God Sister Teresa
I harrumph discontentedly along with so many of my contemporaries when untalented pop groups take over the liturgy; but I am more cautious when it comes to criticising new hymns themselves. So much depends on how they are sung.
The children of St Mark’s Primary School in Ipswich have paid us several visits in the monastery. The excellence of their musical training is always a pleasure to hear. Their repertoire ranges from Schubert’s Ave Maria to Graham Kendrick’s Shine, Jesus, shine.
They sing the latter with sincerity, seriousness, enthusiasm, a high level of concentration and sheer enjoyment of what is prayer, as well as performance. Its theology is impeccable, as can be seen from the first verse:
Lord, the light of your love is shining in the midst of the darkness, shining; Jesus, light of the world, shine upon us, Set us free by the truth you now bring us. Shine on me, shine on me…
At its heart, literally as well as physically, Jesus is the light of the world. Few things should be less controversial than that to any Christian, of whatever age or denomination. Musically it is syncopated and sophisticated – so not all that easy to sing well – but 80 children giving of their best cannot fail to delight.
Hymnals resemble cookery books, in that so often they contain a few things that are fresh, original and delicious, along with dozens of old favourites and some perfectly terrible new concoctions. But we are under an obligation to look and listen if scripture is to be as trusted as it should be.
Psalm 97 opens with ‘O sing unto the Lord a new song.’ This is not a one-off recommendation. There are numerous others throughout the Bible.
We mustn’t reject all that we know and love; but openness of mind and willingness to pay attention and take new things in before judging them are necessary, because we don’t need fossilised liturgy. Liturgy is not an expression of our personal feelings and experiences. Its primary function is to speak about Christ and God’s saving act in sending him to us.
Compare and contrast Kendrick with a translation of Anatolius (9th-century Greek):
O Lord, you came on us to shine, True light from the eternal light; And now the Father’s brightness rests On those who long have dwelt in night.
There isn’t a vast amount of difference between the two; so a little syncopation should not cause us to panic. It would be too foolish to suppose that inspirational church music stopped at Gregorian plain chant. Monteverdi (very controversial in his day), Bach, Handel and Silent Night… all were once shockingly new.