Another of the songs added by OCP to Breaking Bread for 2025 is Casey McKinley‘s recent setting of Father James Quinn‘s paraphrase of “The Prayer of St Francis”.
So apart from this music continuing the very sedate trend of recent years, resetting James Quinn is popular, as is McKinley for 2025 Breaking Bread. This is a replacement of the Temple version if you need that, and you may.
The sheet music is at OCP and you can find the text in their preview.
Watch for swell in the refrain in the clip from OCP – and a drum! It’s still quite restrained.
… and just for Chris, you can set this text to O WALY WALY.
At this time when congregations are getting less and less inclined to join in singing, I am mystified why composers have to complicate and lengthen hymns with interludes, refrains, codas, pre-choruses and/or goodness knows what else!!! As you will have noticed, the refrain was originally verse 5.
Having said that, Casey has produced an attractive melody, though the range is a bit much. Listening to your Band in a Box version, I could see it working in church (well done!), but I was not a fan of the OCP recording with its American pop twang. At least with O WALY WALY or any other well known long meter hymn tune, one can easily sing the text without any practise…