Name of all Majesty

When I was a student at the University of East Anglia in the late 1980s, Timothy Dudley-Smith was Bishop of Thetford, and had pastoral oversight of the University Chaplaincy.  He would come and preach on occasional Sunday mornings, and he was among those who made the annual decision as to whom to appoint as the Anglican Chaplain's assistant.  In 1990, that choice fell on me, for the academic year 1990 - 1991.

When I went to UEA, I suspect the only hymn by 'TDS' which I knew was his best-known hymn, Tell out my soul, which was the very first hymn he ever wrote (in 1961), first published in 1965.  Since then, he has written over 400 more.  Sadly, few of them have been included in major hymn books, but of those which have, I shall no doubt include more in future posts on this blog.

According to The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, Name of all Majesty is a "poetic exposition of the phrase 'Jesus is Lord,'" the earliest Baptismal Creed of the Church (1 Corinthians 12:3; Romans 10:9; Philippians 2:11).  It was published in 1979, and is usually set to the tune Majestas by Michael Baughen, which I believe was written for this hymn.  Name of all Majesty declares the Lordship of Christ in relatively few, carefully chosen and crafted words, set to a rousing tune - a great modern hymn by a great modern hymn-writer.

There aren't many renditions of Name of all Majesty available on YouTube.  This one is a lyric video (the words are still under copyright, so I can't include them in my text).  But I prefer this recording to listen to.

Thine be the glory

Like Jesus Christ is risen today, Thine be the glory is a favourite Easter hymn, which many people will have missed singing in Church on Easter Day.  It was originally written in French in 1884 by a Swiss pastor and hymn writer called Edmond Budry.  The French words were written to go with the familiar tune Judas Maccabeus.  The tune, by Handel, was written for his oratorio Joshua in 1747.  It proved to be very popular, so Handel also added it to his 1746 oratorio, Judas Maccabeus.

Our English words are a loose translation of the original French, written by Richard B Hoyle in 1923.  The copyright for the English words was held by the World Student Christian Federation in Geneva, which commissioned the translation with Budry's permission.  It was published in their hymnal, Cantate Domino in 1924, and according to one source, became in effect the anthem of the WSCF.  According to Faith Cook (Our Hymn Writers and their Hymns, Darlington, Evangelical Press, 2005/2015, p 375), it was immediately popular when The Methodist Hymn Book of 1933 first included it.

When I spent nine months living in Vienna in the mid-1980s, I often heard the tune played on the streets of the city in the run up to Christmas.  The German Advent song, Tochter Zion, freue dich is set to the same tune.  It predates the French hymn by Budry:  Friedrich Heinrich Ranke wrote the words and published the song in 1826.

          Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son,
          endless is the victory thou o'er death hast won;
          angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
          kept the folded grave-clothes where thy body lay.

               Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son,
               endless is the victory thou o'er death hast won.

          Lo, Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;
          lovingly he greets us, scatters fear and gloom;
          let the Church with gladness hymns of triumph sing,
          for her Lord now liveth, death hath lost its sting:

          No more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of Life;
          life is nought without thee: aid us in our strife;
          make us more than conquerors through thy deathless love;
          bring us safe through Jordan to thy home above:


(For comparison, the original French words can be found on Wikipedia here).

There is a rousing Songs of Praise recording here.

See what a morning (Resurrection Hymn)

I've been out for a ride on my bike most mornings this week, and the beautiful weather, combined with Easter rejoicing, has brought this song/hymn to mind.  It is the fruit of collaboration between two modern British song writers, Keith Getty and Stuart Townend.  Together, they have written about 40 songs since 2001 (some also attributed to Keith's wife, Kristyn).  They've also collaborated with other song writers on a number of other songs.  Getty and Townend's best known hymn is the much-loved In Christ alone (which has been voted the nation's third-favourite hymn in a Songs of Praise poll for at least the last three years).

I found the 'song story' on the Getty Music website.  Keith Getty came up with the idea for a 'triumphant melody', which he felt fitted the theme of 'Resurrection'.  Stuart Townend wanted the words to convey how the first Easter morning changed history forever, and to lead into the praise response of verse 3, "as we realise the amazing consequence of Christ's resurrection for our lives, drawing us into relationship with the triune God."

