The video machine is a marvellous invention - thanks to my own video I was able to record an edition of Songs of Praise, which came from St. Mary's church, Primrose Hill. It was a special programme to celebrate the centenary of the publication of the English Hymnal, which first saw the light of day on Ascension Day 1906.
The most famous vicar of St. Mary's was Percy Dearmer - who boldly asked the composer Ralph Vaughan -Williams to be Musical Editor of the new book. The Songs of Praise programme showed actors taking the parts of Vaughan-Williams and Gustav Holst - travelling throughout East Anglia collecting folk tunes, which they would include in the hymnal.
When it was first published a century ago - it proved to be quite a controversial book. First of all - it wasn't Bible Black - the covers were a distinctive shade of green. Green is the colour of growth and the new book's compilers intended to grow something new and fresh with the advent of this distinctive hymnbook. It was different also in that it had a catholic flavour and promoted the centrality of the Eucharist in Christian Liturgy. It also had a social conscience. Percy Dearmer was most certainly a Christian Socialist with a bias to the poor. Our own Conrad Noel, the famous vicar of Thaxted, was himself a part-time curate at St. Mary's, Primrose Hill when Dearmer was vicar. It is significant that Dearmer omitted the verse from Mrs. Alexander's hymn All things bright and beautiful which goes
The rich man in
his castle,
The poor man at
his gate,
God made them high
and lowly,
And ordered their
estate.
That was definitely not what Percy Dearmer believed. Such views were not universally popular in Edwardian English a hundred years ago. The then Archbishop of Canterbury - Randall Davidson ordered that no parish be allowed to use the green hymnal within his diocese. Twenty years ago in 1986 - the New English Hymnal was introduced. That is the hymnbook that we use at both All Saints' and at St. Mary's. A worthy successor to the original in that it is based chiefly on the Church's year and her sacramental life; with a significant section on the Kingdom of God. It is not without significance that the first English Hymnal came into being on Ascension Day - the day when we give thanks to God for the Kingship of Christ. So many modern hymns and spiritual songs are, in the words of the Bishop of Europe, "thin gruel for the soul". The English Hymnal is a meaty hymnbook of much substance, which sustains and nourishes the faithful as we offer the sacrifice of praise to Christ, our Lord and King.
O Praise ye the Lord
Father David