“We Turn to God” will be introduced at the 2010 Annual Conference of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, of which I am a Life Member. The book includes hymns for many worship occasions and liturgical seasons, teacher dedication, funerals, weddings, Mother’s Day, Pentecost and more. The hymns are drawn from scripture in both the Old and New Testaments and are written to be sung to well-known hymn tunes.
Among the more unusual hymns is one called “Go Forth from Here” which is written as a congregational benediction response, What makes it unusual is that the suggested tune is by Stephen Collins Foster, the great American songwriter, and is familiar, but is not often thought of as a hymn tune, since the words normally sung to it are “My Old Kentucky Home”.
Several other pleasant surprises are in the book, including hymns set to the tune that is best known as the tune for “Danny Boy”.
Also in this collection is a hymn called “We Gather to Recall” which was created for Hospice of Lancaster County, PA, for their annual service of remembrance. Written to the ancient Jewish tune YIDGAL (which is in most hymnals with the words "The God of Abraham Praise"), the words are accessible to persons of many faiths, as befits a hymn intended for community-wide use. It has been sung annually in Lancaster since 1996.
I have been writing hymns since 1983 when my first hymn, “Come, O Spirit” (which is #127 in the 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal) was created for worship of Wabash Valley Presbytery. Since then, my hymns have appeared in many hymnals in the USA, Canada and Australia.
“We Turn to God” is published by and can be purchased from Wayne Leupold Editions, of Colfax NC, 1-800-765-3196. The cost is $15.
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