekly discussions of lectionary readings via Zoom since May.
I have applied for employment in four cities, all of them sites of universities. (I would starve intellectually outside of a college or university town.)
I have started reading two books by E. P. Sanders. I have been reading Jesus and Judaism for my book group. I have been reading Paul and Palestinian Judaism because I want to do so.
I have been avoiding other people as much as possible since some time in March. Some days, I have seen other people only through windows.
I have also been working on saints with feast days in July. I have taken notes on some and drafted posts in ink and longhand on most of those. I have made plans to take notes on more saints and to draft more posts in ink and longhand. I have yet to decide when to start writing posts based on these drafts.
More saints are on the way, O readers.
Shalom!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 20, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOSEPH AUGUSTUS SEISS, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER, LITURGIST, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF ALFRED RAMSEY, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF CHARLES COFFIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF HANS ADOLF BRORSON, DANISH LUTHERAN BISHOP, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM JOHN SPARROW-SIMPSON, ANGLICAN PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND PATRISTICS SCHOLAR
Reading and writing about lives of saints are ennobling hobbies. Certainly I find them preferable to a host of alternative possible ways to spend time, not all of which are inherently bad. I might, for example, follow the news of perfidy, disregard for the truth, and probable criminality rife in the Executive Branch of the Government of the United States of America more closely. Or I might pour over all the details of political attacks (under false pretenses) on a Roman Catholic chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives, complete with doses of Evangelical-Fundamentalist bias against Roman Catholicism, with its celibate priesthood in the Latin Rite. Or I might lose myself in so-called reality shows. But no, I prefer Bible studies and hagiographies.
I have been taking notes on saints with feast days ranging from July 7 to 11; I have not completed that project yet. I have also made plans to draft posts, merge four feasts extant on my ECUMENICAL CALENDAR OF SAINTS’ DAYS AND HOLY DAYS into two feasts, and to create new posts during the next few days.
To focus on the lives of holy people, from antiquity to my lifetime, is to consider those who followed Christ left noble legacies. There is never a bad time to do that, but now seems like an especially appropriate time, at least for me. Nobody is perfect, but many of us are genuinely good. I seek to, in the words of novelist Alex Haley,
Find the good and praise it.
As for current events, the passage of time and the efforts of principled investigators will reveal and document the truth, which will reside in the realm of objective reality, not opinion. I leave that work to those suited for it.
Pax vobiscum!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 6, 2018
THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANNA ROSA GATTORNO, FOUNDRESS OF THE INSTITUTE OF THE DAUGHTERS OF SAINT ANNE, MOTHER OF MARY IMMACULATE
THE FEAST OF TOBIAS CLAUSNITZER, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINTS WILLIBALD OF EICHSTATT AND LULLUS OF MAINZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT WALBURGA OF HEIDENHELM, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; SAINTS PETRONAX OF MONTE CASSINO, WINNEBALD OF HEIDENHELM, WIGBERT OF FRITZLAR, AND STURMIUS OF FULDA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOTS; AND SAINT SEBALDUS OF VINCENZA, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT AND MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF CLARENCE DICKINSON, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN ORGANIST AND COMPOSER
IN PARTICULAR, WITH REGARD TO MY ECUMENICAL CALENDAR OF SAINTS’ DAYS AND HOLY DAYS
My methodology of adding to my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days entails filling vacant slots on a day-by-day basis. If I, for example, have two vacant slots for a given date, I ponder saints, consider how much information is available about them, and decide how best to fill both slots, if possible. Sometimes I leave slots vacant, for filling later. My current policy is to have a maximum of four posts (with one or more saints per post) per day, except a date with a Biblically-themed feast, when I usually reserve that date for that feast, unless I make a rare exception to that rule. March 25, for example, is the Feast of the Annunciation and the Feast of St. Dismas, both Biblically themed feasts. January 1 is the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus; it is also World Peace Day. Nevertheless, January 6 is solely the Feast of the Epiphany on my Ecumenical Calendar. I plan to change the maximum number of posts for most days to five in 2020 or 2021, and perhaps to more eventually. My Ecumenical Calendar can be a long-term project always in progress, assuming that I lead a long life.
Longevity is not a guarantee, of course. Yet I make plans, just in case I am around and able to continue work on this hobby.
Since I think about additions to my Ecumenical Calendar on a day-by-day basis, looking at the trees, not the forest, so to speak, I do not collect data about societal categories (such as gender, ethnicity, and national origin) and assign quotas based on them. Affirmative action, for all its societal value in many settings and cultures at certain times, has no place in my Ecumenical Calendar. I do, however, enjoy recognizing people whose stories of faith have fallen into the shadows of others, including other saints. Many of these overlooked saints fall into categories such as women, racial or ethnic minorities, and members of powerless or less powerful populations. I cite, for example, my recent post about Niebuhrs, which includes not just Reinhold and H. Richard, but Hulda and Ursula also.
