"... psalms, hymns and spiritual songs..."

Praise the Lord.

Praise God in his sanctuary;
    praise him in his mighty heavens.
² Praise him for his acts of power;
    praise him for his surpassing greatness.
³ Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
    praise him with the harp and lyre,
⁴ praise him with timbrel and dancing,
    praise him with the strings and pipe,
⁵ praise him with the clash of cymbals,
    praise him with resounding cymbals.

⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

Psalm 150

After they had sung a hymn, they [Jesus and his disciples] went out to the Mount of Olives. Matthew 26:30

… be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, and make music from your heart to the Lord. Ephesians 5:19

The Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins started a poem with the line “Felix Randal the farrier, O he is dead then?...” I can see him looking up from whatever he is doing and pausing to absorb the news: the news of somebody who obviously mattered to him, though perhaps not in a specially personal or intimate way. If the poem is based on fact, and it certainly feels very much like it, then Hopkins, a member of the Roman Catholic Jesuit order, was Randal’s priest.

I think I know how he felt, having just seen a newspaper headline: Timothy Dudley-Smith the hymn-writer, O he is dead then?

You may not know who Timothy Dudley-Smith was, but he has been pretty much an ever-present in my adult life, even if only on the margins. He was an Anglican clergyman who served in a variety of ways, known as a friend and colleague of John Stott, but primarily as a prolific and highly gifted hymn-writer (some 450 in all). I never met him, but news of his death brought to mind hymns that became popular across the whole Christian spectrum: hymns like “Lord for the years your love has kept and guided”, “Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord”, and the little, lilting carol “Holy child, how still you lie”.

Music and singing have always been important to God’s people. Judging by Psalm 150 they were quite a rowdy lot in the Jerusalem temple, weren’t they? And even before the supreme crisis of the cross Jesus and his friends “sang a hymn” (no doubt one of the psalms; I wonder what voices they had: baritone, bass, tenor?) And then Paul tells the Christians of Ephesus to sing “psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit”. Music and singing aren’t just optional extras to worship; they are of the essence.

Which is why people like Timothy Dudley-Smith make such a vital contribution, and leave such a memorable mark, on the life of the church. Just re-reading some of his hymns today has given my heart a lift. (Fine tunes as well, by the way.)

The word “hymn” sounds a bit dated today, and it’s not easy to decide what difference there is, if any, between a song and a hymn. Not that it really matters, of course, as long as they are God-centred. Dudley-Smith’s output, from the ones I know, would certainly fall into the “hymn” category – many of them, in fact, are paraphrases from the psalms. They avoid the danger of being overly me-centred, as if Jesus lived, died and rose again purely for the individual; nor are they overly repetitive, but contain plenty of good meat to nourish both soul and mind; some of them, in fact, could be described as sung prayers; they are certainly God-centred.

Here, as a sample, is the final verse of “Lord, for the years”…

Lord, for ourselves; in living power remake us - /Self on the cross and Christ upon the throne./ Past put behind us, for the future take us,/ Lord of our lives, to live for Christ alone.

Amen to that!

In our English-speaking world we take sung worship for granted, but it’s good to pause and think for a little to see if we can make better use of the massive resources that are available to us. Here are a few suggestions that pastors, vicars, worship-leaders etc might find worth pondering…

First, use the whole range.

Churches can tend to limit their worship-material to match their own doctrinal emphasis. That’s understandable, but it can make for a very stodgy, samey spiritual diet – even, dare I say, a rather boring diet. We can all have too much of a good thing; even the finest bread goes stale.

Venantius Fortunatus, for example (yes, really!), lived from about 530 to 609, but one of his monkish, plainsong-type hymns can bring an echo of a distant age and a bygone spirituality to refresh our jaded palates. Not to mention Martin Luther (“A safe stronghold our God is still”), Charles Wesley (“And can it be that I should gain /An interest in the Saviour’s blood”), William Cowper (“God moves in a mysterious way /His wonders to perform”). Such writers still have something to say to us, treasuries of wisdom to impart to us, alongside Keith Getty, Stuart Townend, Graham Kendrick, Matt Redman and the many others who enrich our modern worship. So, even if only to a limited extent – use them!

Second, it can be good to sit to sing.

Little prayer-songs sung seated can be effective in establishing a mood of quietness and prayer and helping us to focus our minds on God. It’s very easy to breeze casually into God’s presence and go mechanically through the motions without giving a thought to what we’re actually doing. Be still, and know that God is God.

Third, it can be helpful to have a song or hymn read before singing it, perhaps getting volunteers from the congregation. That way, our minds are fixed on the words (and they are what matters most, after all), and we can avoid the danger of singing mindlessly.

Fourth, keep in mind that what we are doing is recognising and enjoying the presence of God, not engaging in a performance.

Good musicians are a great gift from God, and we should be thankful for them, but… it’s not about them. Keep Jesus at the centre.

Fifth (perhaps especially for drummers), remember that God is not deaf. Enough said.

These are just a few thoughts prompted by the death of a great hymn/song-writer. There’s a lot more that could be said, but hopefully this is enough to make us a little more aware of just how blessed we are. May God help us to make full use of the resources he has laid at our feet.

Father, thank you for the wonderful resources, including music, that you inspire in  your church, and for the gifted men and women, both past and present, who produce them. Teach us to value them aright, and to use them to the best advantage. Amen.