Hymns in wartime

The thought has been with me for a while now that there is a significant mention of the hymnal in one of the Christian Science Wartime Activities books (First and Second World Wars). As I remember, it states that German prisoners-of-war in England were on the hunt for the music of the German national anthem and it was found in the Christian Science hymnal. It seems that the story must be in the World War I book, because I have not found it in my copy of the World War II one. I will have to borrow the first one from our Reading Room Library. (Ed. The book is available digitally at https://archive.org/details/christianscience00firs/mode/1up?ref=ol&view=theater. Friends may wish to contribute to the upkeep of this free website.)

The War II book has a chapter, Keeping Church Alive in Prison Camps. It is exciting to read of the church activity which developed in Stalag III B. Healings happened (p. 328) –

Healings through Christian Science which took place among the men who were participating in this activity at Stalag III B include appendicitis, two men healed of needing glasses after having worn them for over ten years, two mental cases, one of which was recommended to Christian Science by an American doctor who was held prisoner, and bone disease of the leg which had continued for two months and was healed withing three weeks after the man began to study Christian Science. The greatest demonstration of all under the circumstances was the proof of continual supply—sufficient bread, potatoes, and a few other foods to sustain the men throughout this time.

Another account tells of the Christian Science activity in Zentsuji Japanese prison camp (p. 331).

The Japanese couldn’t understand why we wanted Wednesday evening services when the other religions did not. They were quite obstructive about it, but this was overcome. They wouldn’t let us sing. After we insisted, the Japanese later allowed us to sing at the Sunday services but not at the testimony meetings. We never had a piano or organ in camp.

The singing was important to us, as it had been the result of demonstration. …. We wrote out the words of a few of the Christian Science hymns we could remember but discovered that our recollection of the tunes varied considerably. About this time the Japanese distributed to the other religious groups some music notebooks, so we obtained our share of them. Two musically talented men in the group were assigned to put the music to these words as accurately as they could remember.

This helped a lot. Our singing them began to go more harmoniously. At last, one happy day we had a pamphlet Hymnal. An Englishman was brought to camp who had one of the booklets containing a selection of hymns with the music from the Christian Science Hymnal. The hymns were then rewritten in the notebooks with the true words and music. We made five or six copies of the notebooks and used these hymnals for over two years.

If the reader seeks out a copy of either or both the Christian Science War Time Activities accounts, it is recommended that she or he also finds a copy of The Ultimate Freedom by John H. Wyndham for an account of Wyndham’s marvellous overcoming [of adversity] in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. [Ed. I have a few copies of Wyndham’s marvellous book and am happy to share.]

Joyce Voysey