Some paraliturgical hymns have a catchy melody; others have a deeply theological text, or a long history of devotional singing. Sadly, some have none of these. Here is an example of another hymn which will probably NOT be included in the forthcoming hymnal.
Here is the version in the Marian Hymnal (1984):
And here is the Slavonic:
I have been unable to find any earlier Slavonic publication or source for this hymn.
Discussion
Like Mary, mother to us all, this hymn does not seem to have much of a history in our church; the melody doesn’t seem to have a strong sense of motion, and the text is not particularly striking. I would much rather see us, for example, translating additional verses for a better-known hymn with a richer tradition, than including this one.
If someone can find either a sourced version, of an exceptionally good recording of the hymn that makes sense of it, I would be more than willing to take it into account. But for the moment, I am NOT planning to include this one in the forthcoming hymnal, in either English or Slavonic.
Thoughts or suggestions?
Please leave a comment!