I do think purposefully about theological diversity. Thus Popes rub shoulders with Protestants and Orthodox Patriarchs, Anglican bishops with Puritan missionaries, dogmatic theologians with non-dogmatic theologians, and mystics and alleged heretics with the conventionally orthodox, by the standards of their contexts. In the New Testament a saint is simply a Christian; that is my definition of a saint. The great cloud of witnesses spreads out across a wide spectrum.
According to an old saying, each Christian is somebody’s schismatic. One might make a strong case for Roman Catholicism being schismatic from Judaism. As surely as each Christian is somebody’s schismatic, he or she is also somebody’s heretic. God defines heresy with certitude; we mere mortals do not. Often we define heresy to exclude those who disagree with us, but sometimes our definitions overlap with God’s. But how are we to know how often that happens?
I steer a moderate course through the thicket of heresy and orthodoxy, learning from early Ecumenical Councils and Church Fathers, and from Desert Mothers and Desert Fathers. While I do this I acknowledge that, according to the Roman Catholic Church, I, as one who belongs to another Christian communion (The Episcopal Church, to be precise), I lack the fullness of the faith. Roman Catholic orthodoxy since Vatican II holds that, since Holy Mother Church alone has the fullness of the faith, all other Christians are “separated brethren.” At least I am no longer going to Hell, allegedly. Progress is progress.
For all the theological diversity represented on my Ecumenical Calendar, unity is also evident. The unity of serving Christ is present; that outweighs many differences.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 27, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW JERSEY; AND HIS SON, WILLIAM CROSWELL DOANE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF ALBANY; HYMN WRITERS
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANTONY AND THEODOSIUS OF KIEV, FOUNDERS OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX MONASTICISM; SAINT BARLAAM OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT; AND SAINT STEPHEN OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT AND BISHOP
THE FEAST OF CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, POET AND RELIGIOUS WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINTS REMACLUS OF MAASTRICHT, THEODORE OF MAASTRICHT, LAMBERT OF MAASTRICHT, HUBERT OF MAASTRICHT AND LIEGE, AND FLORBERT OF LIEGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT LANDRADA OF MUNSTERBILSEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; AND SAINTS OTGER OF UTRECHT, PLECHELM OF GUELDERLAND, AND WIRO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES
I am not shy about expressing my opinions at this, my original weblog, the one from which the others sprang, directly or indirectly. I am, however, cautious in so far as I do not feel obligated to express every thought that passes through my mind. I do, in fact, leave most of my thoughts unexpressed. Furthermore, I am a trained historian. The difference between history and journalism is hindsight. I prefer to sit back and gather data rather than to spout off. When I make a statement, however, I make it with conviction.
Certainly, in the age of the political, moral, and ecological train wreck that is the Trump Administration, with its fondness for foreign elected dictators and contempt for the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, sordid details come to light so quickly that I have difficulty keeping up with them. Apparently do does that overgrown toddler, that man-child with a Twitter account, a thin skin, a small vocabulary, a dearth of historical knowledge, a penchant for half-baked conspiracy theories, and a casual relationship (at best) with objective reality, in the White House. In these times I double down on my historian’s tendencies and express my perspective by permitting it to inform my analysis of the past. I leave a plethora of clues embedded in my posts.
I have ended my hiatus on renovating my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days. During the hiatus I drafted new devotions for Lent, Easter, and the Season After Pentecost 2018. I have made plans to start updating my LENTEN AND EASTER DEVOTIONS weblog after Pentecost (next Sunday) and ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS once Advent 2017 has begun. I have also resolved to return to the wonderful world of saints. My choice of saints has long reflected my political and theological priorities. Now that the time to renovate systematically the Ecumenical Calendar, a project begun casually in 2009, has come, I have begun to remove some people and add others in accordance with my changing priorities and access to more knowledge, as well as all that I have learned about blogging. I have never considered agreeing with me completely to be a requirement for inclusion, but not being overall morally objectionable to me has always been mandatory.
Without further ado, I resume the process of adding saints.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 29, 2017 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF PERCY DEARMER, ANGLICAN CANON AND TRANSLATOR AND AUTHOR OF HYMNS
THE FEAST OF THE FIRST U.S. PRESBYTERIAN BOOK OF CONFESSIONS, 1967
THE FEAST OF JIRI TRANOVSKY, LUTHER TO THE SLAVS AND FATHER OF SLOVAK HYMNODY
THE FEAST OF SAINTS LUKE KIRBY, THOMAS COTTAM, WILLIAM FILBY, AND LAURENCE RICHARDSON, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS
The first phase of the renovation of my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days has ended; I have completed the first twelfth of the process here at SUNDRY THOUGHTS. The number of posts at this weblog has hovered around 1500, give or take a few posts, as I have added, deleted, and replaced some posts and revised others.
