"In the Midst" Stories

ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING

     This is one of those songs that I always loved, except that the only way I ever heard it was so stiff and sterile. Big pipe organ drowing out the human voice and usually lacking all feeling. Now don't misunderstand me. I love to hear a good organist handling all the manuals. It's just that so often some play so loud that you can no longer hear the congregation singing, and that's never a good idea. Anyway I was trying to paint the picture the lyrics seem to tell with some softer tones than what I've always heard. In doing a little more research on the song, I found out that   St. Francis of Assisi wrote the words shortly before his death around 1225. And the music was not added until 1623 by Geist­liche Kirch­en­ge­säng  (try saying that three times fast). Not sure what Francis and Geistliche would think of this version. But then again, I'm not really playing it for them.