The tradition of hymns – songs of praise - has been an integral part of the liturgy of the church since at least the 4th century. Songs accompanied by stringed instruments, Psalms, were and continue to be part of the faith and practice of Judaism. As the early Christian worshipped they continued many of the familiar rituals. St Ambrose of Milan (340-397) was influential in furthering the use of Psalms and hymns in the worship service and wrote many hymns. Six of these are in our 1982 hymnal. St. Gregory (540-604), known as Gregory the Great and Pope from 590-604, further fostered the development of liturgical music. He wrote several hymns, three of which we have sung during this Lenten season. Both Ambrose and Gregory wrote the words, not the tunes.

When our first service was held in 1885 we had music for worship. There was a committee to arrange for this – probably a harmonium and a song leader. By 1890 when our first church was built there were small hymnals, words only, six by four inches. The Archives has one copy. There was no organ until 1899. By 1892 we had hymnals with both words and music. The 1892 hymnal was revised in 1916 and again in1940 and 1982. The current hymnal has 590 hymns, eleven rounds and canons, and national hymns, 288 canticles and service music. One hundred twenty of the hymns have two or more tunes.

There are a lot of hymns. In England hymns first appeared in the vernacular in the 9th century and were translated from the Latin. Towards the end of the Middle Ages carols were written and the influence of the Reformation added many more hymns. Hymn singing became more prominent in the 18th century so worshipers participated more actively in the church service.