September 2021 – Page 2 – The Raynville Rambler

All glory be to God on high

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is “All glory be to God on high” by Timothy Dudley-Smith. Apologies for posting this late in the weekend, but my wife is in hospital so I’ve had other things on my mind.

It’s a paraphrase of the Gloria, an ancient hymn or canticle of praise, set to a 16^th century German tune. I expect that the composer of the tune would have known the Gloria at least in its Latin form, and maybe (though he lived early in the Reformation era) there was already a German translation.

The four verses, to a 16^th century German tune, cover the four sections of the canticle nicely. The first praises God the Father for his glory and his promise of peace on earth; the second responds to him as Father, Lord, God and King; the third verse addresses Christ as the only Son of the Father, the Lamb of God who died for us, and the one who reigns with the Father; and the fourth, the whole Trinity of Father, Son and Spirit.

Until recently ‘Glory to God in the Highest’ was a regular part of both Morning Prayer and Holy Communion. There are many settings of it from all periods of music, perhaps until our own generation, but it seems to be used much less often at Communion these days (certainly our own church hasn’t used in for the last few years, either spoken or sung), and isn’t part of the regular Morning Prayer in Common Worship at all, although I presume it’s still an optional substitute for another canticle. This setting is undated in the book so I would be interested to know when it was written.

Lord of life, we come to you

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is “Lord of life, we come to you” by Catherine Walker. It consists of two short 4-line verses, asking the Lord (Jesus) to be our Saviour, to bless and heal us and to guide us in all life’s difficulties as well as its joys. So it covers the same sort of ground as yesterday’s song, with which it shares a Scottish tradition.

Though hope desert my heart

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is by John Bell, “Though hope desert my heart”. As a contrast to yesterday’s about the joy of a wedding, this is a song of lament when times are troubled. The whole piece is in a minor key.

The words do not hold back from the realities that some people’s lives (or indeed most people’s at some points) are tough. Life is often difficult to handle, and at those times emotional as well as practical support can make all the difference to how someone copes. Without being specific about what causes these troubles – that will vary from one situation to another – the verses run through the kind of feelings that troubles bring. Lack of hope, strangeness, truth (of the inconvenient kind), lack of confidence, weariness, fruitless talk, threatening places, trials, hurt and a sense of being abandoned.

The refrain of verses 1 to 4 is short and to the point: “You have been here before”, ‘you’ being Jesus of course, who had these times in his own life. When his brothers turned against him, when the religious leaders accused him of Sabbath-breaking and worse, when the disciple Judas Iscariot betrayed him for money, when the crowd bayed for his blood, when all but one of his disciples fled from him at the cross. Verse 4 is more explicit that it was on the cross that he “felt all our hurt and more and cried in deep abandonment”.

The last verse looks to the future, still in a minor key and not pretending that life will necessarily get easier, but with more confidence in Jesus being with us: “I will not dread the dark, the fate beyond control, nor fear what reigns in frightening things: you will be there before”.

As man and woman we were made

A church wedding.
Photographer John Dray / public domain

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is “As man and woman we were made” by Brian Wren from the ‘wedding’ section of the hymn book. The hymn is set to the tune ‘Sussex carol’ which (coincidentally?) was also used for a hymn that Linda and I had at our wedding, “As two we love are wed today” by John Bell and Graham Maule.

The first verse references God the life-giver who made us all in his own image and brings people together with the potential to make new life (although that’s not true for all of us). Verse 2 praises Jesus who gave his life for love and in the sign of water changed to wine at a wedding demonstrated the joy that his presence can bring. Verse 3 reminds us that he rose again to new life, presenting this as a sign of the hope that should inform a couple during their times of difficulty.

The final verse makes no mention of God; but then, after the ceremonies of a religious wedding are over, I imagine few people do as the party begins. It’s a celebration of the sheer joy of two families coming together as a new family begins. “Then spread the table, clear the hall, and celebrate till day is done”. God, though unacknowledged, is there in the love and joy.

