As often as is practicable we have been holding a Songs of Praise service each 4th Sunday evening of the month at 6.00 p.m. Judging by the comments following these services this worship format seems to be very much appreciated. It not only gives us an opportunity to sing some of your favourite hymns but also to link those hymns prayerfully with a brief reflection on a theme with passages of scripture.

A great treasure of the Anglican Church is its hymnody and it is on such occasions as Songs of Praise that we can treasure those gems of poetry and music and theology.

One of the great tragedies of contemporary life is that fewer and fewer people are familiar with hymns. Few schools sing hymns any longer as part of assembly and for many Christians assembly is a thing of the past. Couples come to get married and decide they want a couple of hymns because they think it’s the thing to do, but don’t know any. Hymn singing at weddings and funerals can now be an excruciating experience and more often better left hymn-less. Also in a world where so many claim they want to experience the variety and wealth of all religious cultures and traditions we are ending up with insignificant and useless bits and pieces losing the heart and true meaning of any of them not least Christianity. So many of our children are being fed tiny bits of information but failing to grasp the reality for which Christianity stands. The great hymns of our Christian culture enshrine our beliefs and are part of the Christian understanding of worship which links earth to heaven. Hymns, sung from the heart, stimulate the understanding and raise the soul to heaven which is the purpose of worship.

Our Songs of Praise services are obviously meeting that need and aspiration and long may they do so.
Our next service (4th Sunday evening in December) coincides with the Christingle service so will obviously be a service of Christmas praise in its own right. The next Songs of Praise proper will probably be on Sunday 25th February at 6.00 p.m. so have your choice of hymn ready for that day.

Alan Hayday