Hymn Festival April 6 Celebrates Provine Chapel Birthday

Mississippi College celebrates Provine Chapel's 150th birthday with a Hymn Festival on the Clinton campus April 6.

The MC Singers will headline the 7:30 p.m. program at Provine, the Christian university's oldest building. The event is free and open to the public.

"There is a brass quintet, organ, piano, handbells, a liturgical dancer and much congregational singing of hymns I consider to be among the great hymns of the faith," says James Meaders, the Music Department chairman and director of choral activities.

In essence, the hymn festival is a joyful celebration of God's love and deliverance through the concert based on the theme "Oh God, Our Help in Ages Past, Our Hope for Years to Come."

Meaders sees the Provine event as a good way to bring together the community of faith.

This is the second hymn festival at MC to mark the chapel's big birthday. The first hymn festival was part of the university's 2009 Homecoming last fall. The newest hymn festival is part of a 5-part concert spotlighting the building's history and appeal as a campus landmark for generations.

Provine Chapel opened in 1860 and was used as a hospital during the Civil War for the wounded troops of Northern Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. The chapel also housed his horses. In recent years, the building has hosted weddings and serves today as the home of the MC Department of Christian Studies.

For more information on the Hymn Festival, contact Linda Edwards at the MC Music Department at 601.925.3440.