Blog Roundup

Here are some interesting recent posts on blogs I follow. Check them out!

CWS noted some recent major hymological anniversaries. His post on John Newton (writer of "Amazing Grace") includes a lesser-known text with an analogy involving a compass. Quite a natural image for a former sea-farer.  CWS also wrote on Fanny Crosby's "God of our Strength," which he discovered in Hymnal: A Worship Book. An a third excellent recent post: Isaac Watts, grand-daddy of English hymnody.

"Ask Her About Hymns" has a write-up on the recent Hymn Society annual conference in New Orleans. Take a look through her older posts as well. She reports on a fascinating theory about "When the Saints Go Marching In."

If you are involved in selecting music for worship, make regular visits to Singing from the Lectionary. The Australian writer draws from a wide variety of sources in creative ways.

Finally, a few posts about my own work:
"Hymn Notes" wrote about "Come, Join in Mary's Prophet Song." She hasn't posted anything new since April, but I'm hoping she'll get back at it soon.
Michael Hawn's "History of Hymns" covered "Breath of God, Breath of Peace" in a posting by Gabriel Edwards.
Notre Dame's "Oblation: Liturgy and Life" had a post about "As the Birds of the Air" last year.
Reaching even further back, "Unbound: An Interactive Journal of Christian Social Justice" ran an article called "Borrowed Holy Land: The New Hymnal and Creation Justice," which used a line from my "The Earth Belongs to God alone" in its title. (The "new Hymnal" it refers to is "Glory to God," the Presbyterian collection published in 2013.)

What other blogs should I be following? Please leave suggestions in the comments below.

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