Christ is surely coming, bringing his reward

The words of this hymn, based on Revelation 22:12–21, were written in May 1975 at St Matthias’ Vicarage in Poplar, E London, where Christopher Idle was then ministering. It was first published in the Scripture Union’s Songs of Worship in 1980, and has appeared in several other books since then. Earlier versions had ‘Omega and Alpha’ at 1.2, and ‘men by Christ made holy’ at 2.2. The text concludes with what have been described as the last promise and the last prayer in the Bible. 30 years after writing the hymn, the author discovered C T Lambert’s Jesus, thou art coming, coming as the King, in the 1973 edn of the Brethren book Hymns for the Little Flock. Lambert’s hymn has the same metre, source and theme, and it concludes ‘Come, Lord Jesus, Saviour! Even so, Amen.’

But this is less than half the story. It was Edward Elgar’s tune, set to A C Benson’s ‘Coronation Ode’ Land of hope and glory, which prompted CMI’s attempt to give the music a nobler theme than the usual nationalistic one. Although for copyright reasons it was initially set to CUDDESDON (176, the words of which came a year after these), Elgar’s tune is now free to be used. LAND OF HOPE [AND GLORY], as it is listed for convenience, is part of the Pomp and Circumstance Military March (no. 1 of 5, 1900–30) which moved the contralto Dame Clara Butt to declare that she was born to sing it if only words could be added: ‘Write me a song with that refrain!’ Elgar allowed no words other than Benson’s to be printed with it, and the annual ‘Last Night of the Proms’ at London’s Royal Albert Hall has normally included the traditional pairing. The passage of time, however, has overtaken that restriction. Robin Sheldon’s arrangement was made for Songs of Worship, 1980. Those who are wary of such ‘borrowings’ may note that Land of hope and glory uses much of Wesley’s vocabulary from Rejoice in Jesu’s birth (even ‘wider and wider still’!); this hymn may be said to be reclaiming its original context. When its author visited the Republic of Eire in July 2000, where Benson’s words have made the tune less than an instant favourite, Gordon Fyles (minister at St James’ Crinken near Bray) introduced this hymn to his Irish congregation by saying ‘Chris has made the best of a bad job!’

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.