Hannah C Brown

hymn writer

  • This is the Moment

    Photo by Tony Rinaldo

    This text started with a beautiful piece of music from Ben Brody. It sounded invitational and uplifting; a great way to welcome people into a community worship experience.

    You can find a preview of the text and music here. It is also included as a part of Ben Brody’s new collection, At the Weaving of Creation. This piece can be reproduced for worship using One License.

  • People of the Earth

    Photo by Qingbao Meng on Unsplash

    This is good place to confess with pride that my Mom is a paleontologist. Her work honors the fascinating diversity and development of life past and present. I have heard her comment more than once that God must have a particular fondness for beetles, given their great abundance! Humanity is a very small fraction of the enormous complexity of life on earth. As Charles Darwin writes in his Origin of Species, “from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” I also hear echoes of the theological Paul Tillich in this piece; he called God our “ground of being,” which resonates both spiritually and ecologically.

    This text is a call to humility and celebration of the earth’s diversity. Thanks to Ben Brody for a stirring tune. You can find a preview of the text and music here. It is also included in Ben’s collection, At the Weaving of Creation. This piece can be reproduced for worship using One License.

  • Let There Be Rest

    Photo by Clément Falize on Unsplash

    This hymn began as an exploration of the commandment to rest and to ensure rest for the people, animals, and land around us. I was inspired by ongoing conversations about rest as an issue of justice including the work of Tricia Hersey, the “Nap Bishop,” who teaches that rest can be both resistance and reparation.

    While reviewing the song, Adam Tice suggested that it might also work at a funeral or memorial with a few important modifications. We decided to move forward with two versions. I imagine it might be particularly powerful for a community to use this song both as an affirmation of sabbath rest for the living, and also as a blessing for the eternal rest of those who have died.

    You can find a preview of the text and music here. It can also be found as a part of Ben Brody’s new collection, At the Weaving of Creation. This piece can be reproduced for worship using One License #U01793.

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  • Morning Breaks

    In October of 2022 I was a bundle of nerves as I prepared to attend a conference for aspiring hymn composers and text writers hosted by The Hymn Society of the United States and Canada. I was totally fascinated by the prospect of hymn writing and I had been spending more and more time experimenting, but I was not yet satisfied by my results. Was I about to embarrass myself in front of a crowd?

    Knowing that I would have some writing time at the conference, I asked some clergy colleagues what kind of hymn they had looked for but couldn’t find. The Rev. Chris McArdle suggested an Easter Hymn that didn’t focus on victory. This was the idea that jumped out at me when I was looking for a new subject midway through the conference. Filled with excitement about new insights from Mary Louise Bringle and Sally Ann Morris, I started writing and then continued in the airport and on the plane home.

    What a delight to have this text set to a gorgeous tune by Sally. Then, in a lovely surprise of the Spirit, Sally and I met for the second time on the Island of Iona during the summer of 2023. She was gracious enough to share our collaboration amongst the travelers at the Abbey for its first public outing. This song seemed particularly appropriate to sing there given the text’s focus on “greening power” and the spiritually enlivening green of that place.

    You can find the text and music preview here along with a music track.

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  • Leaven Us with Holy Yeast

    Photo by Tijana Drinic on Unsplash

    Count me among the many who found refuge in bread making during the first two years of the COVID pandemic. That experience, followed by a focus on yeast, seed, and bread-related scriptures during Lent 2023, led to this text. Thanks to Ben Brody for a wonderful tune!

    This simple, short song is designed to be used during communion. You can find the music and lyrics here and reproduce it for a congregation using One License #U01584.

    Here is Ben singing the piece:

  • Be with Those Who Wander

    Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

    This text was inspired by a beautiful, searching tune by Ben Brody. It takes the form of an intercessory prayer, raising the needs of many, then offering a reminder of God’s abiding presence and call.

    You can find the text and music here and reproduce it for worship using OneLicense #U01792.

    Here is the composer playing the piece:

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  • We Remember Hands that Tend

    Image from freebibleimages.com

    There are differing stories about the woman who anointed Jesus before his death. Each of the gospels records her giving an extravagant offering. I think of this woman, and the women who gathered at Jesus’ tomb, and all the people whose names we don’t know who have given compassionate care for human bodies, in birthing and dying, in youth and in age, in sickness and in health. In doing what has often been disparaged as “women’s work,” each of them was caring for the body of Jesus as well.  Let us remember them.

