I am delighted that eventually, we have purchased and have begun to use the newest edition of the church hymnary, ‘God Welcomes All.’
Over the past few weeks, we have introduced some of these hymns with recognisable tunes but with new lyrics and our choir has been working hard to learn the new tunes so that we can open our worship with our introit, allowing the congregation to listen to them in preparation and then sing them further down the line.
Music has always had the power to inspire strong feelings; it is a key way that congregations participate. Think back to the COVID days – remember eventually being allowed to attend the church and seeing the words of the hymns on the screen but not being allowed to sing them!
Though there was some benefit to actually reading the words and focusing more deeply on them, boy, do we miss singing together: something that Broomhill Hyndland does rather well.
Yes, music can be powerful and moving – think of the longing for peace in ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’, or the Last Post at the Cenotaph or when Stewart plays at our Remembrance Service, Cwm Rhondda at Cardiff Arms Park, or Abide With Me at Wembley Stadium at a Cup Final. Music has the capacity to communicate at a level other than plain speech, to speak to the soul and exalt the spirit.
Psalm 137, immortalised ironically by Boney M, expresses dramatically the heartbreak of musicians in captivity:
‘By the waters of Babylon, we sat down and wept… How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?’ and then that agonized cry, ‘Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I forget you, O Jerusalem’.
For Christians, there’s the wonderful story of hymns both ancient and modern – though in our own day it often feels as though we are singing our Lord’s song in a strange land, with the negativity in the press and social media, particularly about the closure of buildings, falling numbers, the lack of youth, the staid and old-fashioned ways that congregation refuse to change.
The new hymns we are singing is an example of what we are trying to do; the re-introduction of the introit and greater support of our choir in worship, as well as the thinking behind the use of a praise band with the talented people we have in our congregation, to say to the youth but not exclusively so, that we can sing different things and in a variety of ways.
Allied to this, is the talent of the Hyndland Secondary school pupils who participate with us later on in the year and the Carol Singing on our paved area outside on Randolph Road, which has been superbly successful with the numbers in three figures.
It is fascinating to me how people keep on singing the great hymns and are able to express the wonder and mystery of God and even the joy of heaven. And of course, at Remembrance, as it approaches and at our Watchnight service, those who come are able to express a yearning of the soul, which we cannot express in speaking, the deeper experiences of life and of memory and of the promises of the eternal.
Paula Pinda, our Heart for Art manager, will tell you about the creativity with hand and heart with those diagnosed but not limited by dementia. We know of the work of music helping us remember, where we were and who we were with.
As Shakespeare once wrote, ‘If music be the food of love…play on.’
To sing to our Loving God is a great joy and a privilege.
Your friend and minister,
George C Mackay