As I looked for a lyric video to link to this post, I came across this amazing combination of pictures to go with the words, put together by Corinne Brixton.

Jesus Christ is risen today

For me, this hymn is an essential part of Easter!  It was very strange not to sing it yesterday, as we celebrated Jesus' resurrection.  Lots of Christians in the UK took part in Sing Resurrection at 10.00 am on Easter morning, and sang this hymn and Thine be the glory on their doorsteps or in their gardens, but I didn't manage to fit that in as I prepared to lead an online service.

The hymn we know today is based on a Latin text called Surrexit Christus hodie.   The oldest Latin text appeared in the 14th century in a manuscript from Munich in Germany (John Julian, A Dictionary of Hymnology).   The first English version was published in 1708 in Lyra Davidica, set to the tune we know today (Easter Hymn).  The words we know today were published in 1749.  There are two versions of a fourth verse, a doxology, which was added in the 19th century - one version is anonymous, the other was written by Charles Wesley.

Like many older hymns, there are probably numerous variations of the words in modern hymn books.  It appears as follows in Ancient and Modern: Hymns and Songs for Refreshing Worship:

           Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia,
           our triumphant holy day, Alleluia,
           who did once, upon the cross, Alleluia,
           suffer to redeem our loss.  Alleluia.

           Hymns of praise then let us sing  Alleluia,
           unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia,
           who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia,
           sinners to redeem and save.  Alleluia.

           But the pains that he endured  Alleluia,
           our salvation have procured; Alleluia,
           now above the sky he's King, Alleluia,
           where the angels ever sing  Alleluia.

The doxology is not usually included in Anglican hymn books, but according to hymnary.org the Charles Wesley version is as follows:-

           Sing we to our God above  Alleluia,
           praise eternal as his love; Alleluia,
           praise him, all ye heav'nly host, Alleluia,
           Father, Son, and Holy ghost.  Alleluia.

You can watch a Songs of Praise recording of this hymn here.

At the foot of the cross

I could spend all day thinking about songs for Good Friday!  I've chosen this one, which is fairly new to me, and so I presume, not necessarily familiar to you!  Two years ago, we took this as our 'theme song' for Lent at the afternoon café service at St John's.  It was new to me then, but quickly became a favourite.

Kathryn Scott was born into a Christian family, and grew up in Northern Ireland.  In the early 1990s, she went to Elim Bible College (then based in Nantwich, Cheshire), to study theology.  Since then, she and her husband have been pastors of Vineyard churches in Glasgow, Northern Ireland, and now in America.

Kathryn was mentored by Brian Doerksen for a couple of years in the late 1990s.  She published At the Foot of the Cross in 2003.  You can listen to her singing it on a lyric video here.

The royal banners forward go

There are so many hymns for Holy Week and Good Friday, and so there should be.  As I said the other night in a Bible Study on John 12:20-36, Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection are central to the Christian faith, the very reason he came to live with us on earth.  Without the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, our faith is futile, empty, pointless (cf 1 Corinthians 15:17).

It's very difficult to decide on one, or even two, hymns or songs to write about.  This is certainly one of my favourites.  Like Ride on, ride on in majesty (see my post for Palm Sunday), it conveys a mixture of emotions: the overwhelming sadness of witnessing the Son of God going to his execution, but also the victory he won on the cross (expressed in John 19:30, It is finished! which I believe should be understood as a victory-cry). 

The royal banners forward go,
the Cross shines forth in mystic glow;
where he in flesh, our flesh who made,
our sentence bore, our ransom paid.

There whilst he hung, his sacred side
by soldier's spear was opened wide,
to cleanse us in the precious flood
of water mingled with his blood.

Fulfilled is now what David told
in true prophetic song of old,
how God the heathen's King should be;
for God is reigning from the Tree.

O Tree of glory, Tree most fair,
ordained those holy limbs to bear,
how bright in purple robe it stood,
the purple of a Saviour's blood!

Upon its arms, like balance true,
he weighed the price for sinners due,
the price which none but he could pay,
and spoiled the spoiler of his prey.

To thee, eternal Three in One,
let homage meet by all be done:
as by the Cross thou dost restore,
so rule and guide us evermore.

                                                                         Bishop Venantius Fortunatus
                                                                       English translation: J M Neale

In the original Latin, this is an ancient hymn; Bishop Venantius Fortunatus was born in about 530 AD, and died in 609 AD.  He is known to have written numerous hymns, but only eight or nine are still in existence, of which this is the best known.

Fortunatus originated from Italy, but he spent much of the latter part of his life travelling in France.  In Poitiers he became close friends with Queen Radegund, who had founded a nunnery there in 552 AD.  In 567, the Emperor of Byzantium gave Queen Radegund a relic which was believed to be a fragment of the cross of Christ.  She renamed the nunnery the Abbey of the Holy Cross, and arranged a ceremonial procession to bring this relic to Poitiers.  She asked Fortunatus to write a poem for the occasion.  The poem Vexilla Regis prodeunt is believed to have been first sung for that event on 19 November 569.  "The 'banners' of the king were the old Roman cavalry standards that, after Constantine, were surmounted by the cross instead of the Roman eagle." (Philip H Pfatteicher, Journey into the Heart of God: Living the Liturgical Year (OUP, 2013)).

John Mason Neale translated this hymn into English in the nineteenth century.  It has been described as "one of the most significant Christian hymns ever written", and as a "sung sermon on the theology of the cross".

There are a number of tunes associated with this hymn.  If you're interested, you can explore them in hymnals and/or through Youtube.  My own favourite is Gonfalon Royal as recorded here by Gloucester Cathedral Choir.

Palm Sunday

What hymns and songs would you normally look forward to singing on Palm Sunday?  The traditional favourites include All glory, laud and honour and Ride on, ride on in majesty!.  The more contemporary repertoire includes Make way, make way and You are the King of glory.  Then there are songs set to well-known tunes, such as We have a king who rides a donkey ('What shall we do with the drunken sailor?'), and There's a man riding in on a donkey ('Sing hosanna').

My personal favourite is Ride on, ride on in majesty, sung to the tune Winchester New (as on the video link above).  The combination of words and tune conveys to me the complex mix of what's happening on Palm Sunday - the excitement of the crowds, the reality expressed in Zechariah's prophecy (quoted by Matthew in his account, Matthew 21:5):

                               Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
                                    Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
                               Behold, your king is coming to you;
                                     righteous and having salvation is he,
                               humble and mounted on a donkey,
                                     on a colt, the foal of a donkey.          
                                                                            (Zechariah 9:9, ESV)

all juxtaposed with the great solemnity of the fact that Jesus is riding to his death; that only by his death will he triumph o'er captive death and conquered sin; only by making this sacrifice will he be in a position to take his power and reign.

According to Wikipedia, there's an indirect local association between this hymn and the town of Wrexham, where I live, through the local figure of Bishop Reginald Heber.*  Henry Hart Milman wrote the hymn in 1820, but it wasn't published until 1827.  It was included in Bishop Heber's Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year, along with 12 other hymns written by Milman.  Apparently, their inclusion was a consequence of the two men meeting in 1823.  By 1907, it was described as the most popular Palm Sunday hymn in the English language (John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology).

* Reginald Heber was born in Malpas, Cheshire (12 miles from Wrexham), and served as Canon Cursal of St Aspah Cathedral from 1817 - 1823. 

Living Hope

After an old hymn, a recent song, first released about two years ago!

I learned Living Hope by Phil Wickham and Brian Johnson at the Anglican Essentials Wales Conference in March 2019.  I love it because it expresses the joy of discovering God's abundant love and forgiveness, available to us when we cry out to him for help.  The promise of salvation, freedom from death, mercy and living hope is sealed when Jesus is raised from the dead on resurrection day.   Phil Wickham himself says, "God has rescued us from a place that we could never have rescued ourselves.  Our future was death, but Jesus came in and brought life - a living hope - into our souls and into our lives."

In these difficult days, all the things in which we often place our hope have been called into question.  It's good to be reminded that our Living Hope, Jesus Christ, has proved by his death and resurrection that we can depend on him, because he has overcome death itself.

In this video, Phil Wickham talks about how he and Brian Johnson were inspired to write this song together: