Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. (Psalm 33:3)
Children become adults, but all adults are still children. Perhaps that’s the best way to sum up the hymn “Come, Christians, Join to Sing” written by Christian Henry Bateman in the 19th Century, which was first published in 1843. And, with his own adaptation of Bateman’s hymn, Randy Gill in 2003 echoed Bateman’s effort with “Come Worship Christ the King”. One might say that Gill’s composition is the offspring -- the child -- of Bateman’s original hymn. Let’s travel back to Bateman’s era, and see what he was doing, thinking, and saying with his hymn that we sing today with renewed vigor. The year was 1843, and Bateman had taken an assignment with a Congregational church in Edinburgh, Scotland. What else was going on?
Christian Bateman’s hymn was originally pitched toward children: “Come, Children, Join to Sing” was included in the collected works that he edited and entitled Sacred Melodies for Sabbath Schools and Families. This collection was also known as the The Children’s Hymnal and Christian Year, and another alternate title indicates it contained 200 songs. The song’s straight, uncomplicated melodic rhythm is easily grasped, allowing me, the worshipper, to focus on its simple theme. Christ is my forever Lord, and I can rejoice, with abandon, in that basic truth. Nothing too difficult to communicate there, but it’s so often far removed from the minds of adults distracted by daily life. Not so for kids, perhaps. As a kid, I didn’t think about work, paying bills, traffic headaches, or other such intrusions. I thought about play, things that I wanted to enjoy – softball games, band practice, watching cats frolic. Perhaps Bateman wanted to tap into that well of joy that kids so easily gravitate toward, reminding us what joy we adults have, even as life threatens to drag us down. Whoever changed the original title from ‘Children’ to ‘Christians’ must have thought we adults need this joyful song as much, or even more than kids.
Randy Gill changed a few words and a few notes in 2003 with his composition. The child still celebrates inside me as I sing, but Gill helps me capture in the music a new energy with an offbeat syncopation, versus the straightforward beat that Bateman originally used. ‘It’s jazz’, my spirit exults. It’s a head-bobbing, jumpy celebration – it’s a party! – that I cannot ignore, if I want to sing in the spirit. Perhaps Randy Gill didn’t realize it, but the joyful spirit of the song he helped further may have originated in the faith background of the hymn’s composer. Although Christian Henry Bateman ministered in several Congregational churches in England and Scotland as an Anglican, he actually studied as part of the Moravian Church (one of many Protestant offshoots, initiated by Jan Hus in 14th Century Bohemia and Moravia [present-day Czech Republic]) early in his life. Moravians’ basic tenets are said to include happiness. Bateman wouldn’t have recognized the jazz (a 20th Century invention) that Randy Gill employs to underscore the message in the hymn, but he would have appreciated its compelling nature. Worshipping Him makes one happy. Now who -- children and adults, alike -- wouldn’t want that!
Information on the song was obtained from the books “Amazing Grace – 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions”, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, 1990; and “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006.
More biographic information on composer: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/a/t/bateman_ch.htm
See also the following site, for background on Moravians: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravian_Church
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