Went to a service on Sunday night to celebrate the tercentenary of the birth of Charles Wesley. All the music was Wesleyan – and the organist had just gained his M.Phil on the theology of James Denney. A night of sound theology and responsible hymn singing guaranteed!
Several observations though:-
"And can it be" should never, ever, be sung to any other tune than Sagina. The confluence of evangelical theology at its most attractive and musical dynamic at its most singable should be declared sacrosanct.
"O Thou who camest from above" remains one of the finest hymns in our langauge. The clearly expressed longing and aspiration of the human heart open to the coming of the Holy Spirit is simply sublime.
"Lo he comes with clouds descending" is an awe-full hymn. Heavy theology informs sombre reflection on the end times – but the hymn is redolent of transcendent glory and coming majesty. Sung by a full church supported by a 60 voice choir – this was hair raising praise – even for bald worshippers such as me!
This all took place in Aberdeen Methodist Church, within sight of Wesley’s chair, gifted to the Society in Aberdeen because it was a gift from someone in Huntly and he had no room in his coach to take it south. Ive sat on it, and while not being too enthusiastic about evangelical relics, this was different!
Later this year I am going to blog on Wesley’s hymns – and why it will be liturgically unacceptable, spiritually diminishing, theologically impoverishing, and pastorally irresponsible to lose such hymns through the default mechanism of what C S Lewis called chronological snobbery. Few hymn writers come close to articulating the Evangelical experience with more precision and passion, than Charles Wesley at his best.
Leave a Reply to mark Cancel reply