• Title: A Wesleyan Hymn Study
• Description: Joyfully singing and discussing the hymns of John and Charles Wesley
• When: Sundays from June 14th - August 30, inclusive. 10:00 - 11:00 AM
• Where: The Wesley Chapel (downstairs)
• Contact: David Nielson

Here is the announcement slide:

2026-hymn-study-announce-slide.pptx

There are twelve classes. Intentions for the series:

• Fill twelve weeks
• Hold singing in the space and time where choir warmups would be
• Increase participation in choir when it starts back up
• Get Nap's piano proficiency up in preparation for future projects.

To these ends, we will meet in the Wesley Chapel downstairs (Fitting!) which has a better-maintained piano.

Intentions for every week:

• Make “a few minutes late” still work
• Begin and end with a prayer
• Sing and discuss at least one hymn
• Conclude promptly by 11:00 so people can do what they need to before worship service starts

The first will be introductory and maybe we just do one hymn in order to make extra time to explain the intention and design of the series.

Here are the 18 hymns we've selected for the class. For a complete list of hymns Charles and John have in the blue book, consult the page history, or the author's index in the hymnal.

I want to have one or two hymns per week to sing and discuss.

I probably need help choosing which hymns to put on which weeks, what questions to ask, etc.

Pride Weekend; we won't be having Sunday School.

(Potential) questions:

• If you had a thousand tongues, what song would you sing?
• What is Charles Wesley singing about?

Points I want to get to:

• John and Charles Wesley's most enduring writings are in the hymns
• The first page of the hymnal–the instructions on singing
• Despite John Wesley's admonitions about tempo, our hymns have no tempo markings.

• Short, but good. A diversity of ideas. I suspect enough of this will resonate with the people in the room that the spontaneous discussion will default to “what's heavy on your mind, and how does God's Word address it?”

• We are a very welcoming congregation. How can we become more inviting?

I had to look up two words from the hymn. Here are the definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:

• Panoply
  1. a complete or impressive collection of things.
  2. a splendid display
  3. a complete set of arms or suit of armor
• Endued
  1. endowed or provided with a quality or ability.

Nap doesn't know how to play this yet!

Attach the UMC document about Christian Nationalism

First, note that this is in the Sanctifying and Perfecting Grace section of the hymnal.

• The Armor of God: Ephesians 6:10-20, Romans 8:28-38

From the text, it is explicit that our fight is metaphorical and not literal.

(This is the same music as Let Us Plead For Faith Alone)

So, this hymn. Thiiiiiiiis hecking hymn.

On a piano, it can't be played as written. On a pipe organ, your feet can cover the very wide stretches. But every obstacle is an opportunity and I want to use this hymn to illustrate a principle.

What I'd like to do is play one part, then have the group sing one verse on that line, in their own octave but in unison. I will plink out those parts. For the fifth and sixth verses, we'll sing harmony. I will play as much as I can on the piano for verse 5, and verse 6 I want us to sing a capella.

The idea that I want to drive home is that there isn't a “right” or “wrong” part to the music. For you as an individual, there may be right and wrong parts to sing, but that's an individual thing. The idea that a group singing together, multiple different parts, and all of them are correct, is a revolutionary idea. I have believed for a long time that there is a close connection between polyphonic music and the Protestant reformation. I also believe that this promise has not been fully realized. Even though basically the whole Christian world sings music in harmony, the significance of harmony hasn't sunk in for a lot of people, and they insist that everyone do the same things, have the same things, and be the same ways.

This is the last class of the series. Some points that can't be left out:

• Plug the next Sunday School series and note if the time is changing
• Suggest joining the chancel choir