April 2021 – Page 2 – The Raynville Rambler

Speak, O Lord, as we come to you

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is another on the theme of “The word of God”: “Speak, O Lord, as we come to you” by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. It’s a straightforward hymn of three eight-line verses, with no chorus or bridge – surprisingly traditional for Townend, although there is no attempt at rhyming the lines and the text by itself reads as a prose prayer rather than poetry.

The overall theme is that God’s ‘word’ is something living. Not just the written word of the Bible (although presumably that is meant by the words “Truths unchanged from the dawn of time that will echo down through eternity”) but God’s message to us today. So the first and last verses start by asking him to speak to us (the middle verse starts “Teach us…”).

Although throughout the hymn the text refers to “us” and “we”, much of it is personal. Listening to God is the work of personal devotion. Asking to be “fashioned in God’s likeness” (v.1), or to have thoughts and attitudes tested against God’s purity (v.2), or to have minds renewed (v.3) are really the requests of an individual. But when many people pray in this way and find themselves changed in response, that is when the Church as a whole (the “we”) can, as the last line puts it, be built and the earth filled with God’s glory.

Your will be done on earth, O Lord

Today’s song from Sing Praise is a harmonised chant from southern Africa of one line from the Lord’s Prayer: “Your will be done on earth, O Lord”.

As it’s such a short text, it invites a reflection on the meaning of these familiar words. John used it in morning prayer as a response to the intercessions, which seems fitting: we ask the Lord for what we think seems appropriate (perhaps for the healing of someone in pain, the righting of an injustice somewhere in the world, or for some perceived need in our own lives). Then we pause and say (or sing) “your will be done, O Lord”. It’s a reminder that an answer to prayer is never guaranteed to be what we were hoping for, because we cannot fully understand another person, let alone God himself.

Does that mean we shouldn’t pray for specific things? The writer C S Lewis expressed many wise things about prayer, but here’s one of them:

‘Praying for particular things,” said I, “always seems to me like advising God how to run the world. Wouldn’t it be wiser to assume that He knows best?” “On the same principle,” said he, “I suppose you never ask a man next to you to pass the salt, because God knows best whether you ought to have salt or not. And I suppose you never take an umbrella, because God knows best whether you ought to be wet or dry.” “That’s quite different,” I protested. “I don’t see why,” said he. “The odd thing is that He should let us influence the course of events at all. But since He lets us do it in one way I don’t see why He shouldn’t let us do it in the other.’ (C S Lewis, “God in the Dock”).

So do pray as you think right. But then ask that God’s will, not yours, be done. Even Jesus himself, on his last night in Gethsemane, prayed that.

God has spoken

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is “God has spoken” by George Wallace Briggs (the middle name is perhaps important to distinguish him from George Nairn Briggs, sometime Dean of Wakefield). It dates from 1953 although the words have been “updated” in the book, and is quite traditional in its musical style. This hymn is ‘didactic’ (a way of teaching what the Church believes) rather than a hymn of praise from the singer to God.

The three verses explain the different ways in which God communicates with people. The verb “speak” is used but in a wider context that just oral/aural communication, as few of us have the experience of hearing God speak aloud. Firstly, “God has spoken” in the ‘unchanging word’ given through prophets – those who did receive a direct revelation from God and either wrote it down themselves or passed on a message in their own speech that was eventually written down by others. Secondly is his direct revelation in Jesus – “Christ the everlasting Son”, who himself in human form spoke directly to his disciples, and at least some of what he said is recorded in the Gospels. And thirdly “God is speaking by his Spirit, speaking to our hearts again, in the age long word expounding God’s own message, now aa then”. The Holy Spirit is the presence of God in people’s lives, and communicates with us, whether by an inspired thought, by prompting to pray for a particular person or situation, by a new understanding of part of the Bible, or by reminding us of what we have heard or read previously.

Alleluia! Now he is living

Today’s offering from Sing Praise is a short Easter canticle or acclamation, “Alleluia! Now he is living” by Fintan O’Carroll and Christopher Walker. It’s essentially the same as “Alleluia, Father we praise you as Lord” on which I commented on 14 February, so the explanation of how the Alleluia is used in some churches applies here too. This is the Easter version, with only one short ‘verse’ for solo cantor or choir, “Now he is living the Christ, out of the tomb he is risen; he has conquered death, opened heaven to all believers” – the second half of which is in fact taken from the third verse of the other version. So this could have been included in the hymn book as an optional extra or substitute verse in “Father we praise you as Lord”, or it would of course be possible to add other Easter verses to make a longer hymn.

