The Lord is my light and salvation

During the final selection of texts for the book, the editors considered at least 3 viable candidates to represent this Psalm of ‘the soul’s changing moods’—Stott. The versions finally chosen, fairly late in the day, both happen to come from graduates of Oxford University which takes its motto from Ps 27:1: Dominus illuminatio mea—the LORD is my light. David Preston’s text, published here for the first time, was written at Reading in the mid- 1990s with the present book in view. The metre, he says, ‘was determined by the first line, which I considered needed to be kept as near the trad. English as possible.’ Among other strong candidates was Montgomery’s God is my strong salvation, while both edns of CH also have Graham Harrison’s Whom shall I fear on earth below. For what Jn Keble called ‘part 2’ (vv7-14) his own 4 stzs are exceptionally fine: Hear, Lord, my prayer; I call and cry, while Margaret Rizza’s two approaches to selected verses, each beginning The Lord is my light, are specially suitable for choirs. For this rare metre, the tune LLWYNWERN by Evan T Davies was published in the major 1929 collection for Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists, Llyfr Emynau a Thonau (‘The Book of Hymns and Tunes’) with other music of his (cf 73 and 77). It is not yet widely known outside Wales.

b London 1939. d 2020. Archbishop Tenison’s Grammar School, Kennington, London; Keble College Oxford (MA Mod Langs.) He worked as a French Teacher, including 11 years at Ahmadu Bello Univ, Nigeria, and gained a PhD on the French Christian poet Pierre Emmanuel (1916 84). A member of Carey Baptist Ch, Reading, for many years, he later moved to Alweston, nr Sherborne, Dorset. He compiled The Book of Praises (Carey Publications, Liverpool) in 1987, with versions of 71 Psalms; these include modified texts of Watts and a few other classic paraphrasers, but most are by contemporary writers including himself. 60 of his metrical Psalm versions are so far published, including one each in Sing Glory (2000), the Scottish Church Hymnary 4th Edn (2005) and Sing Praise (2010), and 3 in the 2004 edn of CH; also 10 tunes. His writing and composing has taken place in Leicester, Reading, Nigeria and his present home; he was a member of the editorial board throughout the preparation of Praise! and had a major share in the choice of music for the Psalm texts (1-150). His convictions about the Psalms, as expressed in the Introduction to BP, are that ‘There is nothing to compare with their blend of the subjective and the objective, the inner life and practical goodness, the knowledge of one’s own rebellious heart and the knowledge of God…Today’s general neglect of congregational Psalm singing is a symptom of the spiritual malaise of our churches. When the preaching of the Gospel has prospered, bringing into being churches vibrant with spiritual life, men and women have taken great delight in praising their Maker and Redeemer through these scriptural hymns’. 15 of his own, self-selected, feature as his share of ‘contemporary hymns’ in the 2009 Come Celebrate; he has also served as a meticulous proof-reader. Nos.1, 2A, 5*, 6, 7, 11, 15, 16, 17, 19A, 24A, 27A, 30B, 32*, 33*, 38, 40, 42, 43, 47, 51*, 52, 55, 57*, 64, 66, 74, 76, 77, 84, 90, 91A, 96*, 97, 99, 100B, 101, 114*, 120, 126, 132, 139, 142*, 143, 145A, 147*, 824*, 830*, 963*.