How shall they hear the word of God

Romans 10:14 is the springboard for these words by Michael Perry. ‘This is a hymn for communicators’ he wrote; it was commissioned in the late 1970s to mark the 10th anniversary of the local broadcasting station BBC Radio Solent, and used at its celebration service in Winchester Cathedral. The author was then ministering in the parish of Bitterne, Southampton. In 1982 it appeared in HTC, but was later published more in the USA (with stz 3 revised, as here) than in Britain. 3.2 and 3.4 formerly read ‘if heralds are not sent … if we are negligent?’ In his 1995 collection Singing to God Canon Perry added: ‘There is much to be done and many in need of God. The hymn concludes with a commitment to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ by actions as well as words.’

Three tunes are named in STG including the author’s own composition SOLENT which, he wrote elsewhere, ‘has not survived’. The present book, like HTC, chooses Patrick Hadley’s PEMBROKE (a name also used by musician James Foster). This was composed to accompany some lines by P B Shelley, The world’s great age begins anew, used as a hymn in Songs of Praise, 1925. Archibald Jacob called it ‘a solemn unison melody in the Aeolian mode … with a smooth largeness of outline.’ Pandina Lam made this arrangement for Praise!

b Beckenham, Kent 1942, d Tonbridge, Kent 1996. Dulwich Coll, Oak Hill and Ridley Hall Theological Colls, London and Southampton Univs (BD, MTh). Ordained (CofE) 1965; after curacies at St Helen’s, Lancs and Bitterne, Southampton, he became incumbent of Bitterne (1972), Eversley, Hants (1981), where Charles Kingsley was a predecessor, and finally Tonbridge from 1989. A contributor to Youth Praise 2 in 1969, he was then an editorial team member for Psalm Praise (1973) and Hymns for Today’s Church (1982, 1987), Canon of Rochester, member of General Synod, Chairman of Church Pastoral Aid Society and (from 1982) succeeding Jim Seddon as Hon Sec of Jubilate Hymns. Under Jubilate auspices he edited a stream of hymn, song, carol and Psalm and prayer books, in collaboration with David Iliff, David Peacock, Noël Tredinnick, Norman Warren and others. He edited The Dramatized Bible (1989), compiled the reference-handbook Preparing for Worship (1995), and wrote and spoke widely on many aspects of worship, in the UK and on visits to W Africa and N America. Over all, he possessed the gift of being able to handle vast amounts of work with a light touch and ready (but never unkind) humour. His 183 texts were collected in Singing to God: Hymns and Songs 1965–1995, a slightly Americanised volume, in the year before his early death from a brain tumour. His first published song (words and music) was ‘The Calypso Carol’ in 1963; see no.374, note. Including paraphrases, 40 of his texts are in HTC (1987 edn), 8 in Baptist Praise and Worship (1991), 18 in Sing Glory (1999), 8 in the N American Worship and Rejoice (2001), 15 in Carols for Today (2005) and 27 in Carol Praise (2006), not counting several versions attributed to ‘Word and Music’ which are predominantly his. For some 20 years he and Christopher Idle would exchange friendly mutual criticism of each other’s texts. MAP believed that ‘Our preparation for worship can only go so far. It is doomed if the Spirit of the Lord is not in it. On the other hand, God is sovereign; he can “take over” any kind of worship, provided that those who lead and those who participate are open to his grace’. He also consistently urged that ‘to be obscure is an indulgence we cannot allow ourselves’.
Michael is published by Praise! numbers 49, 75, 82, 88, 137, 128, 148, 153, 172, 187, 211, 213, 277, 323, 332, 373, 374, 382, 481, 624, 694, 872, 929, 947 and by Praise! online at numbers 1082, 1132.