ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL
In the British Isles, for generations, school children have been taught the hymn All things bright and beautiful. Its familiarity is a point of fondness for many but it has also drawn ridicule from a number of different sources.
Take for example the British comedian Stewart Lee. It would be an understatement to say that he was not fond of the hymn. “The key word is all. All those things have been made by God,” Lee explains, before then asking what I’d always assumed to be a valid question:
…given how clear that is, why is it then necessary for the hymn writer to go on and give a further 19 specific examples of some of the individual things God made in case when you read that through, you didn’t understand it meant? (1)
Comedians and British school children are not alone in their hatred for the song. The Chairman of the Royal College of Organists, Lord Lisvane, wrote in a letter to the Times that he “find[s] the saccharine doggerel, combined with the jingly tune – not that easy for congregations to sing actually - deeply depressing – especially when there are so many wonderful alternatives” (2).
In the past, I have agreed with many of the complaints that were made about the hymn, especially when revisiting the hymn in a sociology class when I fully realised the lines about God ordaining the state of affairs allowing the rich man in his castle and the poor man at his gate – a verse that is often omitted. It’s an uncommon for organists, comedians, and Marxists to unite, but All things bright and beautiful achieves this dubious distinction.
Yet my view began to change on a visit to a care home, in a former parish that I sadly no longer visit. A small group of parishioners and clergy had organised a harvest festival service for the residents, many of whom were affected by dementia. We stepped into a small communal room where there were a few of the residents. In that tight space, it was difficult to focus, with numerous distractions arising throughout our time there. Any comment or call would bounce off the walls and be heard clear as day and so any moments of quiet during prayer were brief and often interrupted.
After a few songs that had not been very popular, there was among clergy a slight feeling of awkwardness about how the next song would be received. But as the music of All things bright and beautiful began, every voice in the room could be heard singing the words powerfully and with strong conviction. Despite the impact of a cruel disease, they remembered each line, hardly needing to refer to the words because of the number of times that they had sung it throughout their lives. They’d learnt it at school, they’d sung it at weddings, they’d known it from funerals. It was like a familiar song that put people at ease in a range of circumstances in life, enabling them to join in with one another in worshipping God in a culture that didn’t know how.
And the song told a story that God loved everything that he created. It spun a different narrative to the world’s, one in which someone’s worth or value does not derive from their utility, but is an inherent aspect of their pointing to their creator that knows and loves them.
The singing of those words with conviction unintentionally appropriated the song and reminded the hearers that they were bright and beautiful, because they had been created and loved by their God.
With tears, I came away feeling humbled that I had snobbishly dismissed it. God had spoken through its simplicity to me. It reminded me that my own fears of aging or disease were not something that could ever cut me off from his love for me.
Lord Lisvane is correct. Of course there are numerous alternatives that may have more beautiful tunes. There are definitely songs that have more theologically rich lyrics. What those hymns lack, though, is the history of having been known and been regularly sung over generations. Like an old pair of shoes, this song is familiar to those that don’t often step into church settings and enable those people to worship God. The tune and lyrics don’t distract, they enable. In the context of any of those emotionally charged life events previously mentioned, familiarity and fewer distractions can be a good thing. From an Anglican perspective, this way of worshipping together strikes a chord with Cranmer’s reforms that made worship an accessible, participatory act drawing the congregation together into the divine life, bringing whatever experiences and emotions being felt to God in prayer.
The experience of singing that hymn in the care home reminded me of the valuable lesson on not placing limits on what God can and cannot use, in not allowing utility to dictate something’s worth. Instead of seeing the song as being a barrier to “proper” worship, it facilitated it. In those moments when I feel that I have exhausted the depths of a song or I feel bored of it, perhaps there is the opportunity for the Holy Spirit to move and to bring a new perspective to it, to myself and to theact of worship. We cannot guarantee that every hymn we sing will contain the most inspiring lyrics or beautiful melodies, but God can still use it to move and speak profoundly to us through it. In this case, All things bright and beautiful reminded me of the beauty in that care home, among those people. It told me something about how good and pleasant it is when the church worships in unity, and songs like All things bright and beautiful can be a part of that, an accessible, familiar hymn that enables people to fit into a service of worship without making demands of them. This song reminds us that God uses all things – including the seemingly mundane or overly familiar to us, even when our hearts are weary or our bodies frail. In current debates about human life, Christian theology plays a significant role in reminding us that each person in that room had a value that was not determined by their utility, but simply in virtue of being created by their God. It might be, then, that song doesn’t have value exclusively in reference to its own utility, whether in poetry or the musical abilities needed to play it. God’s ways being higher than our ways, is able to use the simple, the saccharine, the familiar. God can use those things that we don’t always value.
Stewart Lee was correct there is no need to mention every beautiful thing that God has created. Sometimes though, it’s useful to be reminded of them all by name. Especially in the face of deterioration in health, it’s helpful to remember that they are known and loved by God.
Glenys
Norman
Derrick
Jean
Margaret
The Lord God made them all.
(Not actual names)
Fist of Fun Dot Net, 2009. Stewart Lee - All Things Bright & Beautiful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7dYXVLPd6Y
Lambert, G. 2024. Bright and beautiful? Hymn is depressing, organist peer groans, The Times, 29 April 2024. Available from: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/religion/article/bright-and-beautiful-hymn-is-depressing-organist-peer-groans-9gpds585w (Accessed 21st October 2024)
