Monthly column on hymns and songs

I didn't agree with Tommy; I rarely did. He was a cantankerous old so-and-so who had been a pillar of the church for most of his 75 years. He said he could understand the Authorised Version perfectly well; it was these new-fangled Bibles that got him all muddled. We did agree that his wife was a wonderful organist, with that rare genius for the spirit of a hymn, not just the notes on the page.

But when it comes to singing, I confess to some fellow-feeling for the old chap. Take the evangelical church I slipped into as a stranger the other Sunday. 'Guide me, O thou great Jehovah'; I can understand that. 'When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside'; this reaches me where I am. My next stop is the hospice along the road.

But all the other songs (for songs they were) had at least a line or two that for me were unsingable, unspeakable, or unintelligible. They were all from the relevant, informal, swinging style of the late 20th century. 'And in Jesus's name I come to you, to share his power as he told me to'; who exactly are 'you'?
From the very same song, 'Go in my name and because you believe, others will know that I live'. Is that what he said? If such erratic paraphrases are permitted, what becomes of the preacher's careful exposition of the precise words of Scripture, of what the Lord said and what he did not say? I can see where the songwriter is coming from, but not where he is going to.

We are already half way through the next song, on the screen where there is no means of checking back: 'Here in the grace of God I stand'. OK so far, but what is this? - 'My love just keeps on growing'! Really? That does not reflect my experience, let alone the New Testament exhortations to love. Has the tune taken over the sense, or the mood smothered the Scriptures? As so often, the word 'just' gives the game away. I stole a glance at my neighbours, and yes! - here was a whole congregation whose love just keeps on growing: marvellous!

No doubt their flesh life, to quote another song, was simply melting away. Not much like the inward struggles in the sixth chapters of Romans or Ephesians. Is it perhaps some painless remedy much sought after by the Weightwatchers who use the hall on Wednesday afternoons (New Members Welcome)?

Where's Jesus?

This particular morning two more songs, both with built-in and added-on repeats, clearly drew on Philippians 2. Did the authors have their New Testaments open as they wrote? One of the two didn't bother to include the name of Jesus, and in this day and age it might be a good idea to do that. Equally serious was the omission of anything corresponding to the apostolic 'therefore' in verse 9. The name is above every other name because of something that happened, something he did; too many lyricists keep us in the dark about the reason for the bowed knees and confessing tongues.

And what service would be complete without the Lamb upon the throne? So many texts slip the phrase in with no context, no explanation and none of the richness of Revelation 5 or 'Come, let us join our cheerful songs'. What a shame if this magnificent vision is reduced to a cliche or a soundbite!

Poor old Tommy. He's clearly past it. But sometimes I wonder if he has a point.

Sing with the understanding

Where's Jesus?

Christopher Idle

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