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Walking by the river

100 new hymns and song texts 1998-2008

Lyrical century

WALKING BY THE RIVER
100 new hymn and song texts 1998-2008, with other verses
By Christopher Idle
The Good Book Company. 140 pages. £10.00
ISBN 978-1-90633-448-2

This feels like a very personal journey, which the author has been travelling for the last ten years, as reflected in the biographical footnotes on each page; a deep expression of Christian devotion at its most sincere.

This book comprises 100 hymns and spiritual songs in the metrical tradition, with tunes already in circulation suggested by the author, though quite a number are for popular tunes from the world of entertainment, which in my opinion doesn’t usually work very well. e.g. ‘Streets of Laredo’ and ‘Early one Morning’.

While the quality of most is high in both poetic and theological terms, this is not the case with all, and I get the feeling that, in his desire to ‘reach his century’, some of the stroke play was lacking!

Many read more like poems than hymns, and some are very long and slightly convoluted.

In view of the huge number of new songs on the market, it is difficult to see who might actually take them up, especially without new tunes to match, quite apart from the complications of copyright.

However, on the positive side, it is refreshing to find an author with real depth of spiritual life and a strong grasp of Scripture using his creative gift for the encouragement of the Lord’s people, and I am sure Walking by the River will appeal to many godly believers as an aid to worship and a closer walk with the Lord who shines out from this little book in so many ways.

Malcolm MacGregor,
Ipswich