Thinking about saints and contemplating sainthood are rewarding spiritual practices. They are foreign to the spiritual traditions of my childhood; the Southern Baptist Convention and The United Methodist Church do not encourage keeping a calendar of saints. Nevertheless, observing an official calendar of saints (in The Episcopal Church) and creating my own such calendar has come naturally to me. I, as a historian, emphasize the great men and women of the past. Also, my inclination is toward the Roman Catholic end of the spectrum in certain ways.
Nevertheless, as helpful as Anglican, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox calendars of saints have proven to be and continue to help me with my own project, I have chosen not to restrict myself to their selections of saints and their assigned feast days. This tendency has proven to be a manifestation of the Protestant side of my spirituality.
Rome has spoken,
many Roman Catholics say, meaning it as a statement of finality and authority. At least half the time I think,
So what?
I learn and import much from Holy Mother Church, but I also walk my own path much of the time. After all, Rome took more than 300 years to rescind the pronouncement that Galileo Galilei was a heretic for stating the scientific fact that the Earth revolves around the Sun. The Church also canonized Robert Bellarmine, Galileo’s inquisitor who chose ignorance of good science in lieu of tradition and bad theology, as well as condoning to burning heretics at the stake. (The Ecumenical Calendar does not include St. Robert Bellarmine.)
As I contemplate saints with feast days in January (at least on my Ecumenical Calendar), I understand them to be quite an assortment of people. Sts. Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas, for example, held one opinion regarding the nature of knowledge and certainty; Lesslie Newbigin argued for a different position. Some saints were ascetics, but others lived comfortably. Some were spouses and parents; others chose never to marry. Some were traditionalists, but others were pioneers. I would have liked to have known some saints, but I would not have enjoyed the company of certain others, such as St. Jerome. Some of these saints would have accused me of heresy, but others would have agreed with me, at least partially, or disagreed with me respectfully. So be it.
I anticipate the next phase (February) of the renovation of my Ecumenical Calendar.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 25, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM HILEY BATHHURST, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF JAMES OTIS SARGENT HUNTINGTON, FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF THE HOLY CROSS
THE FEAST OF PETRUS NIGIDIUS, GERMAN LUTHERAN EDUCATOR AND COMPOSER; AND GEORG NIGIDIUS, GERMAN LUTHERAN COMPOSER AND HYMN WRITER
While growing up in rural United Methodist congregations in southern Georgia, U.S.A., I realized that I did not fit in. Lacking a proper frame of reference for years, I could not diagnose the issue properly until I became keenly aware of good Episcopal Church liturgy, a la The Book of Common Prayer (1979) and The Hymnal 1982. I had latent High Church tendencies yet was in a very Low Church setting.
And the music did not help. Southern Gospel tended to be prominent. The diction was usually abhorrent, choirs seldom blended, and, in one church, loud and nasal singing was commonplace. I still have traumatic aural memories.
So I was glad to convert to The Episcopal Church, bow to altars and passing processional crosses, and sing more hymns which sounded good with a proper organ. From time to time the old hymnody–the one I fled–follows me, even into The Episcopal Church. If I have advance notice, I can arrange to attend a different service, one without music, perhaps. My attitude toward certain Low Church Protestant music is reflexively negative.
Much of the problem of Southern Gospel, I am convinced, is the way in which most or many people who sing it sing it. Often the songs are too fast and inappropriately happy. Even the sad songs sound happy sometimes. Consider, for example, “In the Sweet By and By,” which is about the afterlife in Heaven. Here are the words:
1. There’s a land that is fairer than day,
And by faith we can see it afar;
For the Father waits over the way,
To prepare us a dwelling-place there.
Chorus:
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
2. We shall sing on that beautiful shore
The melodious songs of the blest,
And our spirits shall sorrow no more,
Nor a sigh for the blessing of rest.
Repeat the Chorus
3. To our bountiful Father above,
We will offer our tribute of praise,
For the glorious gift of His love,
And the blessings that hallow our days.
Repeat the Chorus
The lyrics reflect a sense of longing, as if one misses departed friends and loved ones yet anticipates reuniting with them after one’s own death. Thus the hymn contains both grief and hope. Yet I have almost always heard this sung as if it is all happiness.
This most recent Memorial Day morning, I heard part of Performance Today on my local public radio station. The program that day was a concert by Cantus, a men’s choral ensemble. Their concert included a slow and a cappella version of “In the Sweet By and By.” It was simultaneously mournful and hopeful. It was hauntingly beautiful. The diction was flawless. And I could hear the sparse harmonies and the interplay among the voice parts. This was what I wished I had heard while growing up.
I wonder what other hymns and songs I might like if only I could hear them performed properly.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 23, 2011 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ROSE OF LIMA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTIC
SUNDRY THOUGHTS 
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