For ever, Lord, I'll sing your love

Measured by numbers of verses, this is the 3rd longest of all the Psalms, suitably completing Bk 3 of the Psalter (which began at Psalm 73) with an acclamation and double Amen—compare 72. It opens by celebrating all that God has done for David, but turns (v38, stz 7) to lament the national devastation; the covenant is in crisis: ‘The nations, instead of submitting to the Messiah, are trampling on him’ (Kostenberger and O’Brien). Henry Downton’s My song shall be of mercy is preserved in GH and (slightly updated) in PHRW. For Psalm Praise 1973, Timothy Dudley-Smith contributed Timeless love! We sing the story at this point, and his 3 stzs have been widely accepted as a hymn in its own right. Its author specifically disclaims ‘any very close correspondence with the text’. Understandably he declined the invitation to extend this to cover more of the Psalm, so the editors turned again to Christopher Idle to try a new approach encompassing its main body. The same constraints applied as to 78: this tune enables the singers to keep moving fairly fast, and a refrain has again been borrowed, not for repeats but for advancing the David-centred narrative, linked by the word ‘praise’ as the chorus draws breath for a moment before sweeping on. The text was completed at Peckham in Nov 1997. As for GOD REST YOU MERRY, this traditional Christmas carol tune certainly predates its first known printing in 1760. Something very like it was probably in use by the 16th c, and one source adds the information ‘as sung in London’. It was harmonised by Stainer for Christmas Carols New and Old (1871); similar tunes with New Year associations have been found in other European countries. But the tune needs a more thoughtful treatment for the themes of this Psalm than it usually receives when sung as a carol.

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.