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Morning Song, General Assembly 2011

Prepare your heart and voice for worship as you join Kellie Walker, the General Assembly (GA) Choir and the GA Band in song.

Transcript

“Here We Have Gathered”

[Words: © Alicia S. Carpenter 1979, used by permission. Music: Genevan psalter, 1543.]

KELLIE WALKER: Good morning. My name is Kellie Walker and it is truly a beautiful morning to sing together. We will start with a hymn by Unitarian Universalist professional singer and songwriter, Alicia Carpenter, which she set to a tune that has been around at least from the 16th century. Please rise in body or spirit and join in singing “Here We Have Gathered.”

[SINGING: "HERE WE HAVE GATHERED" BY ALICIA CARPENTER]

#1000 STJ “Morning Has Come”

[Words & music: Jason Shelton, © Jason Shelton. Used by permission.]

KELLIE WALKER: If you'd like to stay risen, great. From a 16th century tune, we now move to the Reverend Jason Shelton's magnificent hymn to greet the day, written in the 21st century. In 2001, actually, written for the mountain and at the mountain, for a UU [Unitarian Universalist] Musician's Network conference. it was raining the whole weekend. But during this service the sun came out. Then it rained again right after.

He told me this morning he was a little concerned about having that much power. Anyway, "Morning Has Come." It's number 1000 in Singing The Journey, the very first one in that hymnal, if you're wondering. And Jason's going to join us with some percussion here. Morning Has Come.

[SINGING: "MORNING HAS COME" BY JASON SHELTON]

“I Want to Be Ready”

KELLIE WALKER: And now, Jason and I are going to teach you a little bit of what we will be singing later in the worship service. On the chorus for the opening song, Joy Comes Back, the words are, I want to be ready. I want to be ready. I want to be ready when the joy comes back to me.

[SINGING: "I WANT TO BE READY"]

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

[Words: v. 1, Robert Robinson, 1735-1790, adapt. Vs. 2-3, Eugene B. Navias, 1928—. Music: John Wyeth, Repository of Sacred Music, Part II, 1813]

KELLIE WALKER: We will close our in-gathering music with a new take on Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. The tune is by John Wyeth, a Unitarian from Cambridge, born in 1770. And the first verse is by an even earlier minister, Robert Robinson. However, verses two and three are by Eugene Navias, a Unitarian Universalist minister of religious education, who is director of the UUA's Religious Education Department from 1982 to 1992. I absolutely love how the band makes this old tune come alive.

[SINGING: "COME THOU FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING" BY JOHN WYETH]

Morning Song is General Assembly 2011 event number 5002.