We praise the God in whom we trust

It is comparatively rare to find a hymn (as distinct from a song) whose author also composed its tune (but cf 543 among others). This was written in 1996 in Bow, E London, when Richard Simpkin was music director at St Helen’s Bishopsgate in the City of London. William Taylor, then curate and later to succeed Dick Lucas as rector, requested something ‘to give a fuller account of Deuteronomy 32 than [a current song] Ascribe greatness to the Lord our God.’ It became known by being sung both in the congregation (first on 28 July 1996) and at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly, meeting there in the late 1990s. The Songbook and CD ‘So hear his voice’ included it in May 2000, and this is the first appearance in a hymnal of both the words and their sonorous tune BOROUGH LIGHTS. Borough is an historic part of the Borough of Southwark near London Bridge; the tune name refers to ‘Borough traffic-lights, waiting for a green’.

b Bloxwich, Staffs 1969. Eton College (music scholar); Gonville and Caius Coll Cambridge (organ scholar, BA/MA). His musical life began in the choir of Lichfield Cathedral, where as a violinist he also led the orchestra for two years, and was later its organ scholar. But it was at Eton that he came to understand the grace of God through Jesus’ death on the cross for him. After graduation he taught at Felstead School (Essex) for two years, and became a pastoral assistant at St Anne’s Limehouse. Since 1995 he has been Music Director of St Helen’s, Bishopsgate in the City of London. His work was first published in So Hear His Voice (Songbook and CD) by St Helen’s in May 2000; some 15 items are so far in print. He has supplied a monthly column ‘The Music Exchange’ in Evangelicals Now from 2003 to the present (2011), and from 2001 he has worked creatively with a group of Christian writer/composers, for the exchange of information, mutual criticism and encouragement in their Christian faith. Nos.2B*, 707, 1007, 1218*, 1313*