This is, of course, the ideal. We all know of marriages, even those sealed in church, that end in hatred and abuse; and it’s not unknown for the wedding celebration itself to descend into violence where family feuds are reignited with drink. No wonder that the hymn urges “let peace go deep between us all and joy be shared with everyone”. But those are the exceptions, and no reason for a couple not to make their vows to each other in the hope that the joy of the wedding day will lead to a life that is mainly happy, and for those who do have faith, the hope that any difficulties they experience can be overcome with God’s help.

I rejoiced when I heard them say

Liturgical procession, Kiev, Ukraine.
Creative Commons / Public domain

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is a setting of Psalm 122 (121 in the Catholic numbering) by Bernadette Farrell, “I rejoiced when I heard them say”. What did they say? “Let us go to the house of our God”. This text, an obvious choice for a church dedication, religious procession or other celebration, has been set by various composers as a choir anthem, but Farrell’s version is a metrical setting of the psalm, presumably intended for congregational singing. The five verses are a close rendering of original (at least, very similar to other prose translations) with (as John will no doubt point out) no attempt at rhyming.

The chorus is not taken from the psalm but takes the phrase “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” in verse 6 of the psalm (rendered more inclusively in verse 4 of the hymns as “For the peace of all nations, pray”) and uses the Hebrew word ‘shalom’ for ‘peace’, so we get “Shalom, shalom, the peace of God be here. Shalom, shalom, God’s justice be ever near”. Justice is one of Bernadette Farrell’s recurring themes.

The hymn would therefore be suitable, not only for a festival, but also for any act of worship where God’s peace and justice are a focus.

Lord of all your love’s creation

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is “Lord of all, your love’s creation” by Stephen Parish. It’s set to the well known tune Abbot’s Leigh.

The section of the hymn book where it is found is titled “dedication festival”. The suggestion is that this hymn is ideal for when a place of worship is dedicated, as there are references to “this earthly house of worship” and “this house of prayer”. John noted the coincidence that I had picked it for the day when the lectionary starts the book of 1 Chronicles which is largely about the Jerusalem Temple. But those are the only references to a building, and it would be equally suitable for the installation of a new minister, confirmation service or renewal of baptismal promises, for the Church is always more than its buildings.

The words cover several aspects of the Christian life, and there’s a lot of theology packed into a few words here, which I can only touch on in a brief reflection. The first verse, after asking that “this house of worship be a source of heavenly grace” also asks the Holy Spirit to renew and seal us, for without the Spirit we are only doing things in our own strength.

The second verse asks the Word of God, “made flesh in Jesus” to help us in our reading and application of the written word (the Bible), and prays for those who preach the gospel. The optional third verse is about the Communion, and finding the presence of Christ “in the world as in this sign”, reminding us that He is not confined to the places where Christians gather. It also asks that we learn his sacrificial ways, not an easy prayer to say or fulfil. The fourth verse praises God for his power within us, and offers our worship as a response.

Overall, this is a hymn with carefully crafted words to express in a few verses all that it means to be part of a worshipping and witnessing community. The words bear careful consideration rather than just a quick sing-through. I looked up the author: Stephen Parish (now retired) was an Anglican priest in Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent and Warrington, Honorary Canon of Liverpool Cathedral and a chaplain to the fire and rescue service. There’s also a Labour councillor in Warrington by the same name – possibly the same person (are clergy allowed to stand as councillors? I don’t know).

Bread is blessed and broken

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is a communion hymn by John Bell and Graham Maule, “Bread is blessed and broken”. Like many of their hymns, the tune is easy to learn (although with a wide range vocally – bottom B♭ is at the edge of my tenor range, and top E♭ might be stretching it for others).

