The annual summer hymn sing of the First Congregational Church of Marion will be held on Sunday, July 24 at 10:00 am. The hymns to be sung will be set to tunes whose names celebrate Massachusetts communities.
“A lot of us don’t pay much attention to the names of hymn tunes,” says Ben Dunham, chairman of the church music committee. “For instance, ‘Our God, Our Help in Ages Past’ is sung to the tune called St. Anne, after the church where its composer, William Croft, was organist.”
“What we’ve done is select a group of tunes all titled with the names of Massachusetts towns: Marion, Wareham, Dennis, Truro, Hanover, Waltham, and others among our favorites.” Dunham continued, “We invite everyone to join us.”
According to the Rev. Dr. Sheila Rubdi, pastor of the church, “There will be no sermon per se but rather commentary on the Biblical verses upon which some of the hymns’ texts were based and a bit of background on the authors.”
Guest soprano Amanda Chace will be featured in special music during the service. The last hymn tune will be Maxwell by Dwight Thomas, commissioned by the church in 2000 to honor her grandfather William Maxwell’s years of service as organist. Current organist of the church is Beverly Peduzzi.
The First Congregational Church, located at 28 Main Street at the corner of Front and Main Streets in Marion, is handicapped accessible.