Introduction
About Volume 3
Volume 3 is different to the first two volumes partly because some of my friends have asked me to write lyrics about specific topics and for particular situations. There are lyrics in this volume which could be used in an ordination service, Anzac Day, Baptisms etc. As I have been writing lyrics for each Sunday based on the Revised Common Lectionary gospel readings, some of which are included, there is much about Jesus - the Jewish teacher of Wisdom, thus giving an emphasis to his humanity rather than his divinity. Please feel free to use these lectionary based lyrics in worship services other than when the particular gospel reading is used. The message in the lyrics is not always limited to the reading.
In continuing my ‘spiritual’ journey, I continue to be excited by modern Biblical scholarship and the way it responds to new insights and information, new scientific discoveries, new depth knowledge about human behaviour and its causes as well as the new archaeological findings.
However, with all this new knowledge and sometimes a new openness that accompanies it, the mystery of God and our inability to explain what we mean by the word ’God’ continues to invade my mind. So in my lyrics, questions about all the mysteries which confront us are becoming more frequent.
I also continue to be reminded about the wholesomeness and beauty of humanity. This is particularly reassuring when so much in our world seems to be heading down the drain. Abuse of power and rampant greed seem to have sway but when I hear of ‘little’ people spontaneously doing deeds of courage and compassion, helping sometimes strangers in times of disastrous trauma and desperate need, I feel prompted to write such lyrics as are in number 73 - ‘I’m proud’ :-
I’m proud of our humanity
When nature does its worst;
Our gen’rous spirits then begin
To put ‘the other’ first.
Offering new lyrics based on the Revised Common Lectionary gospel readings has confronted me again with the difficulty of using the content of the some of these ancient stories associated with Jesus. Some of the content of these stories is not ‘something to sing about’. How does one write lyrics to be sung in worship using such content found in Matthew 22:7 - part of that author’s telling of the parable of wedding feast, ‘The King was very angry; so he sent his soldiers, who killed those murderers and burnt down their city.’ Some commentators, such as those associated with the Jesus Seminar, make a statement on page 509 of ‘The Five Gospels’ concerning the whole parable in Matthew 22:1-14, that, ‘Matthew’s edition (of this parable) has virtually lost touch with Jesus.’ For this particular lectionary gospel reading, I used Luke’s edition of the story. These same commentators suggest that some passages of the Matthew’s gospel could ‘...distort who Jesus was’, p 255. I must say that writing lyrics based on lectionary readings has imposed quite a discipline and raised many questions in my mind.
Like all hymn writers, the gospel writers also had their own theologies and their own influential environments inside which they worked and wrote. They worked in and through their own understandings of who Jesus was and what his message was all about. I can only do the same. So for some of you, my lyrics will be to ‘progressive’ and for others they will not be ‘progressive’ enough. So be it. The choice is obviously yours to use or not to use the contents of this hymnbook
There are many stories surrounding my lyrics but this is not the time or place to share them all. However I share just three.
The first. On Good Friday 2011, the Bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher, was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald as saying “We see the risen Lord digging desperately amongst the rubble, trying to save whom he can and proclaiming hope once more for all.” He was speaking about natural disasters and a human response. And I thought that these sentiments were worth writing about, so I penned No. 66 - ‘Christ lives again.’
The second. Earlier this year I read something which brought sadness and inspiration to me. Recently, a clergyman, who was being pressured to conform by his superiors, decided to make a stand. I find it sad that he felt compelled to make such a stand yet how courageous and inspirational!
From the internet I was able to capture his dilemmas. I thought this was worth writing about as well, so I penned No. 79 - ‘I must leave’.
LEAVING HOME
I'm off!
I must leave the political and ethical compromises that have corrupted the faith of my Jesus.
I must leave the stifling theology, the patriarchal structures.
I must leave the enduring prejudices based on our God-given humanity, the colour of my skin, my gender or how my sexual orientation is practiced.
I must leave the mentality that encourages anyone to think that our doctrines are unchangeable.
I must leave the belief of those who insist that our sacred texts are without error.
I must leave the God of miracle and magic.
I must leave the promises of certainty, the illusion of possessing the true faith.
I must leave behind the claims of being the recipient of an unchallengeable revelation.
I must leave the neurotic religious desire to know that I am right, and to play at being God.
I must leave the claim that every other pathway to God is second-rate, that fellow Hindu searchers in India, Buddhists in China and Tibet, Muslims in the Middle East and the Jews of Israel are inadequate.
I must leave the pathway that tells me that all other directions will get me lost.
I must leave the certain claim that my Jesus is the only way to God for everyone. I must leave the ultimate act of human folly that says it is.
I must leave the Church, my home.
I must leave behind my familiar creeds and faith-symbols.
I can no longer stay in an unliveable place.
I must move to a place where I can once again sing the Lord's song.
I must move to where my faith-tradition can be revived and live on.
I must move to a place where children don't tell me what I believe is unbelievable but tell me they can believe what I believe.
I must move to a place where they are not playing at moving the deck chairs on the decks of an ecclesiastical Titanic.
I can never leave the God experience.
I can never walk away from the doorway into the divine that I believe I have found in the one I call the Christ and acknowledge as "my Lord."
I must move to dangerous and religiously threatening places.
I must move to where there is no theism, but still God.
I'm off! But to where, God only knows.
While on a lonely path we are not alone.
And my third example - I could not help myself when writing some lyrics on Peter’s affirmation in answer to the question in Matthew 13:13 ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’. There are so many answers to the question, ‘Who is Jesus?’ that I just kept writing - 15 verses! They are to be found in No. 46 - ‘Who is Jesus?’
You choose the tune
For most of the tunes I have used, other melodies, composed in the same metre, are available. I have deliberately included a metrical index of tunes to facilitate different choices. Other melodies with the same metre can be found in Together in Song, the Australian Hymnbook and many other hymnbooks. Those hymns with an ‘irregular’ metre may not have alternatives but this is the case for only a very small minority of the tunes I have chosen.
It has been my experience over many years, that church musicians feel very free to use a tune other than the set tune printed in the hymnbook. Many pencil or biro notations are made in harmony editions reminding the musician not to play the set tune but play the number noted, which has been deemed more appropriate and which has been used previously.
As an example of choices available; there are 88 different tunes in the Australian Hymnbook which have a Common Metre, 86.86, 86.86 D or 86.86 extended. Of these 66 are to be found in Together in Song. This is the most commonly used metrical form so there are numerous choices of melody in this metre. Tunes composed in most other metres have alternatives, not as many but some.
In some cases I may have used a tune which maybe regarded by your congregation as a ‘classic’ and for which the original words are regarded as ‘wedded’ to that tune. If that is the case and you still wish to use my new lyrics, I encourage you to choose another tune which suits the words and will probably not be a ’worry’ to worshippers.
As you choose the words to be sung, please also choose a tune that suits your situation. If you are fortunate enough to have one, I am sure that your musician, choir master/mistress and/or your director of music can help in such choices, but please make sure that the words fit your choice by singing them right through.
Grace and Peace George Stuart June 2210