My Grandmother Always Used to Say...

...that when a good Christian Girl gets to church, the first thing she should do is make sure she knows all the Hims!

Is it any wonder I married a bloke with such a predilection for bad puns?

Anyway, back to the hims/hymns theme.

Really interesting piece in the Times yesterday by Robert Crampton, about how he attended a Songs Of Praise Service whilst on holiday in Wales. Read it here

I usually find myself smiling at RC's stuff, although we have very little in common [But he lives in Hackney, and at one point when Steph was living there as a student, I suspected he was stalking her - wherever she went, he seemed to write about it the following Saturday!] But he is nowhere near the regular-at-church-hymn-singing-fanatic-person-of-faith...no way!

So his article about how he actually enjoyed singing the hymns was fascinating. Equally intriguing - the full list of sixteen that the Vicar had chosen. Absolutely NOTHING written after 1950! But RC didn't appear to have any sort of problem with that - 'no fancy modern arrangements' he says, almost approvingly.

Yes, I enjoy Townend/Kendrick/Redman and the other new kids on the block, but somehow this article [by a non-Xn] extolling the joys of Wesley/Whittier/Newton and co vindicates my belief that sometimes you really can't beat a good sing to a melodious [and predictable] tune!

I hope and pray RC does act on his final comment... 'I really ought to go more often' - and enjoys it even more!

[Picture is Webster's "'Village Choir" painted in 1847 from the V&A. Do check out their instruments!]