Hymns of Praise

Just before Christmas Christine and I spent a few days in London. While we were there we took the opportunity to go to see Les Misérables. We’ve seen the show before but a long time ago so it was like seeing it for the first time. In his notes, Sir Cameron Macintosh says that the first night reviews, in 1985, were very negative, none of the major critics liked the show. However, the public took no notice of the critics and flocked to see it – something which continues to this day. Surprisingly the story is quite dark with the outcasts being persecuted and downtrodden but the songs and music are quite uplifting and the ending gives hope for the future.

In many respects the story of Christ is also a dark story – his persecution by the Jewish establishment and his death at the hands of the Romans. Yet this story ends in Christ rising from the dead and giving us hope for the future. This story is also accompanied by some most wonderful music – the hymns.

I love music and often wish I was a musician able to make beautiful music, I’ve sung in choirs but I’m not as good a singer as I would wish to be. However, I do like hymns and I like singing them in Church (and sometimes in other places!).

Do you ever think about the words when you sing hymns in Church, or are they just to be sung along to the tune? I know that I have a reputation when it comes to certain hymns by my favourite composers, Newton, Watts and Wesley. I hope that I’m not becoming a bore but I really like the language and poetry of the old hymns.

To me hymns have always been ways of expressing my faith in words which are far superior to my own and they are more like prayers than devotional songs.. I was really pleased when Penny chose to end one of her recent sermons by getting us all to read the words from a hymn. The words were a most fitting ending to a talk on God’s grace.

I don’t have one particular hymn as favourite but you may like to look at the words of some of the ones in my long list of special hymns –MP 37, 755, 756 and the modern version of psalm 23. Perhaps you’d like to think about your favourites and what they mean to you.

God bless, John