Friday, July 16, 2010

The ‘gathering’ is over. Repeat, the ‘gathering’ is over.

What’s up with “gathering” songs like “For the Strength of the Hills” being in the hymnal? The gathering to Utah ended about a century ago, after all, and with a very few exceptions (like “Israel, Israel, God Is Calling”) the lyrics of that sort of song are painfully didactic and the melodies are boring. Really, not a good combination, especially when it goes along with a message that goes against current church practice.

2 comments:

Heather the Mama Duk said...

I don't think I've ever sung that one. We pretty much ignore the "Utah is awesome" sorts of songs. Because we know it's not.

David B said...

The best, actually, was singing songs like “For the Strength of the Hills” and “Firm As the Mountains Around Us” in, um, Florida.

You know, a place where there aren’t any mountains, and it’s several hours to get to the nearest one. Yeah, songs like that make a lot of sense there, really they do.