When Günter Schlechter, a friend who conducts a choir in Schleswig, asked me for a hymn for St Martin’s Day 2018, I was moved, not least because I had been wondering how Germans would keep the centenary of the end Read More …
* Dutch priest Henri Nouwen was gently taken to task by a friend, Sue Mostelles: “… most people around you don’t need you to be a good friend or even a kind brother. We need you to be a father who Read More …
* In October 2011, as part of a national celebration of the seventy-fifth birthday of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland, a bi-lingual interdenominational festival Cenwch Clod Ddyffryn Tywi Valley Sing Praise was held at Capel Salem in Llandeilo Fawr. Giving expression to some of Read More …
** This four-part round is a simple thanksgiving for the gift of children. Kinder sind eine Gabe des Herrn (Round).midi
** This 2006 anthem, written for the Matins Choir at St Teilo’s Church, Llandeilo Fawr, was grown from a Round composed in 1979. Rejoice, O land (SATB + organ).midi
* This hymn is a simple grace before eating together.
*** The background to this hymn is in the story of the rejection by Sarah and Abraham, after the birth of their son, Isaac, of both Hagar, Sarah’s slave and Abraham’s concubine, and Ishmael, Hagar’s son by Abraham. COMMENTARY In the same way as Read More …
*** Romans 12.1 is the inspiration for this hymn: I beseech you, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. It would be good if congregations are encouraged to sing this hymn, but, plainly, it is more of a hymn-anthem than a Read More …
* This hymn is written in conscious imitation of and in homage to Erik Routley’s ‘All who love and serve your city’, with Peter Cutts’ music in mind. You who love and serve creation.midi COMMENTARY This hymn is based in 1 Thessalonians Read More …
* This hymn for Mothering Sunday comes from the conviction that ‘Christ’s love makes mothers of us all’. Conceived within the womb of Christ.midi COMMENTARY Some people attending a service for ‘Mothers’ Day’ were baffled by this hymn’s insistence that it Read More …