Farewell, friend(s) in Christ

Until recently, the ‘standard’ farewell hymn has been either J E Rankin’s 19th-c verse God be with you till we meet again, highly expressive and much extended by its refrain; or, among some baptists, Joseph Harbottle’s Farewell, my friends beloved (759 in the 1962 Baptist Hymn Book). As well as her more specific hymns of commissioning, in 1967 Margaret Clarkson wrote, in an unusual metre, Go with God—his peace attend you, and in 1987, We gather here to bid farewell; but neither of these has become established. So David Mowbray’s hymn, written at Broxbourne, Herts, and included in his 1984 booklet Kingdom Within, fills an obvious gap. Surprisingly, this is its first appearance in a full hymnal. The final lines were originally ‘We wish you good luck in the name of the Lord’—an allusion to Psalm 129:8 in Coverdale’s version, where it is itself a quotation with a negative nuance; what passersby will not say. The author agreed to this revised conclusion suggested by the Praise! editors, ‘Godspeed’ meaning blessing, not acceleration! As well as its obvious use on church occasions, it also fits those narratives in Genesis, Ruth and (especially) Acts, where for good reason friends or family members separate.

PADERBORN, named from the central-western German town which printed the Catholische-Paderbornisches Gesangbuch in 1765, was known from a folksong at least 20 years earlier. That book was the first to adapt it for use as a hymn (Mein Hertz sey zufrienden), while for the 1916 Standard A&M it was further revised, rearranged and then renamed by Sydney Nicholson, who had heard it in Paderborn Cathedral. He added the direction ‘Rather slow’, setting it to Ye servants of God your Master proclaim (342), with which it has often been associated since then. Another German tune has also been given this name.

b Wallington, Surrey 1938. Dulwich Coll; Fitzwilliam House, Cambridge (MA); Clifton Theological Coll, Bristol (BD). Ordained (CofE) 1963, he served parishes in Northampton (as curate), Watford (lecturer), Broxbourne (Herts, as incumbent), Hertford and (from 1991) Darley Abbey, Derby, until retirement to Lincoln in 2004. His hymnwriting began in 1978 while on a month’s residential clergy conference at Windsor Castle, where 2 of his texts were immediately sung in St George’s Chapel. This was followed by ‘a great burst of writing’ for some 18 months. His own first words-only collections for parish and school were Kingdom Come, Kingdom Everlasting and Kingdom Within (1978–84), mainly recommending standard hymn tunes, and some 50 of these texts are now formally published, from Partners in Praise (1979) onwards. Several are in Jubilate books (6 in Come Rejoice!, 1989, 15 in Sing Glory, 1999, 5 in Carol Praise, 2006), and publications from Stainer and Bell; Come to us, creative Spirit (1979) remains his most popular, while First of the week and finest day is a rare 20thc text on a once much-loved theme (see also J Ellerton, note). Come Celebrate: contemporary hymns (2009) includes his share of 15 texts. ‘The usual flashpoint for writing is the combination of an idea plus a tune’—DM. He was a member of the words group for Sing Glory, and is probably the most outstanding contemporary hymnwriter not yet (by 2011) to have a collected volume of his texts. Nos.119B, 469, 584, 921, 1050, 1226