| The Parish Church of St James |  |
| St. James's Road, Hampton Hill, TW12 1DQ (Parish Office 020 8941 6003) | |
| PAST EVENTS AT St. JAMES'S IN 2006 | |
| Section Contents: Go to the PAST EVENTS AT St. JAMES'S Home Page to see all the events |
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Hymns in Church - 2006 September
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While
training for ordained ministry I received some very wise advice from
a retired Bishop who had many years experience as a parish priest and
bishop in a large diocese. “Two things you’ll never get
right”, he said, “so don’t even bother – hymns
and flowers”. Well maybe I took half his advice and I’ve
stayed away from church flowers (on the whole). But, I have most certainly
not followed his advice about hymns, even though I accept his warning
that I’ll never get it right – or maybe it is the case that
I think the hymns I choose for worship are right and others don’t.
I have always taken great care over the choice of hymnody because the
five hymns sung in Parish Communion are one of the most obviously inclusive
elements of worship, or rather, they should be. |
| One needs to integrate the choice of hymns with
the readings, the season, the particular place in the liturgy (for example,
an opening hymn choice would be very different from the choice of hymn
between the creed and the intercessions). One also has to balance known
hymns over against new hymns, liked tunes and disliked tunes, ancient
or modern, four part harmony or unison chorus type song. And, of course,
this omits both my own and other people’s prejudices!
Having recently been challenged by a member of the congregation about singing the same hymns too often, and other hymns not often enough (or indeed not at all!) I sought refuge in statistics. In the last two years we have sung: 169 different hymns from Ancient and Modern New standard 29 different hymns and songs from Songs of Fellowship 12 other hymns or songs from diverse sources. No hymns have we sung more than five times in two years, and only 22 hymns have we sung four times in the same period, while 48 hymns have we sung three times or more. Can you guess the 10 hymns we have sung most frequently? They are: Love Divine, all loves excelling Immortal invisible, God only wise For the beauty of the earth Rejoice! The Lord is king Come down, O Love Divine King of Glory, King of peace Just as I am Alleluia, sing to Jesus Lord enthroned in heavenly splendour Guide me, O thou great Redeemer I hope this demonstrates a commitment to using diverse hymnody which has broad appeal, liturgical sensitivity and, most importantly, enhances our worship. Source: Brian Leathard, The Spire Magazine - 2006 September |
| Further Information |
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Associated pages on this website: Music |