My latest writing passion, here you will find contributions to a genre of church music much-neglected in recent decades, but which I believe has more ability to build up the people of God (and hence, more staying power) than much of the self-expressive provender that dominates the modern Church. Included are both additional verses for existing hymns and completely new offerings.
Since traditional hymns are usually based on folk melodies and many of these melodies have already been used for multiple lyric settings, thus weakening an automatic association between the music and its theological content, most of the new hymns are set to new melodies designed to imitate the easily-adopted structure of folk melodies.
Right click icons to download any piece for local use. All music free to use with following attribution:
Copyright 2023 Rev. Brett Jenkins, STS
Faith Conservationist Ministries
www.FaithConservationist.org
All Rights Reserved
Holy Spirit, Heavn’ly Comfort
The Lutheran tradition (and liturgical traditions generally) have a dearth of hymns to and about the Holy Spirit that are singable for those of a non-Scandinavian decent, and modern worship songs about the Spirit sound to my ear like second-rate secular love songs.
This hymn focuses on the soteriological and eschatological role of the Spirit in the Christian life in a rare form of direct address to the third Person of the Holy Trinity. Suitable for use in any season, this hymn was desiegned to celebrate Pentecost.
To the Glory of God Alone
The five solas of the Reformation are extolled and their significance explained in this hymn for the end of October.
By All Your Saints in Warfare (Addenda)
One of the most important ways Christians can be countercultural in an age that believes itself more civilized, moral, and politically advanced than all that came before it is to be people who remember–and when appropriate give thanks for–the past. By All Your Saints in Warfare not only is designed to do this, celebrating days in the Church calendar that commemorate the positive contributions of our forebears, it also has the virtue of being a martial tune, something rare in the Church’s life since the 1970’s, but critical for the emotional engagement of men.
These addenda add Christian heroes (saints) to those offered in the hymnal from a perspective with which Protestants can be comfortable, uplifting them as people deserving of emulation rather than veneration. I have especially focused on people who have popular purchase within Western culture but with whom many people are not intimately familiar like Patrick of Ireland, St. Nicholas, etc. Also included is a verse for the ordination/installation of a pastor or bishop.
This file will be added to as new verses occur to me, so come back to download a fresh copy from time to time.
