Yahoo News All Things Bright and Beautiful is irritating and repetitive – these hymns are much more uplifting
As if there wasn’t already enough to love about Lord Lisvane, with his quirky eyebrows and his plummy tones, now we discover that he has delightfully forthright views on hymns.
Namely, the chair of the Royal College of Organists believes that All Things Bright and Beautiful, that lilting Victorian carol written by Cecil Frances Alexander, also the author of Once in Royal David’s City, is “deeply depressing” and should have been left behind in 1848.
Far from being a charming introduction to God as Creator, Lord Lisvane argues it is “saccharine doggerel, combined with [a] jingly tune” – and, perhaps worse, “not that easy for congregations to sing, actually”. A whizz on the pipes himself, the 74-year-old former clerk of the House of Commons says he dreads it being picked at the weddings he plays for.
He’s not wrong. All Things Bright and Beautiful is both deeply irritating and boringly repetitive, in this humble writer’s opinion, and a poor choice of hymn for any sort of celebratory event, especially given the abundance of glorious options out there.
In fact, trying to narrow the list down to a mere 10 alternatives to Mrs Alexander’s work is a tricky task, as I was to quickly discover when I started writing this piece. The suggestions came thick and overwhelmingly fast.
Some of them made it, some of them didn’t (and probably should have). Yes, Tell Out, My Soul is glorious, but it jumps about all over the place. I Vow to Thee My Country does not, in my opinion, count as a hymn – it’s a patriotic song with dodgy theology. God Is Our Strength and Refuge is mostly great because it’s sung to the theme tune from The Dam Busters.
And on it goes. So, in no enormously specific order, here’s my highly subjective list of the 10 most uplifting hymns. Thoughts on a postcard, please…
1. Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer
Anything with Welsh roots – or that instantly brings to mind a Welsh male voice choir singing in strong uplifting harmony – has got to go straight to the top of the list. Written by the itinerant Methodist preacher William Williams in the 1700s, originally in Welsh, and sung to the tune of Cwm Rhondda, this hymn is loved by schoolboys and rugby teams alike. Top points for the repetition opportunities in the chorus. A single rendition will have you quietly roaring “feed me now and evermore” for the rest of the day.
2. Amazing Grace
It’s been sung by everyone from Elvis to Aretha Franklin, Johnny Cash to U2, but it’s the words and history behind John Newton’s hymn – written for a New Year’s sermon in 1773 – that make it so powerful. Newton was a former slave trader who nearly died in a shipwreck, came to faith, renounced slavery and became a minister. The tune itself came later, in 1835, via the US Baptist William Walker. Not always easy to sing (it gets surprisingly high in a female register), but worthy of entry for the powerful message it conveys.
3. It Is Well with My Soul
This 1876 hymn is really quite extraordinary when you consider the story behind it. Horatio Spafford had been largely financially ruined by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871; dealing with the outcome, he changed his travel plans to send his wife and daughters on ahead to England to join DL Moody’s evangelistic campaigns. Tragically, the ship sank en route and all four of his daughters died. As Spafford travelled to meet his grieving wife, who had survived, he was inspired to write these words near where his children had died. We will all experience “sorrows like sea billows roll[ing]” in life – but can we also sing “it is well with my soul”?
4. In Christ Alone
Some will take issue with the classification of this 2001 song, with its Irish melody, as a hymn. Nevertheless, it is virtually impossible not to raise one’s voice when singing “And as He stands in victory/ Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me”, and not to feel a thrill down the spine should an adventurous organist opt for a key change for the last verse. A hymn doesn’t have to be ancient to be good.
5. Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
Contemplative rather than a belter, the words of this hymn are taken from a poem first published in The Atlantic in 1872 about the brewing and drinking of a sacred ritual drink with possible hallucinogenic properties. Despite its trippy antecedents, it’s widely considered a powerful illustration of the imagery of God. It may have US roots but it should, naturally, always be sung to the tune of Hubert Parry’s Repton, with the last line of every verse repeated.
6. Jerusalem
Many consider Jerusalem both theologically odd and not a proper hymn. It’s true that William Blake’s poem – did Jesus really travel to Britain? – with its fiery imagery and lowering Dark Satanic Mills is odd, to say the least, but it’s Parry’s uplifting tune that has made this England’s unofficial national anthem. Impossible to resist for even the most hardened of atheists.
7. Thine Be The Glory
A shining example of the “muscular Christianity”-type hymn. The darkness of Good Friday is banished, the stone rolled away and the Son of God is both Risen and Conquering – we may all be doubting Thomases some of the time, but not today. It romps along and has a suitably rousing chorus. A soul-lifter.
8. Great is Thy Faithfulness
“A hymn for ordinary Christians” reckons one US pastor who blogs of this 1923 hymn based on Lamentations 3: 22-23. It’s true that there’s no tragic backstory here; no weird prophetic text; no tale of blinding conversion. Which is what makes it all the more uplifting to sing about “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow”. It is also an admirably short three verses.
9. How Great Thou Art
“Not often sung at my end of the candle” – was one high church friend’s observation of this cracker. But although it has gained traction in more charismatic circles, it actually started life as a poem set to a Swedish melody, first sung in 1888, that made its way to this country having been translated from Russian lyrics. Those words were themselves a translation of German lyrics, adapted from the original Swedish. “Then sings my soul… How Great Thou Art” the hymn declares. Full disclosure: it’s my favourite.
10. And Can It Be
You couldn’t have a list of the top 10 hymns without a Wesleyan number on there. This one, with its spine-tingling chorus repetitions and ending with “and claim the crown, through Christ my own” is a brilliant example of why faith and music are so irrevocably intertwined. The fact that Charles Wesley wrote 6,500 other hymns is a reason for conversion alone.
This list was nigh on impossible to settle on. My husband is now threatening divorce for not including Be Thou My Vision, and 13-year-old boys, it emerges, have a particular love of Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus – mostly, I suspect, because of the opportunity to bounce about when belting out “up”.
