Lord, hear my prayer! My cry shall come before you

For a Psalm with a special depth of NT resonance, here is a late entry for the book, drafted by Christopher Idle in June 1998. This was too late to appear in his own collection, so is first published here. The final stz, with themes quoted with reference to Christ in Hebrews 1, was his starting-point; urged by David Preston and Jim Sayers, the writer extended the version by a stz, so that the present 5th one was the latest, and earlier lines adjusted accordingly. Among notable predecessors are Sir Thomas Wyatt’s, c1536, and John Clare’s, 1841; both begin with the same 4 plain words as this one, which also echoes a traditional response during intercessions. They are among the 5 versions reproduced in The Psalms in English (Penguin Classics 1996); only 104 and 137 have more. All of them attempt to reflect the vivid picture-language of the original; this one also retains the original contrast between ‘my days’ and ‘your years’ (vv3,23,24,27). Anne Steele’s 26 CM stzs are also eloquent, even prophetic: ‘…and there united nations bend/ and worship at his feet.’ These newer words were written for the tune STRENGTH AND STAY (928); but Hubert Parry’s INTERCESSOR is also strikingly appropriate. This was composed for Ada Greenaway’s hymn, O word of pity, for our pardon pleading, and appeared with it in the 1904 edition of A&M. It has been used for 12; an older tune matching 2 texts written a century later.

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.