Help Yourself VII: First & last

My proclivity to creating hymn harmonizations goes back to college days, when I was newly inspired by a church job I had just gotten. Inspiration is kind of like a "commission" from myself. I don't write the reharmonizations out of boredom; I have always composed them sporadically and in response to some visual delight, emotional charge, or earworm that needed to be committed to paper. Because they are my creations, I have always thought they are beautiful (publishers have not, apparently). And I admit that they are not the easiest accompaniment for the less-than-absolutely-confident congregation. But they do exist for better or for worse, and if you find them useful, help yourself.

Now below are my very first and very last (so far) attempts. Click, print, and use freely. NATIONAL HYMN (1989) is available in two different keys, depending on your propensity toward congregational abuse. The version of LASST UNS ERFREUEN (2010) is a slight expansion of a commission by Houston Baptist University for the inauguration of its new organ. It is set for four unspecified stanzas, plus introduction. I love it, if I say so myself.

NATIONAL HYMN (E-flat)

NATIONAL HYMN (F)

LASST UNS ERFREUEN (4 stanzas)