We’re doing home church these days, because a) our area got hit hard when Covid-19 first hit the U.S. and b) our area authorities aren’t idiots. So we tumble out of bed whenever we feel like it, and get mostly dressed up (church clothes and barefoot, some of us with brushed hair) and assemble in the living room for hymns and sacrament and Come Follow Me study. It’s been surprisingly fun and congenial. The hymns are the best, because kid #1 plays piano and we all like to sing.
It was in the middle of singing “I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go” (no. 270) a few weeks ago that I giggled, and then snorted, and then completely lost it. (Reverent, huh?)
“We’re not going anywhere,” I explained when the family looked at me like I’d grown a second head. “Maybe the kitchen. The front porch, if we’re lucky.”
“Maybe God just wants us to stay home right now,” one of the kids offered.
Since I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what She wants, here’s a list of other hymns for quarantine:
- Master, Pandemic Is Raging (no. 105): Featuring the chorus “The selfish and heathen shall want to roam / Please, stay home! / Please, stay home!”
- Stay, Ye Children of the Lord (no. 58)
- Lead Me Into Life Post-Covid (no. 45): “Lead me into life post-Covid / Keep me from the ICU / With my face in mask enrobed / I will bless both me and you.”
- A Poor Infected Man of Grief (no. 29)
- Stay, Stay, Ye Saints (no. 30)
- They, the Heroes of the Nation (no. 36): An ode to the heroes among us, ending with the lines “Dear and valiant generation / Blessed healthcare workers all!”
- Praise to the Woman (no. 27): “Praise to the woman sewing masks for the Covid / She and her serger will ever be near / Using the fabric that for crafts was devoted / Kings shall extoll her, and nations revere.”
- We’re Not Ashamed to Wear Our Masks (no. 57): Seriously, there are parts of the U.S. that need to sing this.
- Rejoice, Our Deaths Are Down (no. 56): A hymn for the Millennium, perhaps.
- I Need Thee Every Hour (no. 98): Self-explanatory
- A Mighty Fortress Is Our Home (no. 68): No, elders, you can’t come in and share a lesson with us.
- Stay, Ye Stupid People (no. 94)
- Be Still, My Sole (no. 124)
- Where Can I Turn for Peas? (no. 129): Emma Lou Thayne’s beloved hymn about trying to get an Instacart delivery slot
- Did You Think to Stay? (no. 140): “Ere you left your house this morning / Did you think to stay?”
- God Be with You Till We Meet Again (no. 152): For families saying goodbye at the ER
- Secret Prayer (no. 144): A hymn for everyone doing online shopping, featuring the chorus “May my cart / By God be blessed / May my order / Ship express / Free from charges / And delays / So the gifts come for birthdays.”
- Go Forth with Masks (no. 263): Because faith without works is dead.
What would you add to the list?
Very clever! Thank you for a lift today.
I like them all and especially Praise to the Woman.
We have been parody-ing pop songs also, like “My corona” (the Knack My Sharona).
This gave me a real laugh, Libby. I’ll add these:
“We Are Sewing, Daily Sewing — countless masks for one and all” #216
“Dearest Children, Don’t Come Near Me” #96
“Ye Unmasked Souls Who Spray” #118
“Come, Let Us A-Zoom. Join each breakout room.” #217
“There’s Corona. We should stay at home.” #227
I love these!!
Hahaha! These are so great! Thanks for sharing them.
Here are my contributions:
https://zelophehadsdaughters.com/2020/03/22/hymns-for-a-time-of-coronavirus/
Fantastic! And you beat me to it by a good four months.
Libby I love this—and you!
Libby, these are FABULOUS! I don’t have any to add, but I’ll enjoy singing these.
Oh, these are so good!
“Let Us All Press On” has been the Ironing Hymn since my late ’60s days in Heritage Halls. And there is the now defunct (oh gratitude!) Girdle Song, How Firm a Foundation.
I absolutely love your list.
When I was a Lambda Delta Sigma in college, we used a large girdle to illustrate my least favorite principle: the supporting role of women. Any girl who’d been a huge support to her sisters that week had to wear it for the entire meeting. 😀