Page 18 - Church Music Quarterly June 2018

inthemiddleo onesleeplessnight,pouredaglass o wine,andweptasIspentthenexthourwriting these words, inspired by Jo Cox’s relentless quest
orreconciliationandhealing,andborrowingthe portentoustuneo ‘OGodo earthandaltar’:
OGodo allsalvation
in every darkened hour
look down at your creation with pity and with power.
In all the pain we’re seeing, or stranger as or riend,
we’ll cling with all our being tolovethatcannotend.
O God, your loving passion is deeper than our pain,
look down, and in compassion bring us to li e again.
Whenweare ounddespairing, when all seems lost to sin, we’ll hear your voice declaring
that love alone will win.
O God, when hate grows stronger, with eartopaveitsway,
the cry, ‘Lord, how much longer?’ with broken hearts we pray.
In all that is dismaying inhumankind’s reewill,
we’ll join our voices, praying that love will triumph still.
OGod,whoselovewillnever be silenced, stalled or stilled,
setustoworkwherever there’rebridgestorebuild.
We’ll take our li e’s vocation to make, like heav’n above,
in this and every nation akingdombuiltonlove.
I thought that hymn might have one outing on the Sunday ollowingthoseevents,butweareallmoreaware now that we are living in a world in which extremism, terror,divisionandhatredareparto ourreality,andin whichthelanguageo reconciliationando ‘lovewins’
is more urgent than ever. Hymns can give us a collective voice orthiscommission,justasChestertonsought
to give voice to similar passions in his own day.
Interestingly,theBBCgotintouchaskingtousethe hymninacoupleo SundayWorshipservices.Onone occasion they stuck to King’s Lynn, and on another they choseinsteadtousethetuneCorve ale.Corve aleisa triple-timetune,soisinstantlyless our-square,and as a major key tune (though with some lovely minor harmonies) it immediately eels more positive. It also brings with it all the wonder ul resonances o God’s enduring love and mercy being more than we can
ever imagine. What does this do to my words, and how we hear them? Under what circumstances might one pre er King’s Lynn? And when might Corve ale ft the bill?
O ten I’m asked to write a hymn when some corporate,liturgicalresponseisrequired orasituation that eelslikeunchartedterritory.Onesuchwasa requestIreceived orahymnthatcouldbeusedatthe commissioningservice ortheparishsaeguarding
o fcers in a particular diocese. How to deal with a subject so sensitive and important? How to write words that do not diminish the subject and that could be sung corporately without cringing or o ence? Having beenintroducedtoCorve alebytheBBC,Ithenchoseit
or this sa eguarding hymn, again because I wanted to makethemosto theresonanceso open-heartedness andrelianceontheabundantmercyo God.
I always write a new hymn with a particular tune in mind, not just a metre and rhyme scheme, and time and againIhave oundthatchoosingatuneisaboutsomuch more than its technical specifcations. Every tune carries withitaseto culturallyaccruedmeanings,andwe ignore those meanings at our peril. Consider what it meanstowriteaseto wordsto,say,theDambusters march.Theparticularculturalresonanceo suchatunes will undoubtedly a ect how we experience any new lyricsandmayalsolimitwhatsorto wordsaredeemed appropriatetosingtoit.What eelingsareevokedby tunes usually used in Christmas carols? Or or hymns
o ten used at unerals? Or or hymns that are primarily known through their association with secular events suchassportingoccasions?JerusalemandEventi e(‘Abide with me’) spring to mind. Are those resonances help ul, or do they confict with what the new lyrics are trying todo?Iwouldurgeanyonethinkingo penningnew words to old tunes to refect deeply and creatively on thecapacityo ahymntunetocommunicatemorethan itsnotesonthepagewouldsuggest,andtotreatthis phenomenon not as a reason to reject the practice, but asanopportunitytoletwhatisnewenterintocreative conversation with what has gone be ore.
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