Hymns: 1984 Memories

In September 1983, I returned to Ireland (from London) and settled back into Cork Baptist Church. I started teacher training in Limerick, but I returned home to Cork every weekend. In London, I had met Christians from all sorts of backgrounds, visited various types of churches, and engaged in all sorts of theological debates. Some of the more theologically minded of my friends steered clear of the charismatic scene. As I mentioned in my previous post, I never personally experienced anything very silly or sinister among the charismatics that I knew, but you would hear disturbing stories of the more extreme wings of it in the UK and the US.

So, what was silly? Perhaps an example would be people thinking that the Holy Spirit was speaking to them throughout the day, such as telling them whether to have Cornflakes or Weetabix for their breakfast. And though it’s a very sensible thing to pray for guidance from above, it isn’t necessarily sensible to base decisions solely on your sense of what God is saying to you. You might be wrong. Then, you’d hear tales of people falling down in meetings, claiming that they were slain in the Spirit. In the 1990’s the Toronto Blessing became popular, where people would bark like dogs and make other animal noises in meetings. Then, there was a fad where people were claiming that their dental fillings were turning to gold.

And what was sinister? Many would say that even the silly things were sinister because it discredited evangelicalism, and it shifted the focus from the word of God to the sort of claims that characterize what evangelicals consider false cults and religions. But many viewed the claims to perform healing miracles as sinister because it took advantage of vulnerable people. And of course, the scene became big business, with all sorts of TV evangelist scandals and so on.

Most charismatic and Pentecostal churches in Ireland had no part in all this. They’d be quick to condemn it and distance themselves from it. But many influential traditional evangelicals argued that being charismatic or Pentecostal makes you vulnerable to such things. So, some argued that we should completely steer clear of the charismatic scene.

By contrast, despite the abuses, charismatics, and those sympathetic or open to it, would claim that the Holy Spirit was renewing the church. Three hymns of that period emphasized this. And these were popular across all churches, even many non-charismatic churches.

Most would have sung these and interpreted them as celebrating the work of the Holy Spirit. But you could understand that some might have seen them as calling people into the charismatic movement or a specific faction if it. Sometimes when someone calls for unity, they mean come and unite behind us, or even unite behind me.

The debates still go on today. Here are some books from the different perspectives:

So, throughout the 1980’s, even though I was still friendly with people in charismatic and Pentecostal churches and somewhat open to some aspects of their outlook, my main influence would have been the more conservative, traditional, reformed churches and publications. For example:

• Metropolitan Tabernacle
• Evangelical Times
• Evangelicals Now
• Reformation Today

I had been introduced to the theology of the reformation a few years before. I was particularly drawn to what are known as the doctrines of grace, which emphasize the fact that Christians have the joy of knowing that God chose us before the creation of the world and that God orders and plans everything. From our perspective, we ourselves are shaping everything, but in the background, God is the one writing the script. Here are some relevant verses:

Psalm 139:16
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Eph 1:4-5
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

Eph 1:11
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

Rom 8:29-30
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

2 Tim 1:9 
He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,

This emphasis goes back to St. Augustine, and of course, to the Scriptures themselves. But many verses also focus on our perspective. You don’t sit around waiting for God to reveal himself to you. You consciously respond to the call to repent and trust in Jesus.

John 10:14-15
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.

John 6:44
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Acts 16:14
One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.

Three hymns that emphasize God’s role in bringing us to himself are Amazing Grace, I Sought the Lord, and And Can it Be

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew
He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking me;
it was not I that found, O Savior true;
no, I was found of Thee.

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth and followed Thee. 

And Can it Be was written by Charles Wesley, who was Arminian in his theology. Arminians don’t really like the idea of God choosing people. But still, you can see in the verse quoted, God gets the credit. I rise and follow Jesus because he set my heart free.

The argument on predestination and free will goes on in most or all religions, and even within atheism (fate or physical processes in the brain and body verses free will). But for me, it’s always a great comfort knowing that the world is in God’s hands. I much prefer to think of God writing the script of history than thinking of him as a passive observer of the future (as Armenians believe), or as someone who doesn’t even know the future (as Open Theists believe). But these arguments go on within evangelicalism, although most people that I know see Open Theism as a bit of a heresy.

Regarding singing hymns and songs for the first time, my main memories are the very early years of my Christian life (80-83). After that, it’s a bit of a blur. I just know that most new songs came out of the charismatic scene, and these took a few years to find their way into Baptist churches. Here are 10 old and 10 newish hymns that were among my favourites from that period:

Around that time Mission Praise was first published. We had used a few different chorus books in the early 1980s, such as Scripture in Song and Songs of Fellowship, but eventually, most churches I attended used Mission Praise.

