No Hymns Please, We're British

 

 

 

 1    As comes the breath of spring
    with light and mirth and song,
    so does your Spirit bring
    new days brave, free, and strong.
        You come with thrill of life
        to chase hence winter's breath,
        to hush to peace the strife
        of sin that ends in death.

2    You come like dawning day
    with flaming truth and love,
    to chase all glooms away,
    to brace our wills to prove
        how wise, how good to choose
        the truth and its brave fight,
        to prize it, win or lose,
        and live on your delight.

 I've written about the music of funerals and admitted that certain hymns such as In the Bulb There is a Flower, and Amazing Grace get overworked, at least in my estimation as someone who presided at 500+ funerals and memorial services. Still, there are brilliant hymns which assure us of God's presence and affirm our resurrection hope. I certainly noticed that many younger people stared forward during the singing of hymns because they simply didn't know them, not having grown up in faith communities.

So, it shouldn't come as a great surprise that not one hymn is in the Top Ten of tunes played at services in what is now a very secular Great Britain. Nope, not a single Christian hymn cracked the top of the funeral charts (kinda weird that they do a survey.) Instead, Frank Sinatra's My Way continues at numero uno while Ed Sheeren's Supermarket Flowers, a tribute to his grandmother, is very popular. It includes the words:

 

 Oh I'm in pieces, it's tearing me up, but I know
A heart that's broke is a heart that's been loved

So I'll sing Hallelujah
You were an angel in the shape of my mum
When I fell down you'd be there holding me up
Spread your wings as you go
And when God takes you back we'll say Hallelujah
You're home. 

It's sweet to the point of being maudlin, but there is a God and a granny angel and a couple of hallelujahs, so folk probably consider it a religious song. There you go. I suppose if Elton John could sing Candle in the Wind (very moving) at Princess Diana's memorial in Westminster Abbey, anything goes.

There is actually room for combining secular and sacred music in funerals, and I've led services where both have been included, effectively.

 

It will be hymns at my service though, or so I hope. One of my choices is As Comes the Breath of Spring, which is traditional, but , hey, I'm an old-school resurrection guy. 

3    You come like songs at morn
    that fill the earth with joy,
    till we, in Christ newborn,
    new strength in praise employ.
        You come to rouse the heart
        from drifting to despair,
        through high hopes to impart
        life with an ampler air.