Mormonen voor Vrede en Gerechtigheid

Grant,O Lord, that your Holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear and hatred cease; that, our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Congregational Prayer of Benediction - Community of Christ - Las Vegas

Geef, O Heer, dat uw Heilige en levenschenkende Geest elk menselijk hart mag raken, dat de barrieres die ons scheiden mogen worden afgebroken, wantrouwen zal verdwijnen en haat zal afnemen; dat we door onze toenadering, in vrede en gerechtigheid mogen leven, door Jezus Christus onze Heer. Amen.
Gezamelijk Slotgebed - Gemeenschap van Christus - Las Vegas

Restorations / Herstellingen

Restorations is a monthly reflection of Latter-day spirituality by Bryan Monte, a member of the Community of Christ, living in Zeist, The Netherlands, and Robert Poort, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, living in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Community of Christ is the new name of the former Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both churches find their origin within the faith tradition of the Restoration.

Herstellingen is een maandelijks bericht over spiritualiteit in het licht van het herstelde evangelie door Robert Poort, een Nederlander woonachtig te Las Vegas in de VS, en lid van de Kerk van Jezus Christus van de Heiligen der Laatste Dagen, en Bryan Monte, een Amerikaan woonachtig te Zeist, en lid van de Gemeenschap van Christus. De Gemeenschap van Christus is de nieuwe naam van de voormalige Gereorganiseerde Kerk van Jezus Christus van de Heiligen der Laatste Dagen. Beide kerkgenootschappen komen voort uit de geloofstraditie van de Herstelling.

Organ at Community of Christ Temple - Independence Missouri

...And it shall be given thee, also, to make a selection of sacred hymns, as it shall be given thee, which is pleasing unto me, to be had in my church; for my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me. And it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads."

... En het zal u ook worden gegeven een verzameling heilige lofzangen samen te stellen, zoals het u zal worden ingegeven, hetgeen Mij aangenaam is, om in mijn kerk te hebben. Want mijn ziel schept genoegen in het gezang des harten ; ja, het gezang der rechtvaardigen is Mij een gebed, en het zal verhoord worden met een zegen op hun hoofd."

Revelation to Emma Smith, July, 1830, Harmony, PA.
Doctrine and Covenants 25 [LDS]; 24:3 [Community of Christ]

Last summer as a guide at the Community of Christ Temple in Independence, Missouri, one of the most frequently asked questions I heard from visitors was: “How many hymns do the Community of Christ (CofC) and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) have in common?” According to my training information, I was able to tell the visitors about 10% and then I directed them to the hymns that I knew such as “Redeemer of Israel,” “The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning,” and “We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet.” It wasn’t until this October, however, when I was in hospital for a few weeks, that I had a bit more time to look into this question. Between blood tests, MRI scans, an angiogram and doctors’ consultations, I compared the hymns in my blue, hardbound Temple Edition of Hymns of the Saints with the on-line LDS hymnal Hymns at www.lds.org/cm (Click on links “music” and then “hymns”).

In order to compare the hymnals, I used the first line indexes primarily, but I also checked the texts to see if the versification and the melodies were the same. In addition, I also went back to the 1835 Emma Smith hymnal to see how many of the hymns from the church’s first hymnal could be found in their present hymnals (11 for the CofC hymnal and 23 for the LDS one).

My investigation produced some interesting results. The present LDS and CofC hymnals have 55 hymns in common (out of the 501 hymns in Hymns of the Saints that makes 10.98%) 12 of which are Christmas carols. So I guess it’s appropriate that Robert’s and my blog for December should be about church hymns. Carols that the both churches sing include the following:

Other hymns which the churches have in common include “Guide Us O Great Jehovah” “How Firm a Foundation,” “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” and “Oh God Our Help In Ages Past” (all in the 1835 hymnal) written by English writers and composers who preceded the Restoration movement. Other such as “I Need Thee Every Hour,” “Nearer My God to Thee,” “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” were contemporaneous with the growth of Restoration movement and were probably chosen due to their interfaith popularity.

There are, however, quite a few differences between the LDS and CofC hymnals – after all 89.02% of the Hymns of the Saints hymns are not in the LDS hymnal. And sometimes even if the melodies are the same, the lyrics are quite different, For example, in the CofC hymnal the hymn “O My People, Saith the Spirit,” has the same melody as the LDS hymn “O My Father.” The hymn texts, however are quite different. The CofC hymn is about hearing and responding to the gospel, loving one another which makes men/women God’s companions and going up to Mount Zion in the last days to bare their testimony to all nations. The LDS hymn about wanting to return a previous heavenly home with God (the pre-existence), remembered obliquely while now in a mortal state, through following the plan of salvation. Included also in this hymn is a mention of Heavenly Mother, an important part of LDS theology.

Likewise, theology probably has a lot to do with the versification of the hymn “We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet” in the CofC and LDS hymnals. The CofC hymnal does not include a third verse which in the LDS mentions going “onto eternal perfection” and claims exclusivity in that people “who reject this glad message/Shall never such happiness know.”

