Page 24 - Church Music Quarterly September 2018

HYMN
MEDITATION
DEAR LORD AND FATHER OF MANKIND: A MEDITATION BY GORDON GILES
Dear Lord and Father of mankind, forgive our foolish ways;
re-clothe us in our rightful mind, in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper reverence praise.
In simple trust like theirs who heard, beside the Syrian sea,
the gracious calling of the Lord, let us, like them, without a word
rise up and follow thee.
O Sabbath rest by Galilee! O calm of hills above,
where Jesus knelt to share with thee the silence of eternity,
interpreted by love!
With that deep hush subduing all our words and works that drown
the tender whisper of thy call, as noiseless let thy blessing fall
as fell thy manna down.
Drop thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease;
take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of thy peace.
Breathe through the heats of our desire thy coolness and thy balm;
let sense be dumb, let flesh retire; speak through the earthquake, wind,
and fire,
O still small voice of calm.
Words John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–92)
Music Repton Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848–1918)
As we mark the centenary of the death of Hubert Parry, it is natural to turn to one of his most popular tunes, which, alongside Jerusalem, will live for many years to come. Despite a first line than can never be inclusivized, Dear Lord and Father of mankind is often described as ‘the nation’s favourite hymn’. In my own parish it stretches emotions and memories. It reminds people of being by the Sea of Galilee, having sung it there while on pilgrimage. And so powerful was the experience of singing this hymn
on the shores of Galilee that it now brings happy – and sad – memories of those who had travelled with them but are no longer alive. This hymn is therefore a good example of one in which we invest emotions and memories, and to which we attach spiritual significance.
There is nothing wrong with that, of course – indeed there is something fundamentally human about investing hymns, poems or songs with personal associations. Hearing the hymn replenishes those memories, keeping
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