Today’s song
from Sing Praise is by Henry Smith. The words as printed are few, and I set
them out here in a clearer form than in the book:
Give thanks
with a grateful heart,
give thanks to the Holy one,
give thanks because he’s given Jesus Christ his Son.
And now let the weak say ‘I am strong’,
let the poor say ‘I am rich
because of what the Lord has done for us’.
Give thanks.
But as
demonstrated by St Luke’s choir in this morning’s video, the first three lines
are repeated, then the next three, then the whole repeated again. There are essentially three reasons set out
for being thankful: the gift of Jesus, God’s strength to the weak, and the
spiritual richness of the humanly poor. These are signs of the Kingdom of God
(the Church season that we are about to enter) as Jesus enters the world to
make the last first.
Today’s hymn
from Sing Praise is the last, for now, in the series of evening ones: ‘We
praise you Father for your gift’. It is attributed not to an individual but to
St Mary’s Abbey, West Malling (Kent). The tune (Gonfalon Royal) is not written
for it, and we’ve used it twice already this year (see 7 March and 5 April).
In the first
verse we praise God for dusk and nightfall. Why? Because they ‘foreshadow the
mystery of death that leads to endless day’.
The assumption we have as we go to sleep that whether our dreams be good
or bad we will awaken in the morning, should also be the assumption we have at
the end of life that whatever experiences lie beyond it, we will be received
into a new life with Christ.
The second
verse is more earthbound. We ask for quiet sleep to renew strength, gain
looking ahead to morning when may wake in the love of God. The third and final verse of this short hymn
asks that we may seek God’s glory in rest as well as in activity – a reminder
to us who are naturally active that rest and sleep are an important part of
life.
Lights at the Candlemas service, Drighlington St Paul, 2020
Today’s hymn
from Sing Praise is another evening hymn by Christopher Idle, ‘Light of
gladness, Lord of glory’. It is set here to the tune ‘Quem pastores laudavere’.
The tune, whose name refers to shepherds, is not surprisingly in the form of a
berceuse (pastoral chant or lullaby), also appropriate for an evening hymn.
The words
are a setting of the ancient evening hymn ‘Phos hilaron’ (light of joy) which
is usually thought of as an evening hymn, though there is only a passing
reference to evening. Maybe the intention is to contrast the fading of daylight
with the eternal light of Christ.
The first
and last verses praise Jesus specifically, addressed first as ‘light of
gladness, Lord of glory’ and asking him to ‘shine on us in your mercy’, and
later as Son of God, with no petition but praising him as the one whose light
shall never grow dim. In between is a
doxology (‘Father, Son and Spirit praising with the holy Seraphim’), which
usually would come at the end of the hymn: is this the order of the Greek original,
I wonder?
The rhyming
scheme is unusual: the first three lines
of each verse are mostly half-rhymes (glory/holy/mercy, descending/evening/praising,
ages/praises/ceases) and the last lines of the three verses form a rhyming set
(hymn/seraphim/dim).
Today’s hymn
from Sing Praise is “Eternal light, shine in my heart” by Christopher
Idle. John noted in Morning Prayer that
this is actually an evening hymn, but as it makes reference to light and
brightness it seems equally applicable to morning use. John also set it to the
tune of ‘Colours of Day’ which certainly is a morning hymn.
The most
frequent word in this hymn, though, is ‘eternal’, used nine times. The Almighty
is addressed as the eternal light, hope, power, wisdom, life, brightness,
Spirit, Saviour and God. I’m reminded
that the Biblical vision of eternal life is of a place where, in the words of another
hymn, “they need no created light” for Christ is “its sun which goes not down”. And as it says in Psalm 139 “the night is as
bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.”
The image I
selected for today was taken when visiting Christian development projects in
India some years ago. I have a framed print of it, with the words of Proverbs
4:18, “the path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever
brighter until the full light of day.” If we have eternal life, then evening and
morning are equally times to praise God for his spiritual enlightenment.
