Dear Members of the AGO,         It was a delight to be with you for the Hymn Festival, Sunday, October, 22, at St. Isaac Jogues Church in Marlton. I want to thank Glenn Rogers, dean, for directing sensational anthems and Tom Carter, organist, for his scintillating playing, especially his very creative improvisations on the various hymn tunes.         I thought it might be interesting if I recapped some of my reflections that were given at the service, especially for those who could not attend. I must say doing research on the selected hymns, reminded me of how hymnody has shaped not only our various musical denominational identities, but have the affect of articulating the broad spectra of continuing theological convictions.         Kenneth W. Osbeck, asserts in his “101 Hymn Stories” (Kregel Publications), that “the songs of Martin Luther, Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, John Newton, Ira Sankey, Phillip Bliss, Fanny Crosby, John Peterson and other contemporaries have been used providentially by a Sovere ign God to challenge the un believer, to edify the saint, and to fan revival fires.”         The hymns I held up for your reflection and “inward digestion” demonstrated the heat and the passion of particular religious convictions within an historical context. How many of us within our various faith traditions, be it Roman, Lutheran, Anglican, Calvinist, or Evangelical, realize that hymns are “mini song creeds?” I believe, these “mini song creeds” continue to demonstrate to believers and non-believers alike, that the Christian faith is a singing faith. The texts become enshrined in our hearts and souls, and are as deeply rooted as the Apostles Creed, Lord’s Prayer, or twenty-third psalms.         Who knew t hat the text of “Faith of Our Fathers” was written by a nineteenth century Anglican convert, Frederick William Faber? He was a follower of the High Church Oxford movement at the time of his conversion. His text, as Martin Luther’s “Ein Feste Burg” in the Protestant tradition, served as a reminder of  the faith of Roman Catholic leaders martyred during the reign of Henry VIII in  the sixteenth century.           I was intrigued having discovered a final verse that has long since been omitted from the hymnals of both Protestant and Catholic Churches, which reflects the convictions of Catholics after the Council of Trent, “Mary’s prayers shall win our country (England) back to thee; and through the truth comes from God, England shall then indeed be free.”It was an education in church history and musicology to sing Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress” demonstrating the Protestant conviction of the Reformation, and how that hymn, too, remembered Protestant martyrs as did “Faith of our Fathers” for Roman martyrs!         There you have it, “mini song creeds"; which reflect the then convictions of both the Council of Trent and the Protestant Reformation! We have come a long way in both traditions: the fact that an Anglican clergy, as myself, could officiate any service in a Roman Church! That would not have occurred prior to the Second Vatican Council.         In the more evangelical tradition “Amazing Grace,” whose text is by John Newton, 1725-1807, is a theological tribute to a personal and emotional experience of religion that was a new radical expression outside the established churches of Geneva . Though Newton , an ordained minister in the Church of England, remained an Anglican, it was certainly a challenge for a church, which at the time was tainted by a wayward skepticism and lack of fervor which characterized the Latitudinarian branch of the Church of England. This branch found expression in religious Deism with followers who were famous American Episcopalians and Founding Fathers; counted among them were Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.        Our hymnody was birthed by both religious convictions of the human heart and historical development. Both text and tune are products of unswerving faith and the consequence of living it in a world that struggles to know truth. Hymns continue to codify and lend expression to who we are in our various faith traditions, and is in constant change and transformation as history unfolds with new understandings and convictions.         I close with a quote from the 18thcentury,  “Of the Wesleys it was said that, for every person they won with the ir preaching, ten were won through their music.”        Deo Gratias,         The Rev’d Dennis Witt Nichols Chaplain of the Southwest Chapter of  the American Guild of Organist