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 O God Beyond All Praising from 1982.
This one sounds old, but it’s from 1982 – which is a modern year to me 😀. That was when I was a new believer gaining familiarity with all the new charismatic choruses. I see a lot of Roman Catholics singing this one, but it was written by an Anglican evangelical. I like the fact that Roman Catholics sing evangelical hymns and worship songs. I’d be happy to sing a Roman Catholic hymn if it was Bible based. I wouldn’t sing Hail Glorious Saint Patrick or Holy Mary Mother of Mine – though I sang them as a child – back when I was a Roman Catholic. The funny thing about today’s hymn is that it’s based on a tune used for the hymn I Vow to Thee My Country. That’s an odd hymn. If you think of your country as your community, maybe you could think in terms of vowing to love others. But I wouldn’t think of my country in idolatrous terms.
But perhaps the writer was trying to gently ease people away from idolizing their country and getting them thinking about our true heavenly home.
Philippians 3:20-21
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Hebrew 11:16
16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
But thankfully, O God Beyond All Praising has much better lyrics – it’s all about God. The writer, Michael Perry, was firmly rooted in the evangelical tradition of the Church of England. He’s said to have written over 300 hymns.
Most of my evangelical life has been spent in Baptist and non-denominational churches. Folk in my circles are generally uneasy with evangelical Anglicans because we think that they shouldn’t co-operate with non-evangelicals.
A very influential evangelical figure, Martyn Lloyd Jones, suggested that they leave the Church of England back in 1966:
Yet, many of the evangelical books on my bookshelf are written by Anglicans, and Anglican evangelicals have probably been hugely influential in all sorts of ways – through both the reformed and charismatic movements, which have loomed large throughout my life.
Here’s a list of some well-known evangelical Anglicans:
- Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556
- John Wesley (1703–1791)
- George Whitefield (1714–1770)
- John Newton (1725–1807)
- William Wilberforce (1759–1833)
- Charles Simeon (1759–1836)
- J. C. Ryle (1816–1900)
- Handley Moule (1841-1920
- John Stott (1921–2011)
- J. I. Packer (1926–2020)
- Michael Green (1930–2019)
- David Watson (1933-1984)
- Dick Lucas (b. 1925)
- N. T. (Tom) Wright (b. 1948)
- Alister McGrath (b. 1953)
- Peter Jensen (b. 1943)
- Rico Tice (b.1966)
They all became more famous than me – however they managed it 😀.
Here are some other versions of today’s hymn:
