I LOVE singing, but I assume that’s inevitable given the Welsh blood coursing through my veins. I’m a Christian too and, just like their Jewish forebears, Jesus followers have always sung ‘psalms and hymns and spiritual songs’ wherever and whenever they have gathered together.

A few hymns stand out in my memory too. For example I will never forget listening to a brave congregation, singing the words of the well-known song ‘Blessed assurance Jesus is mine’ as I was walking towards their church in Croatia in the early 1990’s. I remember it vividly because it was the first time I had ever visited a church located in the middle of a battlefield! It seemed to sum up their strong faith as they sought to worship and serve God in the midst of a brutal, bitter civil war. It was truly inspirational.

Interestingly, many scholars have reached the conclusion that the apostle Paul decided to include a hymn in the letter he wrote to his friends in the Roman colony of Philippi. The evidence for this is found in the stately and solemn ring of the words and the way in which the sentences are constructed. When the words are written as poetry this is seen more easily, and it is generally accepted that it is an early Christian confession. It’s even been suggested that it was originally written in Aramaic and sung at the Lord’s Supper in Palestine.

But whether we believe that or not we can’t avoid the startling fact that Paul tells us that the day is coming when every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord of all. Now that was a very risky thing to say in imperial Rome during the 50’s and 60’s. Everyone was expected to recognise Caesar as Lord, and they were very much aware that he had the military power to prove it. Paul couldn’t say it though and he encouraged the church to acknowledge Jesus as their Lord whatever the pressures and the dangers that came with that confession.

It’s worth remembering this as we seek to live out our lives in a world where ‘might’ is becoming ‘right’ and ‘imperial spheres of influence’ rather than international law are becoming the norm because it assures us that death and wickedness, disease and lawlessness will not have the last word. Love will.

I am no literary giant and so I think it is best that I bring this short reflection to a fitting conclusion by quoting the words of another hymn. It was written by the majestic Welsh writer H Elvet Lewis, and I can still recall singing them at a friend’s funeral many years ago. They help me express my hope in a far better way than I ever could. They read, ‘Thy voice shall in triumph assemble Thy loved ones at dawning of day’.