Although short, it captures the joy of Easter faith, which demands this sort of acclamation. In this Covid year – the second Easter with restrictions on public worship – it has been very frustrating for congregations only to be able to speak the praise of the risen Christ from behind masks that muffle the sound, rather than shouted or sung aloud. As we pray for the pandemic to be stopped, we also look forward to a time when we can once again raise our voices in Alleluias!

You shall go out with joy

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is “You shall go out with joy”. When I saw the title I thought I knew it, but this is not the popular 1980s chorus of the same title, rather a more traditional style hymn based on the same passage in Isaiah 55:10-13. The author is N.T. Wright, best known as a former Bishop of Durham and writer of Bible commentaries. This is the first hymn I have come across attributed to him.

The structure is slightly unusual. Each of the four verses consists of six lines, the first four being taken from Isaiah’s prophecy, and the last two being statements of Christian faith related to Easter.

The first two verses with their anthropomorphic image of the mountains and hills singing and the trees clapping (i.e. the whole creation praising God) are paired with statements that Jesus’ love has conquered death and that he lives to heal and save – a fact certainly worthy of praise. The third takes the image of God’s word refreshing like rain or snow and (by way of the conventional title of Jesus as Word of God) links with the risen Word giving life to all. The last verse take the image of replacing briars and thorns with myrtle and cypress (attractive and sweet smelling trees) and concludes with Jesus’ titles of himself as the way, the truth and the life – an attractive and pleasing way of life no doubt, but the original context (as Wright must know) was in a call for people to turn to God for their sins to be pardoned.

With respect to the Bishop I am not convinced by these particular pairings, which seem rather contrived in the manner of “the holly and the ivy”. Whilst many passages in Isaiah are generally accepted as prophecies of the Messiah (Christ), the Isaiah passage is titled (in the New Revised Standard Version) as “An invitation to abundant life”, but is not one of the so-called Servant Songs. The couplets expressing Christian faith that conclude each verse are perfectly orthodox, but cannot be deduced directly or (as far as I can see) indirectly from the words that precede them. It’s good poetry, and sound theology, but the two sets of statements don’t really belong together.

Word that formed creation

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is “Word that formed creation” by the American composer Marty Haugen, but set to the old French tune Noel Nouvelet, better known to the words of another Easter hymn, “Now the green blade riseth”. It shares with yesterday’s hymn (See what a morning) a sense of joyful hope, and a catchy tune. But there are contrasts too. This one is set in a minor key, which might seem odd for a song about joy and hope, but it works (I hope John can explain this musically).

There’s also a contrast in the words. Stuart Townend takes phrases from the Gospel accounts of the Resurrection and expounds them in a way that’s in agreement with received theology, but also in accessible language. Marty Haugen works with images that can be found in the Bible, but not necessarily in the Easter stories. The hymn addresses God or Jesus in different ways, which seem to blur the neat distinctions between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But maybe that’s the point: God’s work in the divine-human Jesus at Easter is an inexplicable mystery that defies simple description.

The first verse speaks of God’s eternal being: the “Word that formed creation, earth and sea and sky” which is one understanding of Christ’s pre-existence; but which also brings salvation, and which we can call on now: “Living Word of Jesus, sound within us all”.

The second verse addresses God as “Love that formed and named us, filled this clay with breath, love that seeks and claims us, love beyond all death”. That God is not remote but should seek and claim us is part of the Gospel message. Here we call on the “Love that raised up Jesus [to] raise us up anew”.

The third verse seems to address the Holy Spirit, “Song of joy and wonder, sound so wild and free, voice of wind and thunder, boundless as the sea”. Here we call on the “song that sang in Jesus [to] sing within us here”. I’m reminded of Calvin Miller’s allegory of Jesus in “The Singer” which our work book group studied last year. The last verse, more clearly Trinitarian in structure, summarises the above: God of creation, salvation and inspiration.

See what a morning

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is a modern classic, “See what a morning” by Stuart Townend. It has a very catchy tune, assisted by a syncopated rhythm that suits the joyful theme. There is no separate chorus but each of the three verses has the same last line: “For he lives, Christ is risen from the dead!”

The first half of each of the first two verses set out some of the evidence for the resurrection from the Gospels: folded grave clothes, tomb filled with light (i.e. angels), the angels announcing that he is risen, Mary hearing Jesus speak her name. The rest is what follows from that evidence in terms of our Easter faith, described near the start as “the dawning of hope in Jerusalem”. God’s salvation plan, once “borne in pain, paid in sacrifice” is fulfilled as Christ lives. The voice of the risen Lord is “speaking life, stirring hope, bringing peace”, but it also “spans the years … [and] will sound till he appears”, for the resurrection is a timeless event.

