The epic first pre-season episode of Monday Madness has arrived! Epic? Yes! Because Lent Madness 2019 marks the Saintly Smackdown's TENTH year. To properly prepare, you'll want to load up on tenth anniversary collectibles and start scoping out locations for Lent Madness launch parties. Ash Thursday (March 7) venues will soon be booked solid with Lent Madness Tenth Year Launch Parties.

This week, Tim and Scott talk about how it's never too soon to start preparing for Lent Madness. It would be a good idea to buy your  2019 Saintly Scorecard now, before they sell out. Just like last year, we are selling the scorecards individually or in packs of 10. To get the best price order three or more packs of 10, for an unbelievably low price of just $1 per scorecard. You'll also want to buy giant 2019 Giant Bracket Posters. They're a steal at just $11. There's no extra charge for the full color printing.

But the main reason to get excited is your chance to help select the OFFICIAL HYMN OF LENT MADNESS. That's right, we're finally establishing the official hymn of Lent Madness. Once it's chosen, it would be appropriate to insist your choir sing it on every Sunday in Lent. It should also be sung every time a member of the Supreme Executive Committee enters a room. Think Hail to the Chief, but in a penitential, Lent-y sort of way.

We are very grateful to Sr. Diana of the Community of the Transfiguration for writing these hymns. And with this post, we are naming her the official Hymn-Writer in Residence for Lent Madness. Her work will also accompany us throughout the competition, as she's in the process of writing a hymn dedicated to each one of the 32 saints in the 2019 bracket. Seriously. (rumor has it she's already halfway through the lineup). 

So here's the deal. We'll print the words of the hymns below. At the bottom of the post, you can vote (once only, please) for your favorite. We'll cut off the voting at noon next Monday, February 4. The winner will be announced on next week's episode of Monday Madness.

If you want to help out, we'd love to get recordings of these hymns. If your church choir can record them -- send us a link to your video or audio recording and we'll share your recordings on social media or here on the Lent Madness website. Doesn't your choir want to be famous? A Grammy is practically inevitable.

Anyway, here are the hymns, with tunes suggested from the official hymnal of the Episcopal Church. Choose wisely, and Happy Lent!

We sing a song of two pious dudes
Tune: Grand Isle. The Hymnal 1982, 293

We sing a song of two pious dudes;
By name they’re Scott and Tim.*
Who pair up Saints for us to choose
Which ones we’ll see again.
For each day during Lent**
We meet holy Saints
With their quirks and follies;
Love sans restraint!
And we’ve learned and laughed and tried to decide
Which Saint, each day, we’ll approve.

The SEC***, they are meekly called,
And they get to decide
Which Saints will try our patience as
We stretch our hearts and minds.
For they put them in pairs;
Make it hard to choose –
Nay! Impossible!
They give us the blues!
For the one we hope will be Saint du jour
Oft is not in others’ views.

We give our thanks for the ones who help;
Bloggers, Celebrity.
Their writings help us learn so much
Of Saints; you must agree.
And the Bracket Czar
Is a hero fine,
For he serves each day
To keep Saints in line.
So we offer thanks to these living saints,
Relieved that we’re not one, too.

For many years we’ve torn our hair,
Seeking the holy saint
Who ought to win the nimbus (gold!).
“They’re all great!” is our plaint.
And we wonder too
If the choice were there
Between Tim and Scott****
for the aura fair:
Who would be the choice to forwar-ard move
And whose loss we’d sadly rue.

*It was necessary to put these names in alphabetical order lest the Archnemeses think favoritism is being shown. Such favoritism would be folly in the extreme, since to get between them when they are archnemesising is dangerous to the soul, if not to the sanity.

**except all but the first Saturday and all Sundays in Lent (Sundays, we know, are not part of the observance of Lent).

***Supreme Executive Committee – soi-disant, of course.

****In order to be fair, The soi disant Humble Hymnody Committee of One reversed the order of names this time.

Forty days and forty nights
Tune:Aus Der Tiefe Rufe Ich. The Hymnal 1982, 150

Forty days and forty nights
Stressing o’er which Saint to choose.
Forty days and forty nights
Who to vote for, who refuse?

Once again the SEC
Made it so hard to decide.
With their archnemesis style
Saint v. Saint’s our Lenten Trial.

Thus through purple nights and days
For each Saint we offer praise.
May we somehow emulate
Faithful lives; and celebrate!

The glory of these forty days
Tune: Erhalt uns, Herr. The Hymnal 1982, 143

The glory of these forty days
Is added to by glorious Saints
Whose stories told by bloggers fine
Enrich our hearts and stretch our minds.

For daily come more holy ones
Who daily give us laughs and fun.
They bravely, true and faithful served.
With them through Lent we march, unswerved.

The struggle of these forty days
Is choosing who should get more praise.
Acceptance when our choice doth lose
Is penitence naught can remove.

Still through the darkness gleams the light.
Fast comes the day of halo bright.
When all our suffering shall cease
The winner’s blessing’s our release.

OK, Lent Madness public: vote for your favorite hymn. Don't be too confused by the fact that there are -- for the first time ever, in Lent Madness history -- three options. You still vote one time only for your favored choice. May the best hymn win!

[poll id="238"]