It's been a hymnody nightmare week, as earlier posts express.  I begin to realise that I know far more hymns and songs than most people I come into contact with, and that the good people of Dibley probably sing a much wider rnage of material than most local churches.  Apart from the refusal to sing BPW 200 at D+2, I've also had conversations with the pianist at a church about 10 miles away to change half the material I'd chosen for them to sing, and most of the tunes on the rest.  This did have a different feel, as his logic was that the congregation would be under 20 and are not strong singers rather than 'I'm not singing/playing that.'  Laudate Omnes Gentes (BPW 19) was a new song too far, it seems, which is a shame as it's easy to learn and being from Taize has a great 'evening' feel to it.

All this has got me wondering just how large (or small) is the active repetoire of most churches these days.  When SOF runs to almost 1700 items, arguably it should be enormous - in fact on the whole it seems to be tiny.  When this is coupled with the 'newer is automatically better' attitude to music, people even forget what they sang regularly only a year or two back.

In a typical week, with one service, my lot will sing around seven items - at least three of which will be hymns and two or three will probably be single verse songs; quite often (at least once a month) we sing something that's new to some people, if not all of us.  When we have joint services elsewhere it may be as few as four items.  Over a year I suspect we repeat about 10 items, which gives us an annual repetoire of around 300 different hymns and songs.  What is scary is that that is probably ten times that of some of our near neighbours.  I just wonder which is more typical - and why?

Laudate Omne Gentes, Laudate Dominum - Praise all people, praise the Lord!  That's really what we are doing whenever we sing - and whatever we sing - just wish it didn't become the gladiatorial arena it so often seems to be.

Now I really do need to let this go and move on before I get bitter and twisted.

Churches, I have concluded over many years, are very odd entities.  Hymns and hymnody are a perennial nightmare, and lead to organists behaving badly (we all know the old joke) and suggestions by several ministerial colleagues that recourse to violence might actually be justified.  This last week, and the whole heap of nonsense that has arisen over my request that we sing BPW 200 is just one more typical example of churches behaving badly and missing the whole point of why we exist.  That’s not because I don’t take hymnody seriously, on the contrary, I take it VERY seriously.  It is just sad that energy that could go into anything from prayer to feeding starving people is expended on telling preachers they can’t sing this or that song.  For some reason this has got to me enough that I feel the need to defend this old, somewhat twee, theologically imperfect (what isn’t) hymn, not because I want to sing it – I don’t even like it all that much – but because it is far from useless.

All I have managed to find about the writer, Maria Penstone, was that she was born in Kensington in 1859 and died in St Pancras on  27th December 1910 – a relatively short life very clearly having a Victorian flavour.  Her hymn – usually appearing as a children’s hymn in older hymnals - inevitably reflects the age in which she lived, where life was far more precarious than today.  What Kensington or St Pancras may have been like in those days, I have no idea but it is probably fair to suggest that poverty, disease and death were never far from her experience - even if she had the good fortune to be born into a moneyed family. 

So, on to the hymn itself…

God has given us a book full of stories

Which was made for his people of old

It begins with the tale of a garden

And ends with a city of gold

What I like about this approach to the Bible is that it refers to the whole thing, and has, what I think is a healthy attitude to it – it is a collection of stories (accounts) from the beginning (creation, Genesis) to the end (recreation, Revelation).  It is a book put together for God’s people that speaks of real people and real relationship between creator and creation.  Yes, it’s over simplified; yes it could be read as the Bible arrived neatly packaged in the KJV or whatever, but the idea of ‘stories’ rather than answers or rules is an important one.

But the best is the story of Jesus

Of the babe with the ox in the stall

Of the song that was sung by the angels

The most beautiful story of all 

This, for me, is probably the worst verse!  What ox?  There isn’t one in the Bible.  But there are oxen and cute little lambs and fluffy bunnies (OK, not fluffy bunnies) in all our favourite Christmas carols.  Yes, it is mushy, but - and this is the key – it says to me the best story is that of the incarnation, and that wonderful song ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests’ (Luke2: 14, NIVi).  It may be expressed with glittery, tinsel, infant-school nativity language, but it is pointing to something utterly central to our faith.

There are stories for parents and children

For the old who are ready to rest,

But for all who can read them or listen

The story of Jesus is best

What I really like here is the clear statement that the Bible is for everyone – young and old, active or retired.  It is a cradle to grave book (ready to rest I assume is a euphemism for nearing death).  Whoever you are, whatever stage of life you’re at, this book is for you – and whether or not you can read (this woman is way ahead of her time on inclusion!) the story of Jesus is the best bit.  One of the objections I received to use of the hymn was the line ‘the old who are ready to rest’ which I was told dismissed and devalued older people as unable to contribute.  When I asked an older people’s specialist, her view was the opposite – how great to be affirmed when you can no longer ‘produce’ or ‘contribute,’ how good to be given permission to lay down responsibilities.  There is, I think, a danger of reading into much to the words of an old hymn; why not just accept that it says the Bible is for everyone – young, old, literate or not.  That’s a good message in my opinion.

For it tells how he came from the Father

His far away children to call,

To bring the lost sheep to their shepherd –

The most beautiful story of all.

This utterly verbose post will not be used to replace my sermon, nor will it be passed to the person who ousted the hymn.  What it will hopefully do for me, is to allow me to put down my annoyance and move on.  It will also serve as a reminder that the next time I find myself uncomfortable with someone’s choice of hymns that I need to think very carefully about why.

Help!  Anyone got any good suggestions?  Without going into detail, I've just got myself into trouble with a pianist over choosing one that refered to it as containing 'stories' when 'everyone' knows it is the 'truth.'  In my view, the two are not mutually exclusive, and I note that BPW 200 and MP 629 are examples of mainstream evangelical hymnals using hymns with this word in relation to the Bible.  They wouldn't normally be my choice as they're so old and pietistic (or some such) but I have a whole sermon to deliver predicated on the phrase 'God has given us a book full of stories' (which I could cheerfully problematise on what we mean by 'has given' but won't) so singing it was an obvious choice.

In the end we will probably be singing MP 64, which just about fits the theme, and I will have to interweave bits of BPW 200 into what I say...  Dibley are so much more tolerant than their near neighbours...!  (Perhaps I should have said 'God told me to chose this hymn' rather than, as I did 'it fits the theme'!).  Ah me.

I have just finished typing up the programme for our 'Thing in a Pub' for the next year and it's looking good.  Lots of good speakers and diverse topics  Let's hope folk are inspired to join us to....

enjoy - engage - encounter

4

faith - friendship - fun

Last night I went to visit a family to discuss arrangements for a funeral.  As part of the service they asked for a recording of 'Albert and the Lion' to be played.  I have no objection, but I am more than a tad bemused by this.  I have heard a few people in this locale talk of having this poem at funerals - but why?

In the mean time, I have to prune other bits down so that we have time for this (I seem to recall the recording being quite long to allow for all the laughter along the way) as the crem. slot is tight.