REFLECTION 1 Shirley’s introduction to her hymnbook
“A Place at the Table” 2013
© 2013 Hope Publishing Company
prepared by Patricia Booth
A hymnwriter’s task takes temerity,
dexterity shot with sincerity,
but do lots of pruning
and endless retuning
before you are sung by posterity…
While not much concerned about posterity, I offer this collection for the here and now, as a kind of spiritual autobiography of the years since writing “Touch the Earth Lightly” (Hope, 2009). The themes will tell you that I have not ceased to centre on peace, partnered with justice, as these relate to our own faith journey.
But now that I find my life further away from the church and closer to what Jesus is actually pointing to, new elements come into play. Here is one:
I have used the words of the hymn “A Place at the Table” as title for this book, because there are still Christian people not welcome, either at the communion table or at the common table of society. To this end, I have added a verse to the text found in “Faith Makes the Song” (Hope, 2002):
For gay and for straight, a place at the table,
a covenant shared, a welcoming space,
a rainbow of race and gender and colour,
for gay and for straight, the chalice of grace,
and God will delight
when we are creators of justice and joy,
compassion and peace…
Creating justice and joy means walking into the territory of basic human rights, as Jesus did. It means being aware of our own fragility as well as our planet’s, and using technology wisely. I have struggled to express this latter in hymn/song language without losing either the “poetry” or the “piety” which John Wesley advocated:
“Let me accept revelation in science,
all that enhances the life of the earth,
let me reject all that threatens her nature,
testing technology’s status and worth.
Let me be part of a new evolution
honouring others who honour the good,
artists in living out love without labels,
standing in places where Jesus has stood.”
(“Go-between God”)
Because I live in a highly secular society in Aotearoa/New Zealand, I am conscious of how the stereotypes of Christianity can be cynically dismissed. I long to say that there is so much to understand and embrace in the wisdom, spiritual treasury and survival skills that Jesus has given the world.
It is also an interfaith and interactive world I live in, so some of these texts reflect my hope for the “care and connection making us kin” that seems imperative for our human survival:
“God give us wisdom, luminous thinking,
prizing this rainbow, sensing its scope,
finding the gold in icons of others,
working to paint the colours of hope”
(“Just as a rainbow”)
These hymns – be they attempting the pastoral, the prophetic or the impossible – are my present way to express this for myself, and hopefully, for you.
REFLECTION 2 Rosemary Lawrence
In my reflection I shall draw on the words of Emeritus Professor Colin Gibson who spoke at Shirley’s funeral with so much love, understanding and appreciation of her hymn writing skills and personal qualities.
Colin, as some of you may know, is organist and choir master at Mornington Methodist Choir Dunedin and has been writing hymn texts and hymn settings for over 20 years. He collaborated with Shirley, providing the music to many of her hymns, which are represented in several Hope publications, as well as having his own published collections of hymns.
I am aware that many of St Andrew’s current community may have sung Shirley Murray hymns but not know much about the woman who Colin described as New Zealand’s greatest hymn writer. She was a modest soul who rarely spoke about her many achievements and honours, so I shall do so.
Shirley graduated from Otago University with MA (Honours) in Classics and French. In 2009 from the same University she received an Honorary Doctorate of Literature, in recognition of her hymn writing. She was a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, Honorary Fellow of Royal School of Church Music London, Fellow of the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada and Erik Routley Fellow of the Presbyterian Church of America. Her hymns have been translated into numerous languages and are represented in more than 140 hymn collections.
Colin honoured her deliberate commitment to the perfection of her craft, creating a body of hymns and songs of such integrity, beauty, truth and originality which won her a world-wide reputation. At the time of her death messages of admiration and sadness were received from Australia, Sweden, Canada, America and Scotland (in particular the Iona Community).
He also thanked her for, “sharing her keen sighted faith: a faith that faced the world as it really is, singing her song of love into the darkness.”
In hymn writer and friend Marnie Barrell’s words, “Shirley has left a legacy of hymns for the Church that is to be.”
Kua hinga te Totara I te wao nui a Tane. A great Totara has fallen in the forest of Tane.
Chaucer, Drama, Hymnology
Colin Gibson was born in Dunedin, the south island of New Zealand. He has been writing hymn texts and hymn settings for over 20 years. His works have been published and performed in Africa, the United States, Asia and Australasia, Great Britain and Europe. He is organist and director of the Mornington Methodist Choir, Dunedin, New Zealand and a lay preacher. He retired in 1999 as Head of the Department and Donald Collie Professor of English at the University of Otago where he currently heads the Department of Theatre Studies and continues to lecture in English Literature as Emeritus Professor. He has conducted numerous hymn workshops in New Zealand, Australia and Great Britain, and has been co-editor of a number of hymn collections. His frequent collaboration with Shirley Erena Murray is represented in several Hope publications, and he has his own published collections of hymns. The next hymn is one such collaboration.
Audio of selected readings and reflections
Audio of the complete service
THANK YOU