• 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.

We will meet in the Lee-Spratt room since the piano there is better. We just have to close the big doors to the hallway and leave the door near the elevator open for people to come in; otherwise too much sound carries between us and the sanctuary.

Intentions for every week:

• Make “a few minutes late” still work
  • Start right on time by checking in with everyone
• 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.

Pride Weekend; we didn't have Sunday School.

• We read John Wesley's instructions for singing from the front of the hymnal.
• We talked about the tension between going too fast and going too slowly.
• We stretched and warmed up before singing. (I think.)

This session started with the question “how is it with your soul?” which, I think, is a good way of making “a few minutes late” work. (I should say this to the class explicitly.)

This hymn was suggested by Teddy. It's one of my favorites as well, and it's in our hymnal, so YES PLEASE let's get it in there.

I missed this one due to an injury. Barbara played and Nancy led the discussion.

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.

Attach the UMC document about Christian Nationalism

I was late to this one, so we didn't warm up, and you could tell.

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

What we did with this hymn was to sing each verse on a different line (Soprano, then alto, then tenor, then bass, everyone in their own octave.) Then Barbara played verses 5 and 6 and everyone sang a part of their own choice.

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.

(Then we talked about grace for a while.)

This is a Protestant hymn that has been in many hymnals since it was written.

This hymn is specifically Mormon, but only for historical reasons; it would fit just fine in any Protestant hymnal. (I think.)

do not forget to add the scripture references to Jeremiah

Barbara said she'd encountered this hymn before but couldn't remember where. So I might be wrong about it being exclusively Mormon.

We went long. (Oops)

For special music this week, the class is going to sing I Stand All Amazed and we're going to have the congregation join in for the second and third refrains.

Here's the plan:

• Check in
• Warm up enough to cover the range of the hymn
• Sing verse 1 with accompaniment and try to fix the one S that's out of place
• Sing verse 2 a capella to make sure I'm hearing things right
• Sing verse 3 with accompaniment
• Move to the sanctuary by 10:30 so we can sing the hymns with Teresa
• Hopefully finish early

Recap of last week:

• We sang ALL of the hymns correctly, not just the one we practiced in advance
• Our phrasing and dynamics were beautiful and felt completely natural
• Every word was clear. If there were any mistakes I didn't hear them.
• Feedback was universally positive.

Song #1: I'll Walk With You by Carol Lynn Pearson

Song #2: UMH 474: Precious Lord, Take My Hand

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

Here are the 18 hymns we've selected for the class; we are going to use twelve of them. For a complete list of hymns Charles and John have in the blue book, consult the page history, or (better) the author's index in the hymnal.