Christ brings the kingdom where barrenness blooms

Headed ‘Come to the Kingdom’ is his own collection More than Words (2000), this text by Martin Leckebusch was written in Sept 1995. It was, he says, ‘prompted by Isaiah 35 plus a chapter from John Gladwin’s God’s People in God’s World, a book which has also sparked off two other texts of mine’. It was offered to and accepted by both Sing Glory and Praise!; while they were in preparation, the ‘Millennium’ collection New Start (1999) was the first to publish it. From Isaiah 35 (cf 514), vv2,3,8 and 10 are specified and interpreted Messianically. Stz 3 has an ‘inclusive language’ variation offered in Appendix A of MTW, but this main text is preferred here as in SG.

Of 3 tunes suggested by the author, SG chose John Barnard’s CHEDWORTH. Henry Smart’s TRISAGION (‘thrice holy’), preferred here, was included in the 1868 Appendix to A&M, set to J M Neale’s free paraphrase Stars of the morning, so gloriously bright. This includes the phrase ton trisagion humnon— ‘the thrice-holy hymn’ or ‘the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy’. Though not featuring in the new words, the route for the ransomed people in Isaiah 35:8 is called ‘the holy way’, and the thrice-holy or Tersanctus hymn is also from Isaiah (6:3).

b Leicester 1962. King Edward VII Coll, Coalville, Leics; Oriel Coll Oxford; BA/MA (Maths) 1983; Brunel Univ Middx, MSc (Numerical Analysis) 1984. He worked for 16 yrs as a Computer Systems Programmer, followed by 5 as Support Specialist. In 2006 he was redirected to the role of Technical Design Authority for the IBM mainframe platform within Lloyds TSB. He has belonged to various CofE and Free Churches, including 6 yrs as a Methodist Local Preacher (1992–1998); currently a member of Kendal Rd Baptist Ch, Longlevens, Gloucester since 2001. His hymn-writing began in 1987; 144 hymn texts were collected in More than Words, 2000, some of which had appeared in earlier books including NewStart (1999, 6 hymns in a total of 71), Sing Glory (14 hymns), and Praise! A collection of 150 texts based on the Psalms, for singing to well-known tunes, appeared in 2006, giving a total of 275 texts by then in print. 6 of these are in Carol Praise (2006). In that year he also joined the Text Advisory Group (TAG) of Jubilate Hymns which he later chaired, and he also consults regularly with representatives of the more informal songwriters; he is active in the Hymn Soc, and lives with his family in Gloucester. In the 2005 edn of A Panorama of Christian Hymnody, which features 2 of his texts, Paul A Richardson notes their ‘conservative theology, biblical imagery and structural ingenuity’, adding that ML ‘advocates a restoration of hymnody in traditional forms to those who, like him, are in the charismatic wing of the church’. He is also keen to explore some issues often neglected by contemporary writers. By 2010, which saw the publication of a further collection Never Let the Songs End, the total number of his hymns had exceeded 400. Nos.270, 278, 285, 322, 381, 586, 604, 665, 756, 770, 771, 841, 856, 882, 892, 926, 936, 942, 1023, 1029, 1111, 1112, 1113, 1114, 1123, 1124, 1125, 1139, 1140, 1141, 1142, 1167, 1168, 1170, 1171, 1173, 1176, 1177, 1182, 1194, 1196, 1197, 1202, 1206, 1207, 1208, 1217, 1240, 1243.