Singing can happen anywhere

I turned to the Indexes at the back for some information.

Here I could calculate that there are 23 different authors or sources for the 33 hymns in the 2008 Hymnal Supplement. Some of the names are familiar and contemporary, some of whom I will list here: 

-Peter Allen (hymn 453 – Rise up and walk); 

-Fenella Bennetts (458 Though I may speak with moving words); 

-Desiree Goyette (444 I am the Lord, there is none else, and 460 We are walking in the light of God); and 

-Susan Mack (445 I awake each morn to a brand new day, and 462 When my heart is lost in sorrow).

Other names are fondly remembered from past years – 

-Rosemary Cobham (443 Home is the consciousness of good) and 

-Peter Henniker-Heaton (452 O Thou unchanging Truth, and 461 We cannot turn away from God).

Some authors are also composers: 

-Peter Allen (434 Brood o’er us, 453 Rise up, 442 Here, O God, and 451 O sometimes gleams upon our sight); 

-Fenella Bennetts (457 Take my life, and 432 Blest Christmas morn); 

-Desiree Goyette (444 I am the Lord, and 454 Saw ye my Saviour); and 

-Susan Mack (445 I awake, 452 O Thou unchanging Truth, and 462 When my heart).

There are traditional tunes from Africa (460 Siyahamba), America (431 Amazing grace), and the Caribbean (441 Halle, halle, hallelujah), and two versions of the Scottish folk song O Waly, Waly (443 Home is the consciousness, and 458 Though I may speak). The German “Geistliche Kirchengesang 1623” (Google Translate suggests “Spiritual Church Singing” for this phrase) provides the tune for hymn 448 Lo, they that follow after good.

I love the five Indexes at the back of the book. They yield much useful background information for the organist, person/s choosing the hymns, and the congregation.

One of my favourite hymns is 435, Mrs Eddy’s poem Brood o’er us, set to the tune “Brother James’ Air" (by James Leith Macbeth Bain) and adapted by Robert Rockabrand. A quick internet search reveals that I can download a ringtone for my mobile phone with this tune…I didn’t! And YouTube has a pleasing version (words from Ps 23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsw1gix1CvA) sung by a boy’s choir (English I think), though for me nothing beats actually singing this tune to Mrs Eddy’s words as part of a lively and thoughtful congregation (like we had at the Church Alive get-together in Brisbane a few years ago) or with any congregation at all.  I have also been known to sing it at the top of my voice from the deck of a certain catamaran!

Julie Swannell