I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I grew up in a singing tradtion, church-wise. My dad led the ‘singing’, my mom was the pianist. I was told that I attended my first church service when I was 6 days old, and slept inside an open guitar case, though I have no recollection of that event.
We sang choruses and hymns at Kermit First Assembly of God. Somehow, it never dawned on me who the writers of the songs were. I didn’t know the names Watts, Wesley, Crosby, …. I just knew how to sing their songs. Later in life, I began to recognize composers and appreciate those who had written prolifically and well (Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts ..). One thing though, I didn’t know any of them personally because they all had passed on, most of them dead for a century or more. Today, I know quite a few living hymnists and, wow, one of them is my wife.
An unexpected thing happened a couple of years ago. Dr. R. Mark Shipp,
professor of Old Testament at Austin Graduate School of Theology invited my wife to submit one of her songs for a new hymnal, and, in fact, to become one of the composers. Several of the Churches of Christ sing one of her songs (from Psalm 124) so they invited her to be part of the writers group.
The new hymnal, volume 1 – just released through ACU Press, is “Timeless: Ancient Psalms for the Church Today”. The project has a goal of producing a 3 volume set of hymns and commentary based on all of the 150 Psalms found in the Psalter.
Ambitious project, much?
The publishing of anything of substance is an arduous task. The process of producing this first volume took 8 years. (The pace for the next two is substantially higher with a goal to finish each on a two year cycle). We met many of the writers, arrangers and reviewers over the last two years, (we were late to the project). My hat (if I wore one) is off to all of them for their dedication, craftsmanship, and buying into the vision for completing this project. They were and are still, wonderful people to know and work with.
Dr. Mark Shipp, wow, what a monstrous effort, writing many of the songs, editing the entire tome, building a team of musical and theological contributors to finish this first volume. It is a vision bigger than many of us would think possible, but, I know the feeling of seeing something unfold before you like this, and suddenly, you know it can be done if we all get together and do our part. What a delicious thing to see it, struggle with it, and finally, it happens. Congratulations Mark, and to all of those you represent who have worked so hard to see it happen.
And how delightful for me to say “congratulations” to my wife, Debbie, who is a contributor on 7 of the 108 songs found in the hymnal. I’m probably the only one who knows how hard you worked on these songs, how ill-equipped you felt as you labored to deliver something worthy of the task. The task is daunting, mixing the call of being a devoted worshiper of the most High God and striving, fearfully, to create songs which would reflect your heart and remain true to the scriptures we love. I so appreciate the fact that you are humble about this, and that you are embarrassed by all the attention. However, I, and many of your friends, honor you for this gift that you are to us. We love the songs you write that help us connect to our Redeemer and Creator. Let us, at least, tell you that much. It’s not bragging, it’s honoring. We’re not saying you are Isaac Watts or Charles Wesley. We’re not comparing at all. We just know that you help us worship God, and we are so grateful.
And, it is good to have contemporary, living hymnists (I know they don’t think this is a word, but I like it so I use it). I do regret that my parents aren’t here to dote on you a bit. Dad would take the hymnal and use it for his morning devotions. Mom would play and sing them and be convinced they were the best songs ever written. I am so glad your mom, Bobby Byers, is still with us and able to enjoy this with you. And, I am sure your dad would have gotten choked up every time he tried to tell someone about it. I can, even now, hear his voice, see him shaking his head and clearing his throat.
I love that this wasn’t a long term goal for you. I love that, instead, it was a serendipity and a grace from God to have this door of opportunity suddenly in your path and that you simply walked through it and offered your gift to God, first, and then to the rest of us. As the song goes, “It’s a small thing to lay your life before a loving King”