In the first verse we declare that bread and wine are blessed, broken and poured so that we might remember Christ as Lord. The emphasis is the remainder of the hymn is not on the death of Christ as such, but on the “benefits of his passion” in the words of the Book of Common Prayer. The second verse refers to the sacrament as “food of heaven” and “grace i essence” (also the title of Bell’s tune). The third verse is about forgiveness, restoration and Christ as our friend; and the last is about God’s promise of Christ himself as his gift.

The common last line to all the verses is “Christ the Lord” – the one whom we remember, the one symbolised by bread and wine (or actually present in them, if you prefer), his offer of forgiveness and reconciliation, and the one who is always present (but especially when we come together to worship him in this way).

Praise God for harvest time

the maize harvest near Bletchingley, Surrey
October 2012. (c) Stephen Craven

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is another in the Harvest series: “Praise God for harvest-time” by Paul Wigmore. As John pointed out when playing it for morning prayer, six verses all with choruses makes for a long hymn, so since the chorus has the same metric pattern as the verse, he chose to make it four 8-line verses (the second half of the first and last being the ‘chorus’ with alleluias).

Unlike the last two ‘harvest’ hymns, this focusses very much on God’s provision of food for humankind, an idea that dates back to the creation myths of Genesis, when our ancestors were promised food from all kinds of plants. Not, at that stage, animals: meat-eating is a sign of the Fall, although I haven’t yet heard any vegans actually making that argument. There is no reference in this hymn to meat, either, although in writing “fruit of earth and ocean’s yield” the composer probably had fish, rather than sea-weed, in mind.

There is no date given for publication of the hymn; Paul Wigmore was born in 1925 so it would presumably have been written any time after the Second World War. Why I make this point is that like many traditional harvest hymns, the imagery is of God “joining with our human hand” and the smallholder farmer ploughing the land (although the “plough turning soil and stone” could be equally horse- or tractor-drawn). But the vast majority of humans today eat supermarket food, plants grown or animals reared commercially on an extensive scale. There are many ethical questions around food supply today, from genetic modification, through battery farming of fish and chicken, to fairtrade certified co-operatives versus cheap mass production by workers on minimum wage (or worse). None of these have easy solutions with over seven billion mouths to feed. The effects of climate change on traditional growing and harvesting seasons, and the rapid decline in pollinators, are other problems to be addressed urgently.

But back to the hymn, and with those questions in the background we can still praise God that (for the time being) the sun and rain continue to ripen the crops, and promise (verse 5) to share the benefits we receive with those who have less.

Fill your hearts with joy and gladness

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is “Fill your hearts with joy and gladness” by Timothy Dudley-Smith. This is put in the ‘harvest thanksgiving’ section of the hymn book, so I thought the start of September, the ‘Creation season’ in the Church, would be a suitable time for it.

The hymn as a whole is based on Psalm 147 which in the NRSV Bible is subtitled “Praise for God’s care for Jerusalem”. It’s really only the third verse that is about harvest and all that’s needed for a successful one: “Praise the Lord for times and seasons, cloud and sunshine, wind and rain … grass upon the mountain pastures, golden valleys thick with grain”. The first verse does also have a creation aspect as it praises God as creator of the “starry heavens”.

The second verse is more about the fact that this creator God has a relationship with people. “Wounded souls his comfort know; those who fear him find his mercies, peace for pain and joy for woe; humble hearts are high exalted, human pride and power laid low”. The last verse reminds us that peace and prosperity are dependent upon society following God’s laws and walking in his ways. In fact this psalm, and much of the Bible, is addressed to all God’s people rather than to the individual. The modern ‘Western’ reading of the Bible as an instruction manual for individuals misses much of the point that it requires the whole of a society to buy in to a religious or political philosophy of the common good, for it to flourish. The ‘prosperity gospel’ (believe in Christ and follow his teaching, and you’ll become wealthy) makes sense at a societal level, and if wealth is understood in a much wider sense than mere monetary value, but not at the level of the individual.