The last verse perhaps looks forward to the feast of the Ascension at the end of the forty days of Easter, with Christ now “one with the Father through the Spirit” and reigning as King. The final lines are a series of shouts of triumph making the most of the syncopations: “We are raised with him, death is dead, love has won, Christ has conquered, we shall reign with him, for he lives, Christ is risen from the dead!” Though the Resurrection will keep theologians debating until Kingdom come, a congregational hymn like this keeps its theology short and punchy.

Jesus is risen, Alleluia!

Christians in Ihimbo, Tanzania
From the website of St Stephen’s Lutheran Church, WSP

There are no doubt several hymns or worship songs with this title, but the one I have chosen today from Sing Praise is John Bell’s translation of a Tanzanian song of praise. I love the simple and easily learnt melodies and harmonies of East African songs, coming from a part of the world where communal singing is still an essential part of life in a way that has been lost in most ‘developed’ countries.

African Christians also seem to have a joy in their faith that we have lost in an over-cautious and over-intellectualised Western religion. From the start, this hymn is full of the confidence and joy of the first Christians that Jesus is alive and worthy of praise. Just listen to some of the phrases in this song: “Come let us worship him, endlessly sing!”; “Blest are the hearts which for him rejoice”; “Go and tell others, Christ is alive”; “Let heaven echo, let the earth sing: Jesus is saviour of everything”; and the final line, “Therefore rejoice, obey and believe”. This hymn will truly send me into the day rejoicing.

Lord, for the Years

The subject of this post is the hymn “Lord for the years your love has kept and guided” by Timothy Dudley-Smith. I’m a day behind here, as I had picked this hymn for yesterday (12 April), being our wedding anniversary and it was the hymn we chose for the congregation to sing at the end of our wedding ceremony in 2003 to accompany us as we walked back down the aisle together at the start of our marriage.

We especially love the last lines, “Past put behind us, for the future take us, Lord of our lives, to live for Christ alone”. This is the Christian understanding of marriage, that a couple starts a new life, putting behind us any previous relationships or failings and seeking to live together as one household, but always under the direction of Jesus Christ.

The other words of the hymn have a wider focus than just the life of one couple. Verse 1 refers, perhaps, to anyone who seeks to know God, thanking him for his timeless qualities of love, inspiration, cheer (a rarely used word in religious circles but an important one), salvation, pardon and provision. Verse 2 praises God for his ‘Word of life’ that “sets our souls ablaze, teaches and trains, rebukes us and inspires us”. This refers primarily to the Bible, but the Bible is best understood not as the source of wisdom in itself but rather as a pointer to the living Christ who is its source and the true Wisdom of God.

Verses 3 and 4 remind us of the real problems of the world: the dangers for some people of pleasure and wealth, as well as those who are hungry and helpless. But all are indeed “lost without him” and so for all the world we “pray that Christ may reign”. Which brings us back to verse 5 where I started, as we ask God to help us put ourselves on the cross and Christ on the throne.

Earth, earth, awake!

St Francis window in St Leonard’s church, Wollaton, Nottingham.
Artist Christopher Whall. Image copyright Stephen Craven 2020.

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is “Earth, earth, awake!” by Herman G Stümpfler Jr. I’m grateful to John for suggesting the tune ‘Lasst uns erfreuen’ (better known set to St Francis’ Canticle of Creation) rather than the one in the book; I enjoyed singing the harmony to the alleluias in the YouTube video.

This is very much an Easter hymn of praise. As I observed yesterday, in the Easter season we are reminded that Christ’s resurrection revealed on Easter day was as like a new morning for the world.

The first verse invites the whole creation – earth, sun and stars – to awake and sing praise to the risen King. The second invites us to join all nature as it “sings of hope reborn [as] Christ lives to comfort those who mourn”. This weekend of course, our nation mourns its senior Prince, who has passed into Glory honourably and of natural causes at the ripe old age of 99, but there will be many people also who are mourning for those who have died young, in tragic circumstances or of Coronavirus or other diseases. Their grief may be deeper, and their acceptance of their loved one’s death longer, than when a death was expected and natural. But whatever the circumstances, may they know God’s comfort.

Verse three makes the common comparison between winter turning into spring, and the new life of the resurrection. Whilst the first Easter did happen around Passover time in April, there is a very long-standing tradition of making this link with the time of year when flowers and buds appear and animals give birth (at least in the northern hemisphere where Christianity started). The final verse is a song of praise to the Trinity (see yesterday’s comments).