Glory, honour, endless praises

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is in a different mood from the last three: Glory, honour, endless praises’ by Edwin le Grice. Leaving behind the troubles of this world, we move (as John noted in his video) to the worship of Heaven as described in the book of Revelation. This was also mentioned in the radio ‘thought for the day’ today with a reminder that the alternative term Apocalypse really just means an uncovering, a revelation of a reality that is normally hidden.

In this existence we are told there will be ‘no more crying or pain’, and God can be praised by those whose sins have been redeemed.  Jesus Christ is acclaimed in the verses of this hymn as the Lord and King of Kings, the Lamb who has been slain, by those who have been ‘called to serve from every nation’.  It’s a necessary reminder that for all our struggles here, there is another, unseen but eternal existence where all that will have been laid aside. 

At the start of the book of Revelation we also read of Jesus revealing himself to St John with messages for several specific Christian congregations undergoing persecution, urging them to remain faithful, to endure, to overcome evil and hardship, so as to reach the everlasting life of Heaven. One way of achieving that is to praise God as often as we can, even when times are hard.  It’s just a practice for the real thing.

2 thoughts on “Glory, honour, endless praises”

  1. Ahem, actually this hymn is by Edwin Le Grice, who (so far as I can discover) was a fairly “standard Anglican” in his churchmanship; not Christopher Idle (of whom more tomorrow!) who is a definite Evangelical Anglican.

    I feel bound to say that I think it is worthy but possibly not quite as exciting as it might be, and somehow I feel that the devotional approach of songs like “Holy Holy Holy is the Lord” (Mission Praise 239) or “Thou art worthy” (Pauline Michael Mills, Mission Praise 696) are more successful at evoking the atmosphere of awe which Revelation conjures at this point. Nevertheless I enjoyed singing it (even with a sore throat), and the Sicilian Mariners tune to which it was set.

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