Other church-related memories from that year include the following:

• Visiting Maranatha, a Christian coffee bar in Limerick, which was run in a basement across the road from Mallow Street Hall. And there was a Christian bookshop in William Street, which moved to Upper Gerald Griffin Street in the 90s.
• Hearing much about the Elim Pentecostal Fellowship in Limerick, though I never visited it myself. It didn’t continue into the 1990s, but I still meet people who became Christians there. RTE featured a healing event that they held in 1983. In later years, the pastor, Paddy McMahon, dropped into some of our meetings in the Baptist church. He was a lovely guy, who went to be with the Lord in 2024.
• Attending a series of films featuring James Dobson in Mary Immaculate College in the autumn of 1984. These related to marriage and family issues.
• Touring Europe in the summer. Being a fan of John Calvin, I went to his cathedral in Geneva. I was the only one who showed up for the walking tour. I also remember street preachers in Munich and going to a Baptist church near Salzburg. The service was in English.
• Getting involved in the Baptist Youth Evangelism (BYE) team in Waterford Baptist Church.
• Learning Irish on Cape Clear, off the coast of West Cork for three weeks. We were expected to speak Irish all the time. When someone said Dia Dhuit (God bless you), the proper response was Dia is Muire Dhuit (God and Mary bless you). As an evangelical, I refused to say that, but I didn’t have enough knowledge of Irish to explain why in Irish, and of course, I wasn’t allowed to speak English 😀 during the classes.
• The new Bishop of Durham, David Jenkins, who cast doubt on the resurrection of Jesus. Funnily enough, many years later, N.T. Wright became bishop of Durham. He is well known for writing a scholarly book that argued for the physical resurrection of Jesus.
• Buying my first single since 1980 at Christmas 1984, when Do They Know its Christmas was released. Our little Christian Union (Plassey Christians we called ourselves) had an event to raise money for the famine in Ethiopia and we played that single in the background. I think we also showed Chariots of Fire and The Hiding Place that year, as well as having regular Bible Studies and prayer meetings. We also had a talk on religious cults. This was done in response to some hysteria in the early 1980s. Some regarded any group that wasn’t Roman Catholic or mainstream Protestant as a cult.
• Visiting the catacombs in Rome and the room where the apostle Paul was said to have been held prisoner. I also went to Pompei.

Learning Irish in Cape Clear June 1984

Finally, here’s some music, events, and films/TV shows that would have formed the background to 1993. I don’t necessarily endorse all the songs or films😀, but thinking of them takes me back to 1993.

10 Songs

• Radio Ga Ga​ – Queen
• The Reflex – Duran Duran
• You’re the Best Thing – Style Council
• 99 Red Balloons​ – Nena
• Hide And Seek​ – Howard Jones
• The Riddle – Nick Kershaw
• One Better Day – Madness
• Skin Deep – The Stranglers
• Together in Electric Dreams – Giorgio Moroder and Philip Oakey
• I Just Called to Say I Love You – Stevie Wonder

10 Events

• Apple Launches the Macintosh
• Soviet Union Boycotts the Summer Olympics
• Indira Gandhi Assassinated
• Brunei Gains Independence from the UK
• Michael Jackson Burned During Pepsi Commercial
• Virgin Atlantic Airways Launches
• Visit of U.S. President Ronald Reagan to Ireland
• Ford Motor Company Closes Cork Plant
• DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) Opens
• UK Miners’ Strike Begins

10 Films or TV Shows

• The Terminator
• Ghostbusters
• Amadeus
• Gremlins
• Paris, Texas
• Romancing the Stone
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
• Crimewatch UK
• Miami Vice
• MT-USA

10 Famous People Who Passed Away

• Luke Kelly – Legendary folk singer and founding member of The Dubliners, known for his powerful voice and political activism
• Tommy Cooper – Welsh-Irish comedian and magician, beloved across Ireland for his slapstick humor
• Marvin Gaye – Soul singer known for What’s Going On and Sexual Healing; tragically shot by his father
• Indira Gandhi – Prime Minister of India, assassinated in October
• Richard Burton – Acclaimed Welsh actor, famed for Cleopatra and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• Count Basie – Jazz pianist and bandleader, founder of the Count Basie Orchestra
• Diana Dors – English actress and sex symbol of the 1950s
• Yuri Andropov – Soviet leader and former head of the KGB
• Jackie Wilson – Soul singer behind hits like Lonely Teardrops
• Eric Morecambe – British comedian, half of the duo Morecambe and Wise