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.

  • Our Hearts Proclaim a Living God

    “Burning Bush” by Sarah Hornsby

    Elizabeth A. Johnson, CSJ, has called us to faithful and expansive language for God for decades with work including the groundbreaking book She Who Is (1991).  More recently, she wrote: “All-male images of God are hierarchical images rooted in the unequal relation between women and men … Once women no longer relate to men as patriarchal fathers, lords, and kings in society, these images become religiously inadequate. Instead of evoking the reality of God, they block it.” (The Quest for the Living God, 2007)

    In the search for more expansive language, gender is sometimes set aside altogether as a limiting concept for God. However, until the idea of God as “She” is no longer shocking, it is a necessary tool to disrupt conscious and unconscious assumptions of the maleness of God. A powerful and empowering God who is called “She” also challenges and changes our understanding of human femaleness.

    This text describes a liberating God with female pronouns, set to the tune ELLACOMBE.

    You can preview or purchase the piece on GIA Unbound here. It is also a part of my collection Elemental Joy. This piece can be reproduced for worship using One License.

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  • The Stones Cry Out

    I love the evocative words of Jesus in Luke’s account of his entry into Jerusalem: “I tell you, if these stop speaking, the stones will cry out!”

    The testimony of the stones accompanies us as we remember Jesus’ passion and reckon with injustices past and present.

    This text for Holy Week is set to the tune DEO GRACIAS.

    You can preview or purchase the text on GIA Unbound here. It is also a part of my collection Elemental Joy.

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  • Our Amma, Abba, Holy One

    Photo by Jeremy Yap on Unsplash

    I love how familiar texts come alive in new ways through translations, interpretations, and musical settings. In my ministry, the Lord’s Prayer is one of the few pieces of liturgy that we repeat weekly. Trying new or unknown versions, both spoken and sung, reveals new aspects of the prayer.

    This text is paired with ST. ANN, but could be sung with another Common Meter tune that is more familiar to your congregation. It can be found on GIA Unbound here or as part of my collection Elemental Joy.

  • The Seeds of Grace

    This text is an exploration of the parable of the Sower found in  Matthew 13:1–23, Mark 4:1–20, and Luke 8:4–15. What is our response to the bountiful seeds of grace God scatters and nurtures in our midst?

    The text is paired with the beautiful Irish folk melody DURROW. It could also be used with a more familiar tune such as KINGSFOLD.

    You can preview or purchase the piece on GIA Unbound here. It is also a part of my collection Elemental Joy.

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  • May We Be Free

    During a visit to the Statue of Liberty in 2023, I was moved by the museum exhibit contrasting the dreams of freedom in the United States with the reality of our past and present. So many have worked to realize freedom in this land, and so much work remains to be done.

    I returned to the text for revisions during another trip when I spent time at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.  Inscribed on the wall is Lincoln’s appeal to the nation in his second inaugural address “to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” On the monument’s steps in 1963 the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. declared: “100 years later, the Negro still is not free… now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.”

    This text is set to the beloved tune FINLANDIA (sung by some with the texts “Be Still My Soul” or “This Is My Song”). You can find a preview or purchase the piece on GIA Unbound here or as part of my collection Elemental Joy.

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  • 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 preview or purchase the piece here. It is also included as a part of my collection Elemental Joy and Ben Brody’s collection, At the Weaving of Creation.

  • 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 preview or purchase the piece here. It is also included in my collection Elemental Joy and Ben’s collection, At the Weaving of Creation.

  • 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 preview and purchase the piece here. It can also be found as a part of my collection Elemental Joy and Ben Brody’s collection, At the Weaving of Creation.

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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 preview or purchase the piece here. It is also included in my collection Elemental Joy.

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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 preview or purchase the piece here and reproduce it for a congregation using One License. It is also a part of my collection Elemental Joy.

    Here is Ben singing the piece:

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