Mothering God – Trenney/Janzen
The Trenney arrangement of Mothering God (2020 listen, and see Trenney at the piano playing from manuscript) is a moving work that has breathed a life into the text with music that matches the flow and feeling of the text.
Tom Trenney (b. 1977) is a current force in sacred music with dozens of original works and arrangements published within the last decade. His arrangements encompass the very familiar as well as the somewhat obscure, along with many original works. His big choir works often have a gospel choir feel in both style and text. Some will remember Maya’s Prayer for Peace, one of the many Trenney selections in the ESUMC library, that is illustrative of the style and implementation of progressive lyrics. Trenney is the Minister of Music at First-Plymouth Congregational Church in Lincoln, Nebraska and is on faculty at Nebraska Wesleyan University.
The text of Mothering God originates with Julian of Norwich, a 14th century mystic in medieval England. The original text was adapted by poet Jean Janzen (b. 1933) for a 1992 Mennonite hymnal. The text has been set to multiple tunes, notably Maryton (H. Percy Smith, 1874), which is also the tune used with O Master Let Me Walk With Thee. This combination appears in the current The Faith We Sing hymnal. Confusingly, Trenney has also arranged Mothering God using the Maryton tune for choir; today’s solo uses the Trenney-composed tune.
Soprano Grace Sugg has sung with the Chancel Choir for over 12 years.
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- https://tomtrenney.com/
- https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-mothering-god-you-gave-me-birth
- https://hymnary.org/tune/maryton_smith
- https://hymnary.org/text/mothering_god_you_gave_me_birth