Today’s song
from Sing Praise is ‘This is the body of Christ’ by John Bell. It’s a short song, in four-part harmony,
probably intended for a choir to sing as many times as required during the
distribution of Communion. “This is the
body of Christ, broken that we may be whole; this cup, as promised by God, true
to his word, cradles our Lord: food for the good of the soul”. The paradox of ‘broken
that we may be whole’ is at the heart of the service, and indeed the story of
Christ. I also like the imagery of the cup or chalice ‘cradling’ the Lord, a
reminder that he first appeared as a baby.
Today’s hymn
from Sing Praise is in Christ alone my hope is found’ by Stuart Townend and
Keith Getty. It’s a candidate for ‘most
popular hymn of the last decade’ – the copyright is dated 2001, but in the last
ten years it has found popularity well beyond its original evangelical roots.
The phrase ‘In
Christ alone’ seems to hark back, maybe deliberately, to the Reformation, where
it is one of the five balancing principles: ‘By grace alone, through faith
alone, in Christ alone, according to scripture alone, for God’s glory alone’. Here we focus on one of those, but perhaps
the most important, because whatever view you might take on the relative merits
of faith and works, or the extent to which scripture is God’s direct
revelation, surely all Christians can agree that without Christ, our faith
would be in vain.
The first
verse of the hymn praises Christ by giving him many honorific titles – ‘my light,
my strength, my song, this cornerstone, this solid ground … my comforter, my all
in all’. Many of these have Biblical
resonances of course, but put together make a firm basis for a hymn of
praise.
The second
verse reminds us why Christ came, ‘gift of love and righteousness’ to take away
our sin. Some people prefer to substitute ‘love of God’
for ‘wrath of God’ when it comes to understanding what was happening on the
cross, but both versions make sense: he bore the brunt of God’s anger at human
sin, while also expressing the self-sacrificial nature of God’s love for sinners.
The last line is a beautiful paradox – ‘her
in the death of Christ I live’.
The third
verse celebrates the resurrection, ‘bursting forth in glorious day’, and his
victory over sin. The last reminds us
that we have no need to feel guilty or fearful of what lies ahead of us,
because of what Jesus has done to secure us eternal life. I would only quibble
with the phrase ‘Jesus commands my destiny’ which sounds like the doctrine of predestination
(that God has determined in advance our every action). I doubt that it’s intended
to mean that, but perhaps something like ‘Spirit of Jesus guiding me’ would be
better. But all in all, it’s a cracking hymn that brings together Christians of
many persuasions to focus on the wonder at the heart of the Gospel.
The hymn I
chose for 20 October (but didn’t have time to comment on yesterday) was ‘Come sing
the praise of Jesus’ by Jack Winslow, who was an English priest (and looking
him up he was at one time chaplain at Lee Abbey in Devon). But he set it to the
well-known American tune ‘Battle hymn of the Republic’. John found a version in another book with five
verses but I’m commenting on the Sing Praise version which only has three.
This is a
joyful hymn as befits the stirring tune. We are invited to praise Jesus, in
verse 1, for his wondrous birth and life lived for others. In verse 2 we
rejoice in serving him ourselves, experiencing pardon for sin and healing for
sorrow along the way; and in verse 3 we once again praise him, this time giving
him glory as Lord of creation who guides all our ways and looking to the future
when ‘the world shall be his empire’. Each verse ends with ‘for Jesus Christ is
King’, followed by the chorus ‘Praise and glory be to Jesus… for Jesus Christ
is King’.
Today’s song,
in total contrast, was ‘Come to me’ by John Bell. It’s a short song to be sung repeatedly and
reflectively. The words are simple and quoting Jesus: ‘Come to me, come to me,
weak and heavy laden, trust in me, lean on me, I will give you rest’. They are
among the Bible verses called the ‘comfortable words’ in the Book of Common Prayer
at the invitation to communion, as we remember that Jesus welcomes anyone to
his table who comes in faith, whatever their condition.