As far as Dutch LDS and CofC hymnody is concerned, I have just begun to investigate the similarities and differences. I haven’t received a Dutch LDS hymnbook yet, but I am awaiting for its arrival, having requested a copy from an LDS friend a few weeks ago.

The Dutch CofC church called the Gemeenschap van Christus (GvC) uses two hymnals which are similar to the Hymns of the Saints and the three supplements to this hymnal. The oldest hymnal used by the GvC church is Liederen van de Herstelling, nicknamed het groene boek, a set of hymn verses without musical notation, spirally-bound between green cardboard covers which correlates most closely to the previous hymnal of 1956. Liederen includes 135 hymns. According to members I have asked informally, Liederen was produced in the 1960s. It includes Dutch translations of familiar hymns such as “Let All the World in Every Corner Sing,” (“Laat heel de wereld zingen,”) “For the Beauty of the Earth,” (Voor de schoonheid van deze aarde,”) “Abide with Me,” (“Blijft bij mij, Heer,”) “Crown Him with Many Crowns,” (Kroon Hem met gouden kroon,”), and, of course, Christmas carols such as “Silent Night” (“Stille Nacht,”) as well as Restoration/RLDS hymns such as “Redeemer of Israel,” (“ Verlosser van Israel, onz’ enige vreugd,”) “The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning,” (“Gods Geest brand in ‘t hart”) and “For Bread Before Us Broken,” (Voor ‘t brood voor ons gebroken.”) Liederen also includes two supplements, one especially made from the 1981 Hymns of the Saints.

The hymnal which the Dutch CofC church uses most often in its services today, however, is Opwekkings-liederen, nummers 1-618. This hymnal is used by other, mainly Protestant churches in The Netherlands and published by the Stichting Opwekkingslectuur. Hymns commonly sung from this hymnbook in the Dutch CofC church include: “All over the world, the Spirit is moving,” “Zoek eerst het konijkrijk van God,” “Vader ik aanbid U,” “Vrede zij U,” and “Bron van licht en leven.” One hymn which the Opwekkingsleideren has in common with the older green hymnal is “De Heer is mijn herder.” The Opwekkingsliederen also contains some of the hymns which are being added to the new CofC English supplements, such as “Shine, Jesus Shine,” (“Heer, uw licht en liede schijnen,”) and is used about 90% of the time and sometimes entirely during the church services I have attended in Rotterdam during the last 5 years. The somewhat older congregation in Zwaagwesteinde seems to use the green hymnal, het groene boek, a bit more (approximately 30 to 40% of the time) and it is definitely used frequently when church authorities, such as apostles, evangelists and presidents, from Independence come to visit during the annual Dutch reunion.

When I receive my copy of the Dutch LDS hymnal, I’ll add comparative information to this blog entry about that hymnal and the two hymnals the Dutch CofC church uses. In the meantime, it’s perhaps just best to enjoy the Christmas carols in our hymnals with the knowledge that at this time of year, we have the most in common musically as we sing about the birth of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

The difference between the Gemeenschap van Christus’s Liederen van der Herstelling (het groene boek) and the Kerk van Jesus Christus der Heiligen der Laatste Dagen’s Lofzangen is close to the approximately 11% percent overlap in the denominations English language hymnals.

1. Alles wat adem heeft
2. Blijft met mij, heer als het zonlicht niet meer straalt
3. Christus, onze Heer verrees
4. D’ aarde met haar bloemenpracht
5. Dankt, dankt nu allen God
6. Der Heer is mijn Herder
7. De morgen daagt
8. Een vaste burcht is onze God
9. Er is een heuvel ver van hier
10. Gods Geest brant in ‘t hart
11. God volgt voor ons verborgen paân
12. Hoor, de eng’len zingen d’ eer
13. Ik weet dat mijn verlosser left
14. Jezus, als ik zelfs maar denk aan U
15. Rots de eeuwen, troost in smart
16. Stille nacht, heilige nacht
17. Verlosser van Israel, onz’ enige vreudg’
18. Wij danken U, Heer, voor profeten

Eighteen or 11.39% of the 158 hymns in Liederen (including the two supplements) can also be found in Lofzangen. On the other hand, these 18 make up 8.78% of the 205 hymns in Lofzangen. Some hymns such as Jesus Christ is Risen Today and Hark, the Herald Angels Sing (Christus, onze Heer verrees and Hoor de eng’len zingen d’eer in Liederen and Christus is verrezen nu and Hoor de engelen liedjes schoon in Lofzangen) have somewhat different texts but relatively the same melodies.

The gap between the two churches hymnody, however, has widened even further over the last 15 years due to the increased use in the Gemeenschap van Christus of the Opwekkings liederen hymnbook (As mentioned above, some congregations, such as Rotterdam, may sing hymns almost exclusively from Opwekkings during a Sunday service). The overlap between Opwekkings and Liederen and Lofzangen is 2.53% and 1.95% respectively. The increased use of Opwekkings will certainly bring the Gemeenschap van Christus closer to the mainstream, Dutch Protestant churches, but unfortunately also take it further away from its Dutch LDS cousins.

It will interesting to see how the changes in the new English language hymnal, projected to be completed by 2012, will effect the overall Dutch GvC hymnody and its overlap with that of the Dutch HLD church.