What did we sing … on the feast of Christ the King, Year C?

My goodness, it’s a long time since I did one of these posts. ME crashes have rather got in the way of life lately. So, I thought the last Sunday of the Church’s year would be a good time to have a look at what people were singing.

The feast of Christ the king has different readings for each of the three years of the liturgical cycle. In year C, the readings tell us of a servant king who overcame suffering and death to bring us salvation.

As I wrote in my suggestions for music for this feast, this Sunday is ‘Youth Sunday’ and we are also asked to pray especially for prisoners and their families.

So, what did we sing?

• Sung on 11 occasions – Hail redeemer, king divine
• Sung on 6 occasions – Crown him with many crowns
• Sung on 3 occasions – Majesty, The servant king
• Sung on 2 occasions – Christ be beside me; Christ is our king, let the whole world rejoice; Jesus, remember me; Lord Jesus Christ; Make way; Praise, my soul; Take our bread; The king of love

This really was a Sunday when the gremlins seemed to have got in the works of the livestreams as there were quite a lot of places who hadn’t been able to stream. Additionally, I missed the live Masses on the Saturday night. Therefore, the list is from only 19 streams and may not be as representative as it would normally be.

There was an obvious favourite of ‘Hail redeemer‘ which also gets in a mention of youth. Of course, it is appropriate for this feast but, with the readings for Year C, I would ask if there were other hymns that would reflect them more accurately? The next three hymns on the list are certainly more in tune with the Gospel of Jesus on the cross.

Well, that’s our diocese. What about the rest of England? Based on the streams I watch, two from each diocese in England, this is what was sung.

• Sung on 19 occasions – Hail redeemer, king divine
• Sung on 10 occasions – Majesty
• Sung on 8 occasions – The servant king
• Sung on 6 occasions – Crown him with many crowns; Christ is our king, let the whole world rejoice
• Sung on 4 occasions – At the name of Jesus; Lord Jesus Christ; The king of love
• Sung on 3 occasions – Christ be our light; He is Lord; Jesus, remember me; My song is love unknown; Our God reigns; Rejoice the Lord is king; Sing it in the valleys

There were a couple of hymns that I would venture to suggest might not have been the best choices for various reasons. ‘Our God reigns‘ does fit the theme of Christ the King, but it fits better with the readings for Advent and might have been better left until then. It is possible to do it on both occasions but should you? What liturgical message is this sending? Knowing more hymns and looking ahead to future weeks when planning can help avoid this situation.

The hymn that struck me as a bit odd was the choice of ‘Joy to the world‘. Chosen for the line ‘let earth receive her king’, I can see how this links with the feast. In fact, the words make it really appropriate for this feast. But it is best known as a Christmas carol. For me, it is so firmly linked to Christmas that I would not use it outside the Christmas season. The secular world around us is pushing Christmas as hard as it can and ‘Joy to the world‘ will be heard in shops and elsewhere many times before December 25th. And, on Christ the King, we have not even got to Advent in the liturgical year. I believe that, as leaders of music in our parishes, we have a responsibility to choose music that is appropriate to the liturgical season. I said elsewhere that we should not anticipate Christmas in our music during Advent. How much more does that apply to the week before Advent?

Of course, there is another school of thought that suggests making links between feasts or Sundays by our choice of music and this can be valid in many cases. Indeed, it can be very valuable, showing people that the readings on one day are related to those of another at a different time of year. Maybe there are good liturgical reasons for doing ‘Our God reigns’ today and during Advent, for example.

Overall, the two lists were very similar. Perhaps people were playing it safe with things they knew well. And there’s nothing wrong with that, of course. We all love a good sing with well-known words and music. However, there are some wonderful hymns that would soon fall into this category if they were sung more often. I would suggest ‘Christ triumphant‘, ‘O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness‘, ‘Name of all majesty’ and ‘The king shall come when morning dawns‘ are four such pieces. Although I have to say that the latter may well be one that could be done in Advent as well so you will have to choose when to use it. But if you don’t know these then I recommend them. None of them were sung on any of the streams I saw.

Good choices that were only sung in one place included ‘Christ is king of earth and heaven‘, ‘King of glory king of peace‘ and the plainchant ‘Christus vincit‘.

‘Christus vincit’ is the anthem of the Society of St Gregory, the national society for music and liturgy in England and Wales. Therefore, I am familiar with singing it and really enjoy it. It is in the hymn books (CFE #116 and Laudate #327) in the version arranged by the wonderful Laurence Bevenot OSB (1901-1990).

I’m conscious that most of the hymns I’ve recommended are really organ hymns and don’t sit too well on a guitar. A skillful guitarist will manage an accompaniment but there does seem to be a lack of really good hymns for this feast for guitars. A challenge for composers perhaps?

Anyway, that’s what we were singing on the feast of Christ the King Year C, 2022. I hope what I’ve written isn’t coming across as criticism of anybody because it isn’t meant that way. It does feel like a bit of a rant, which I certainly didn’t intend. I’m all too aware that, very often, we have to choose music that is accessible to us and that restricts our choices. But I hope that there is food for thought in my comments here. I’m really passionate about giving people the best music we can. After all, our worship is primarily for God, and nothing less than our best should be good enough. This may mean widening our repertoire or just looking a bit more carefully at the hymn choices we make. The liturgy planner suggests a lot of hymns for each Sunday, and we do need to use it wisely. One day I will write about other things to think about when choosing hymns for Mass.

Above all though, I hope that this post might inspire people to sing a new song to the Lord, even if it is not one of those I recommended.