O bless the God of Israel

The Benedictus (or ‘Song of Zechariah’, from Luke 1:68–79) has long held a place among churches using a printed liturgy. The Book of Common Prayer, where it follows the NT reading at Morning Prayer, calls it a ‘hymn’; strictly speaking it is a prophecy (‘Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying …’) uttered at the birth of John the Baptist, by his ageing and priestly father whose enforced 9-month silence has now been supernaturally ended. Though placed in our NT, it is in some ways the last word of the old covenant, before the Saviour is born whose way John will prepare. Earle Ellis says that it ‘speaks of the ethical transformation to be effected by the messianic redemption’. Like many such utterances, its scope reaches far beyond the speaker’s immediate vision or the understanding of its first hearers.

When living at Bitterne, Southampton, late in 1969 as curate, Michael Perry sent it with other paraphrases to Michael Baughen, then a Manchester vicar, who had included some similar items in Youth Praise 2 and soon invited him to work with others on what in 1973 became Psalm Praise. This proved the most successful of the new versions of this canticle published there, but underwent several textual changes at its author’s hands. Originally O praise the God of Israel, it appears in his collected works (Singing to God, 1995) as Blessed/Blest be the God of Israel as well as in the version chosen for Praise!—except that 1.8 there reads ‘our people …’ Some other permitted variants are printed there; at least the word ‘bless/blessed’ is a gain from the original ‘praise’, since it is a distinct phrase in Gk: ‘Eulogétos Kurios’—‘Blessed [be the] Lord …’—which begins the prophecy. Whatever tradition of worship we come from, this item is eminently suitable for the ‘covenant’ section of the book. So would 293 be, a recent paraphrase of these historic verses beginning ‘Blessed be God …’, but allotted elsewhere. Among other similar versions is Carl Daw’s Blessed be the God of Israel (1989, 20 years later) in CMD, also in 24 lines of which the 2nd is the same.

The text was at first attached to a tune by Noël Tredinnick; BREMEN (=MUNICH) is not among tunes suggested by the author, but is chosen here as both straightforward and congregation- friendly. It is derived from a melody in the Meiningen Gesangbuch of 1693, itself apparently built from parts of various Psalm tunes. It came in Störl’s Gesangbuch in 1711, and Mendelssohn used the tune in his 1846 oratorio Elijah; that version became the basis of the usual form of the hymn tune. Whether the tune bears one or other of its names, or both, it must be distinguished from Vulpius’ tune as well as from BREMEN (=NEUMARK) as at 388. Whatever the reasons for the names, Bremen is in N Germany, with Munich (München) some 400 miles to the S.

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.