Glory to God, the source of all our mission

If one mission society, CIM/OMF, is integral to 618, another is involved with this hymn. In June 1995, shortly before leaving Suffolk for London, Christopher Idle was approached by Crosslinks (formerly BCMS—see 616, note) with a request for a hymn for the society. This text and 622 were the joint response, but neither gained favour with Crosslinks for another 9 years. Together they made small twin landmarks in being the last written by the author at Oakley Rectory, and the last to benefit from the friendly critique of Michael Perry, whose final illness would soon bring this partnership to a close. The text aims (eg in stz 3) to convey something of the flavour of late-20th-c mission, where not all ‘missionaries’ (mission partners) are western, let alone European. 4.1 is a half-hidden reference to Crosslinks. Line 1, ‘… the Maker of all mission’, later changed to ‘… the Spring of all our mission’ (the author’s preference), and finally, on advice, to its present form. The final stz also underwent rewriting before being printed in his Light upon the River (1998) and Sing Glory a year later.

Richard Terry’s HIGHWOOD was the tune for which the words were written and first published. Caryl Micklem says ‘it has the exhilaration of a rollercoaster’, needing a soft landing. ‘Reaching its highest note prematurely, in the first bar, the melody tumbles headlong to a very low keynote soon after. The modulations in the middle make an exciting fulcrum between the first and second halves of the tune …’ In other words, ideal for a missionary text; W Milgate speaks of its ‘spring-like vital quality’; see also the notes to 236.

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.