As the light upon the river

When Christopher Idle’s hymn texts to date were collected for publication in 1998, his publisher Tim Thornborough (at St Matthias Press, subsequently the Good Book Company) suggested a title from one of the hymns. It did not take long to choose Light upon the River; the author explains it further on pp xii and 287. He wrote the hymn at Limehouse, Jan 1980; in that year the parish church there celebrated its 250th birthday, and his former CofE diocese of Southwark (S London) its 75th. In a competition for a diocesan ‘Jubilee hymn’, this was selected from many entries, and the small prize was donated to Christ Church in the Old Kent Road (Peckham), where the author was curate 1968–71. It was sung at several London events N and S of the Thames—the original ‘river’; 20 years on, these included a ‘Millennium’ event at Southwark Cathedral in May 2000. The hymn has also been published in the USA (1984). Its imagery aims to reflect several Scriptures (like Genesis 2:9–10, Leviticus 19:10 and ch25, Jeremiah 29:7, Matthew 6:10, Mark 2:28, Luke 1:77–79, Hebrews 11:10–16, Revelation 1:17–18); and ‘some realities of inner and outer London life towards the end of the 20th c, including our need to combat racism, welcome asylum-seekers, defend public transport, cancel immoral debts, affirm the biblical creeds, and share the good news of Jesus at every level’. Full notes come in the book, LUTR. It was first drafted as ‘Like the light …’ but the syntax did not work well.

As with 912, the writer had his eye, or ear, on ABBOT’S LEIGH (570, to which it has often been sung), while realising that not every 87 87 D text should or could use it. David Ashley White of Houston, Texas, composed EXALTED NAME for the words in 1991, which (suitably for the river) he marked ‘Flowing’. In Britain, at least, it is first published here, in an arrangement by Linda Mawson.

b Bromley, Kent 1938. Eltham Coll, St Peter’s Coll Oxford (BA, English), Clifton Theol Coll Bristol; ordained in 1965 to a Barrow-in-Furness curacy. He spent 30 years in CofE parish ministry, some in rural Suffolk, mainly in inner London (Peckham, Poplar and Limehouse). Author of over 300 hymn texts, mainly Scripture based, collected in Light upon the River (1998) and Walking by the River (2008), Trees along the River (2018), and now appearing in some 300 books and other publications; see also the dedication of EP1 (p3) to his late wife Marjorie. He served on 5 editorial groups from Psalm Praise (1973) to Praise!; his writing includes ‘Grove’ booklets Hymns in Today’s Language (1982) and Real Hymns, Real Hymn Books (2000), and The Word we preach, the words we sing (Reform, 1998). He edited the quarterly News of Hymnody for 10 years, and briefly the Bulletin of the Hymn Society, on whose committee he served at various times between 1984 and 2006; and addressed British and American Hymn Socs. Until 1996 he often exchanged draft texts with Michael Perry (qv) for mutual criticism and encouragement. From 1995 he was engaged in educational work and writing from home in Peckham, SE London, until retirement in 2003; following his return to Bromley after a gap of 40 years, he has attended Holy Trinity Ch Bromley Common and Hayes Lane Baptist Ch. Owing much to the Proclamation Trust, he also belongs to the Anglican societies Crosslinks and Reform, together with CND and the Christian pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation. A former governor of 4 primary schools, he has also written songs for school assemblies set to familiar tunes, and (in 2004) Grandpa’s Amazing Poems and Awful Pictures. His bungalow is smoke-free, alcohol-free, car-free, gun-free and TV-free. Nos.13, 18, 21, 23A, 24B, 27B, 28, 31, 35, 36, 37, 48, 50, 68, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 85, 89, 92, 95, 102, 108, 109, 114, 118, 119A, 121A, 125, 128, 131, 145B, 157, 176, 177, 193*, 313*, 333, 339, 388, 392, 420, 428, 450, 451, 463, 478, 506, 514, 537, 548, 551, 572, 594, 597, 620, 621, 622, 636, 668, 669, 693, 747, 763, 819, 914, 917, 920, 945, 954, 956, 968, 976, 1003, 1012, 1084, 1098, 1138, 1151, 1158, 1159, 1178, 1179, 1181, 1201, 1203, 1204, 1205, 1209, 1210, 1211, 1212, 1221, 1227, 1236, 1237, 1244, 1247, 5017, 5018, 5019, 5020.