I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the in-between hymns.
Today’s song is God of Glory, We Exalt Your Name by David Fellingham. It’s from 1982.
I spent September 82 to September 83 working as a voluntary evangelist with London City Mission. I visited various churches, but the closest one to our hostel in Bermondsey was Bermondsey Christian Fellowship, which eventually evolved into City Hope. It was a charismatic church, part of the new restoration movement at the time – now known as the British New Church movement.
As often happens, sometimes a new movement emerges that wants everyone to leave their denominations and get back to the New Testament church. You can see why such a vision would be controversial. The problem is, how can you get everyone to agree on what shape the churches should take? I had all sorts of debates back then with others and within my own mind. In later years, I didn’t see myself as a charismatic. I would have been more aligned to the Metropolitan Tabernacle nearby, which is decidedly anti-charismatic. Still, I have fond memories of all the people and all the music at Bermondsey Christian Fellowship. And I was rarely anti-charismatic, though I don’t generally like the extreme wing of any movement.
Anyway, lets get to the hymn. It’s based on many passages, including the following:
Psalm 29:3-4
The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic.
When we’d sing God of Glory, the boys and girls would sing the chorus differently. You can hear that pattern in the lyric video above. I’m trying to visualize what the band was like. I think it might have just consisted of a few acoustic guitars, a flute, and perhaps a piano.
David Fellingham was closely associated with Downs Bible Week. So, I guess that the fellowship had just recently learned the song at that Bible week. When the 1983 Bible week approached, the members of the fellowship were asked to write songs for possible inclusion. I still remember some of their efforts. I don’t suppose that any of the compositions made it, but it was a nice thing to do. And I remember some songs that my fellow voluntary evangelists in London City Mission composed that year too. In all my years, I’ve never written a hymn or chorus. Maybe I should make a start. I don’t imagine that I’ll ever equal Charles Wesley’s achievements. Charles Wesley wrote well over 6,000 hymns during his lifetime.
Anyway, here are some other versions of God of Glory. Nice to know that it’s still remembered by some:
You can see all the songs from the Downs Bible Week 1982 cassette tape at the Discogs site. I do recognize a good number of them from my year in London Nowadays, I generally discover songs many years after their release. It was nice to have been able to sing these so soon after the time of writing. They all feel so magical to me. I can worship God, but I can also remember my 20-year old self. I’d love a world where you could jump around in time. At least I can do it in my mind 😀.
Hibernia Gospel 