The ordained
staff member who led our office prayers this week commented that we are in a
period in the church year between the ‘creation season’ in September and ‘remembrance
season’ in November, with nothing particular to focus on, and that the Covid restrictions
of the last 18 months have left many people feeling somewhat despondent and some
quite isolated. The colder, wetter, darker days of autumn also encourage a
retreat from summer activity into a more restful and reflective pattern of
life. We might not feel like singing joyfully, and if all we can manage is to
sing or say quietly the ‘comfortable words’, that is absolutely fine. But Winslow’s
hymn reminds us that even if there is no particular celebration in the church
calendar, we are always part of the worldwide Church, and the time is always right
to praise Jesus, who is at the heart of our faith, if we can bring ourselves to
do so.
Today’s song
from Sing Praise is a Taizé chant, ‘God is forgiveness’. As with all such chants the words are few
enough to reproduce in full –
God is forgiveness Dare to forgive and God will be with you God is forgiveness Love, and do not fear
As so often, brevity of an instruction does not imply an easy
task. For many of us, there will be events in our lives where forgiveness is the
task of a lifetime, hence the challenge ‘dare to forgive’. Daring means going
out of our comfort zone and taking risks.
But God knows the heart and is still with us, even where our attempts at
forgiveness fall short as memories recur or as others reject attempts at reconciliation.
It is those who rule out the possibility of forgiving another, or for that
matter the possibility of being forgiven themselves, who are farthest from God.
I was recently at Coventry Cathedral, which since its
rebuilding after the destruction of the Second World War has become an
international centre of peace and reconciliation. They pray this “litany of
peace and reconciliation” each day:
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class, FATHER FORGIVE
The covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own, FATHER FORGIVE
The greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste the earth, FATHER FORGIVE
Our envy of the welfare and happiness of others, FATHER FORGIVE
Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee, FATHER FORGIVE
The lust which dishonours the bodies of men, women and children, FATHER FORGIVE
The pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God, FATHER FORGIVE
Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
For some reason I found the melody of this chant harder to pick up than most examples from Taizé, although it’s in 4/4 time and without any very high or low notes. It’s only attributed to ‘the community’ but it would be interesting to know who composed the tune, or rather what cultural background they came from.
Today’s hymn
from Sing Praise is ‘Jesus, in your life we see you’ by Basil Bridge. Each of
the three verses addresses Jesus. In the first verse he is addressed as the one
who in his earthly life used physical touch to bring hope and healing and his
words to set captives free, but who in the end suffered rejection and death. In the second and third verses he is
addressed as ‘Risen Lord’, but the risen lord who retains wounds of the cross
in his body as a sign that he continues to share the sufferings of the present time,
including (as listed here) greed, exploitation, addiction and heartbreak. The
final verse asks him to use us in his service and offer his divine compassion
to those in need; although as John pointed out in introducing the hymn, it
doesn’t explicitly pray for Jesus to act and heal people.
The hymn is set
in the book to the Welsh hymn tune Ebenezer, though John used a Russian tune
called Stenka Razin (who apparently was the leader of a unsuccessful 17th
century peasant rebellion in Russia).
Personally I preferred the Welsh tune, perhaps because the minor key
fits the theme of suffering.
This weekend’s
song from Sing Praise is another communion song: “Eat this bread, drink this
cup”. It’s a chant from the Taize community.
I was familiar with the chorus (“Eat this bread, drink this cup, come to
him and never be hungry. Eat this bread, drink this cup, trust in him and you
will not thirst”) but the five verses for cantor are new to me, as is the alternative
wording of the chorus presumably intended for an occasion other than a
communion service, with “eat this bread / drink this cup” replaced by an
invocation of Jesus as “bread of life / risen Lord”.
The text is
based on John’s gospel chapter 6, John’s account of Jesus’ teaching about
himself as the bread of life which starts with the miracle of feeding five
thousand people with five loaves of bread. The verses of the song meditate on
what it means to have Jesus as the bread of life within us, and the eternal
life that he promises. It’s easy, in
churches such as the one I attend that have a weekly communion service, just to
get into a routine of saying the familiar words and eating he bread or wafer
without much thought. But really, we
should pause and ponder again each time what this miracle might mean, that by
sharing the bread we become part of the body of Christ as he becomes part of us.
