In you, O Lord, I find my refuge

Among the final words of the crucified Christ is a brief snatch of this Psalm (v5 with notable addition and omission, Luke 23:46). Other vv too (9–14 etc) seem applicable to Calvary, and v15 to the whole of our Lord’s life on earth. Yet others (17–18) provide examples of that range of Psalmody whose use in Christian worship may prove difficult; Psalm 28, 83 and 109 are even harder. But by giving voice to stress, disappointment and God-given relief, it can still express what we sometimes need to sing. The Psalm having been assigned to Christopher Idle by the Praise! team, this text was drafted at Peckham in June 1996. It was reduced by request from 6 stzs to 5, then 4, and published first in Light upon the River (1998). 3.3 represents v15 of the Psalm, which forms the basis of 765 in Praise! More briefly and simply, Basil Bridge has written I come to you for shelter, LORD. RENDEZ À DIEU (‘Render to God’) is the tune for which this version was written. It was composed or adapted by Louis Bourgeois in the 1542 French Psalter, set to Psalm 118 which starts with these words; it is found also in the 1564 Scottish Psalter with John Craig’s paraphrase of that Psalm. Also known as NAVARRE (after the protestant kingdom in SW France, whence Henri of Navarre became France’s Henri IV), it is commonly used with Heber’s Bread of the world; and, as here, with Routley’s New songs of celebration (98B) and Bland Tucker’s Father, we give you thanks (646). It is also well-matched with Graham Harrison’s Unto the LORD come, raise together, from Psalm 118.

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.