Hymn of the Week: August 2, 2024
When In Our Music God is Glorified
Glory to God: 641
TEXT: Fred Pratt Green, 1972
MUSIC: Charles Villiers Stanford, 1904
When in our music God is glorified,
and adoration leaves no room for pride,
it is as though the whole creation cried:
Alleluia!
How oft, in making music, we have found
a new dimension in the world of sound
as worship moved us to a more profound
Alleluia!
So has the Church, in liturgy and song,
in faith and love, through centuries of wrong,
borne witness to the truth in ev’ry tongue,
Alleluia!
And did not Jesus sing a psalm that night
when utmost evil strove against the light?
Then let us sing, for whom he won the fight:
Alleluia!
Let ev’ry instrument be tuned for praise,
let all rejoice who have a voice to raise,
and may God give us faith to sing always:
Alleluia!
I don’t believe this hymn (or any hymns by this great hymn-writer) has ever made it into our Hymn of the Week over the past several years. I think it’s about time it made its premiere! The tune comes to us from the English 19th-century church musician/organist Charles Villiers Stanford and the radiant text about music’s ability to praise God comes much later from a man born and raised outside Liverpool in the small town of Roby, England; Fred Pratt Green, (1903-2000)
Fred Pratt Green
Fred began life wanting to be an architect. Before he went to Didsbury Theological College, he worked for four years in his father’s leather business. While he studied at Didsbury, he discovered another love, that of writing. In 1928, he wrote his first hymn, “God Lit a Flame in Bethlehem.” This was the same year he became enamored of a young woman named Marjorie Dowsett whom he then married and remained married until her death in 1993. Rev. Green served several churches throughout England and in 1944 he paid a pastoral call to Fallon Webb, the father of one of his Sunday School children. Webb had an intense love of poetry. When he discovered that Rev. Green had written some poems, he insisted they each write a poem and critique it for the other. This practice continued until Webb’s death 20 years later.
Upon Fred’s retirement in 1969, (he was 66 years old), Fred had planned to spend time developing his skill as an artist working with pastels. However, he accepted an invitation to serve on a commission to prepare a supplement to the Methodist hymnal. The committee asked Fred to write hymns for topics where he felt hymns seemed to be lacking, and hymn writing eventually replaced his desire to paint. It wasn’t long before noted hymn writers and scholars became aware of Fred’s gifts and helped him develop them over time. These include the great hymn scholar, Eric Routley and John Wilson, Director of Music at Charterhouse from 1947-1965. Both are esteemed hymnologists.
I particularly love his response to a question about how he sees the hymn functioning in worship. In an interview with Paul Westermeyer, he states: “ Chiefly in 3 ways: to inspire a congregation to worship; to instruct a congregation in Christian truth and practice; and to help unite Christians of various denominations. I am also aware of the value of hymns in private devotion (private worship), as many letters to me have testified. Hymns have a pastoral influence in the life of the church.”
Rev. Green said of today’s hymn: This hymn expresses my deep love for music, the greatest of the arts (!) AND important in the worship of the church.
