Common Ground Song 112 ‘Sing to God with Gladness’
Words: James Quinn © Geoffrey Chapman / Cassell; Music: Scottish traditional, arr. John Bell © WGRG / Iona Community
Featured image: One of a series of miniature paintings depicting St Francis and all creation praising God. Artist unknown.

This song was new to me. The music is John Bell’s arrangement of a Scottish folk tune, which being syncopated looks tricky at first sight, but was not difficult to pick up. The words, probably based on Psalm 148, are in the traditional hymn format of four verses and chorus, by the Jesuit priest Fr James Quinn (1919-2010).  Apparently, he took the view that the lines of a hymn do not need to rhyme, as long as there is a robust tune to sing them to.

Three of the verses call on all creation to sing to God, very much in the style of St Francis, except that unlike the Franciscan tradition, there is no specific mention of animals and trees. But the heavens and earth, sun and moon, dawn and night-time, angels and human hearts are called upon to sing praise. The final verse is a Trinitarian doxology. For a longer discussion on the way all creation worships God, see my sermon earlier this year.

I did not find online a single recording of all the verses with music, or the lyrics given in full. There is a YouTube recording of the tune only: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuT14irWxTo and an audio recording of verse 1 & chorus only: https://music.churchofscotland.org.uk/hymn/150-sing-to-god-with-gladness-all-creation