Hymns of Hope and Healing
When I was working half-time as Director of The Theology Centre at Holy Rood House, we received a grant from the Pratt Green Trust for a project which we entitled Hymns for Healing.
The project began through a chance conversation (although you could call it the leading of the Spirit). A friend and colleague, Andrew Pratt, happened to mention that the Pratt Green Trust was able to make grants for projects relating to hymnody. Holy Rood House already had a long-standing association with an established hymn-writer in June Boyce-Tillman, and I had also written hymns alongside prayers and other forms of liturgy. So we started thinking, talking, and praying about how the healing work of Holy Rood could be combined with a project to do with hymns. As we reflected, it seemed to us that many of the hymns currently in use associated with healing came from a different era, before the recent advances in medical science and technology, when the causes of illness and disease were less well-known; and that perhaps we needed new words and imagery to express our current theological understandings. So we put in our bid, and the grant from the Pratt Green Trust enabled us to set up a three-year project entitled Hymns for Healing, looking at theological reflection and research into hymnody and healing.
The project was designed for hymnwriters and composers, musicians and those who just loved singing hymns. We met at Holy Rood House, usually over a 24 hour period, but occasionally for a weekend; and each time we included some input related either to healing or to hymnody, and an opportunity for creative writing. Throughout, the project had two strands, one reflecting on our theology and understanding of healing, and the other how those understandings could be expressed in hymnody. Our speakers included hymn-writers and composers such as John Bell, June Boyce-Tillman, and Janet Wootton; whilst Professor Jackie Leech Scully offered a thought-provoking session on genetic research and its ethical implications. Each session included a creative workshop where participants were encouraged to produce hymns and tunes. The grant enabled us to pay expenses for speakers, and to run the workshops at minimal cost to the participants.
The Hymns for Healing project itself lasted for three years. But beyond that the remaining money from the grant enabled us to continue to work with the material we had gathered, and to put together a proposal for publication. We were delighted when Stainer and Bell expressed interest, and the grant met the expenses of a small editorial group to select and prepare the material for publication.
The book, entitled Hymns of Hope and Healing, was published in 2017 and has sold well – I gather that Stainer and Bell have recently ordered a reprint. The grant not only enabled research and encouraged new and established hymn writers, but the work continues to live on in words and music, giving contemporary expression to the church’s ministry of healing.