When you made this planet

Some time ago, Thomas Thurman drew my attention to a text to try setting as a hymn. The story behind the text, as well as the text itself, is here.

After spending the requisite months sitting in a “drafts” drawer while I got distracted by other things, and some help with editing from various people (Dr Christopher Parker at St Mary’s Addington was particularly helpful), I think it’s about as finished as it is going to get.

I’ve called the tune “Hitchin”, because that is the birthplace of the author of the text, and because clever Latin things ended up looking like “Cum hoc tellure” which, let’s face it, isn’t going to be a giggle-proof title for working with choirs.

Today the some churches celebrate or remember the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and this morning after the necessary clarification about just whose conception this refers to (the Immaculate Conception is not the same as the Virgin Birth), I was thinking about that. I was thinking about how it is that when someone does something wonderful, or fulfills what we might call God’s purposes for them, we are sometimes tempted to say “Oh, but they’re special, we could never do that…” rather than being inspired by their actions. For me, the amazing thing about Mary is not that God chose her or somehow set her aside — whether or however that happened — but that she said YES. “Let it be unto me according to thy will,” she said.

Or possibly, in today’s language, “My Lord, I pray my life will mirror you.”

Here is a .pdf of the music.
Here is a .midi file of robots singing it.
As usual, the material is CC BY-SA.