Hannah C Brown

hymn writer

  • Elemental Joy

    I am thrilled that a collection of my hymn texts is now available through GIA Publications. You can also listen to the songs on Spotify (part 1, part 2) or YouTube (part 1, part 2).

    It has been such a privilege to collaborate with editor Adam Tice and composers Sally Ann Morris, Ben Brody, Kate Williams, Mark Miller, and Anneli Loepp Thiessen, and to have my words matched with existing tunes of many eras and styles from other gifted composers and arrangers.

    This book has so much of my heart in it and touches on topics ranging from issues of justice such as disability access, LGBTQ affirmation, bodily autonomy, and environmental care; to human experiences of grief, comfort, loneliness, hope, and growth; to expansive explorations of Christian stories and seasons.

  • Dim the Light and Still the Clamor

    During a difficult holiday season, I read a devotional by the Rev. Quinn G. Caldwell called “Smoor,” referencing the practice of covering a fire with ashes before bed. He suggested that this banking of the fire might also be a good practice for the spirit in times of grief.

    This piece is appropriate for a Longest Night, “Blue Christmas”, or other Advent vespers service — or simply to share with anyone who is struggling through a season of loss. I’m very grateful to Adam Tice and Sally Ann Morris for a new tune that is a perfect fit for the text. You can listen to the piece or purchase it here.

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  • This Time of Darkness Bears a Dream

    Advent is a time for dreams: nighttimes filled with angelic visitors, hopes marked by candles lit on the darkest nights, and stark realities disrupted by the powerful words of the prophets.

    Amidst the political upheavals of 2024, I found refuge in the idea that the widespread breaking down and rebuilding of systems can be necessary and helpful. A mentor, the Rev. Heidi Neumark, shared this from Brazilian theologian Ruben Alves: “Hope is that presentiment that the imagination is more real, and reality less real, than we had thought. It is the sensation that the last word does not belong to the brutality of facts with their oppression and repression. It is the suspicion that reality is far more complex than realism would have us believe, that the frontiers of the possible are not determined by the limits of the present, and that miraculously and surprisingly, life is readying the creative event that will open the way to freedom and resurrection.”

    This Advent text is set to the familiar tune WEXFORD CAROL, in a wonderful arrangement by Bex Gaunt (you can hear her version here with a great text by Chris Shelton). You can preview or purchase the piece here.

  • In the Beginning

    As waters rise due to environmental devastation, our situation has similarities to the flood story. This time, we’re the ones bringing the flood. How might God’s presence and promise help us now?

    This text emerged in a shape that didn’t fit any traditional format. I’m grateful to Kate Williams for creating a wonderful tune that gives voice to a longing for ecological healing. Can it be beautiful?

    You can preview or purchase this piece here or find it in my collection Elemental Joy.

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  • We Wear Our Knowledge Like a Shell

    When preparing a collection of my work, I received a cover draft from designer Martha Chlipala which featured a chambered nautilus. This led me down a deep, wonderful rabbit hole learning about their distant ancient relatives, the ammonoids, and cephalopods more generally. It also brought me back to Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.’s famous poem, “The Chambered Nautilus,” which inspired this hymn about spiritual growth.

    You can find this piece to preview or purchase here or as part of my collection Elemental Joy.

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  • Your Love Is a Wider Love

    Christian Scripture and liturgy often compare God to kings and mountains. What if we explored God’s greatness in other ways?

    Thanks to Sally Ann Morris for the mystery and longing in this new tune. You can find this piece to preview or purchase here or as part of my collection Elemental Joy.

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  • Let Me Be Humble

    Images of St. Clare and St. Francis at San Damiano, where St. Clare led her community.

    In the fall of 2023, I had an extraordinary opportunity to visit Italy and learn about St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi, two Christians who took the scriptural call to humility very seriously. After attempting to match this theme with several meters and tunes, I finally thought of the tune SLANE and found some faint echoes of “Be Thou My Vision” and “Lord of All Hopefulness.”

    You can preview or purchase this piece here or find it in my collection Elemental Joy.

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  • It Hurts to Grow

    After God leads the people Israel up out of slavery in Egypt, they are full of gratitude. However, what comes next isn’t easy, and they sometimes wish they could go back. When we are living through something new, whether a blessing or a challenge (or both!), we may also struggle to accept our circumstances and what they require of us.

    It was wonderful to collaborate on this piece about growth and change with Anneli Loepp Thiessen.

    You can find this piece for preview or purchase here or as part of my collection Elemental Joy.

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  • Ways Will Open

    In Parker Palmer’s book on discernment, Let Your Life Speak, he writes of a time when he was struggling with his vocation, hoping and praying that “way would open” as Quaker tradition teaches. A wise elder suggested that often we find our way forward not from a clearly illuminated next step but from closures behind us. How is “way opening” for you, and what closures have caused your ways to bend?

    Many thanks to Sally Ann Morris for a wonderful setting of this simple text. The canon option feels just right for our intersecting ways!

    You can find this piece here for preview or purchase or as part of my collection Elemental Joy.

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  • Come Join Me Now

    We are never without the presence of God and Thea accompaniment of God’s creation and the saints. The great Maya Angelous said, “one of the things I do, when I step on the stage, when I stand up to translate, when I go to teach my classes, when I go to direct a movie, I bring everyone who has ever been kind to me, with me… everybody, I say, come with me … I need you now … so I don’t ever feel I have no help.”

    You can find this piece for preview or purchase here or as part of my collection Elemental Joy.

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  • Holy Spirit, Spark a Vision

    Photo from creeksideucc.org

    When I began my ministry, the very first task assigned to me was to attend a faith-based organizing training. One of the many gifts of that experience was the understanding that power is worth cultivating as long as you have a positive purpose that is larger than that power. In this text, the Holy Spirit is invited to be an ally in community organizing. I write with gratitude for Creekside UCC in Minneapolis, which sent me to that training and which continues to organize for justice! It’s particularly wonderful that the text has been set to a an arrangement by Marty Haugen, a longtime member of Creekside.

    This piece can be found here for preview or purchase. It is also included in my collection, Elemental Joy.

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