I was talking with a friend earlier this evening when she burst out with the first few lines of a hymn from the Christian Science Hymnal with such fervour it almost took my breath away.
"A holy air is breathing round" she began.
"A fragrance from above" she continued.
We looked it up in the hymn book and found it is number 4!
We completed the verse:
"Be every thought from sense unbound, / Be every action love."
The joy of the verse spilling out from my friend reminded me of a time, some years ago, when our little congregation in Sydney substituted the recitation of a poem for the usual sung solo in the Sunday church service. The result was uplifting and much appreciated.
The words of the hymn, called "Pater Noster" - "Our Father" - are by Dr. Abiel Abbot Livermore (1811-1892). The very useful Concordance to Christian Science Hymnal and Hymnal Notes (available in most Christian Science Reading Rooms) explains that Dr. Livermore "was a Unitarian minister of Keene, New Hampshire, who later became president of the Theological School at Meadville, Pennsylvania."'
The music, by Dr. Percy C. Buck, employs a "free rhythm melody". Dr. Buck "believed that here was an opportunity to advance the music [at Harrow, where he taught] beyond the square-cut form of the conventional hymn tune" (ibid p 177). "After he left Harrow Dr. Buck found that many of his old boys remembered these tunes and even asked to include them in other hymn books" (ibid).
This might encourage congregations to have a new look at Dr. Buck's hymns. And to revisit hymn 4! Thank you DJ.
Julie Swannell
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