I'll praise you, Lord, with heart content and joyful

Here we begin a sequence of 8 Psalms with David’s name attached to their varied titles. ‘Psalm 138 is a wonderful Psalm of personal devotion; confidence in God in whatever situation we find ourselves.’ So wrote Michael Perry in his final 1996 collection Singing to God. So another Perry text follows the last one, this time with no other note of its writing, except that it may be pluralised as ‘We’ll praise you’. It was published in Psalms for Today, 1990; the phrase ‘beyond the skies’ (stz 2) reappeared in possibly his last poem, written during treatment for a brain tumour and read at his funeral: ‘My Lord, I want to be with you beyond the towering skies’ (News of Hymnody 62, April 1997). In this text he wrote ‘Your word shall last …’, quoting stz 2; the printer of George Herbert’s The Temple addressed his readers in 1633, ‘Next God, he loved that which God had magnified above all things, that is, his word; so as he hath been heard to make solemn protestation, that he would not part with one leaf thereof for the whole world, if it were offered him in exchange’. David Evans’ CHARTERHOUSE (not to be confused with A S Cooper’s tune in 77 77 77) is named after the public school near Godalming in Surrey where Frank Fletcher, headmaster in the 1920s, wrote O Son of Man, our Hero strong and tender. His tune was composed for the words (though apparently not sung at the school) and published with them in the Church Hymnary, 2nd edn 1927, which he edited. Archibald Jacob called it ‘a straightforward unison melody, with a broad well-proportioned outline’; in the enlarged Songs of Praise it is set to O perfect love.

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.