    We remember hands that tend,
    welcome touch to clasp and calm,
    fingers warm and skilled to mend,
    soothing blessing, healing balm.

    We remember sweet relief,
    silent moments that sustain,
    words of humor, tears of grief,
    each a way to share the pain.

    We remember souls who stay,
    steady even to the grave,
    tender mercy, day by day,
    ever ready, true, and brave.

    We remember holy care
    holding bodies strong, secure,
    gentle service, fervent prayer;
    breath will fade; let love endure.

    Text by Hannah C. Brown (c) GIA Publications, Inc. 2023. 

    This text can be used with the tune THE CALL (Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life). 

    You can reproduce this text for worship using One License.

  • Love these Human Bodies

    Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

    Our bodies are gifts of God, but cultural messages, practical challenges, aging, and loss can complicate our relationship with this holy gift. This text is a reminder to care for ourselves and one another.

    Love these human bodies
    fashioned, filled, and claimed,
    fragile yet resilient,
    fierce with will untamed,
    made of clay and spirit,
    made of flesh and bone,
    sacred sanctuary,
    home we call our own.

    Love these lively bodies
    joined in avid prayer,
    drawn to joyful dancing,
    called to serve and care,
    moved for work and pleasure, 
    moved for play and praise,
    led on strange new journeys
    to pursue God’s ways.

    Love these different bodies,
    each one is a gift;
    rare in form and function,
    made to mend and shift;
    braving hurt and healing, 
    braving risk and age;
    blessing we can cherish
    in each shape and stage.

    Love these human bodies
    bearing life and death,
    full of the eternal,
    full of soul and breath.
    Love these fleeting temples 
    Love has brought to birth,
    living and then passing
    home to holy earth.

    Text by Hannah C. Brown (c) 2023, GIA Publications, Inc.

    This text was designed to be sung with CRANHAM (In the Bleak Midwinter) and can be reproduced for worship using One License #U01800.

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  • My Wand’ring Heart

    Photo by Eddie & Carolina Stigson on Unsplash

    The theme for A Sanctified Art’s 2024 Lenten series, “Wandering Heart,” caught my imagination. After hearing a recording of “The Love of God” by F.M. Lehman, a new text for that tune emerged that could work for the first Sunday of Lent in any year or other services focusing on wilderness experience or discipleship. 

    If you’re not familiar with the tune, there are many versions with fairly different sounds on the web, including this one: https://open.spotify.com/track/1sGyDewtKOiBv8ZzrlpuEy… and this one: https://hymnary.org/text/the_love_of_god_is_greater_far.

    You can find the text and music here. This piece can be reproduced for worship using One Licence #U01799.

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  • How Can We Know You, Christ?

    Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

    Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?”.  Disciples, crowds and rulers puzzle over this question. Each of us who follows Jesus works towards our own sense of understanding and relationship. What is Jesus’ nature, purpose, and power?

    This text owes a debt to Sylvia Dunstan’s iconic “You, Lord, Are Both Lamb and Shepherd,” perhaps my favorite hymn. I bring humbler aspirations, focusing on our personal experience of the paradoxical mystery of Christ. 

    This text is designed to be used with SURSUM CORDA (Smith).

    How can we know you, Christ, both earth and sky,
    here and hereafter, human and divine?
    Begotten by a love so great and wide
    you pull in close to put your hand in mine.

    How can we know you, Christ, both word and way,
    so long awaited, swift to stir and wake?
    Disrupting powers, practices, and faith
    you offer peace to mend and breath to take.

    How can we know you Christ, both yoke and gift, 
    struggle to serve and grace we can’t resist?
    Confounding death to bridge the great abyss
    you rise with joy to live within our midst. 

    Teach us to know you Christ, both host and bread,
    question and answer, pilgrimage and end.
    Confusing wisdom, you give hope instead,
    your presence all we need to comprehend.

    Text by Hannah C. Brown (c) 2023 GIA Publications, Inc.

    This text can be reproduced for worship using One License #U01714

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