I didn't agree with Tommy; I rarely did. He was a cantankerous old so-and-so who had been a pillar of the church for most of his 75 years. He said he could understand the Authorised Version perfectly well; it was these new-fangled Bibles that got him all muddled. We did agree that his wife was a wonderful organist, with that rare genius for the spirit of a hymn, not just the notes on the page.
But when it comes to singing, I confess to some fellow-feeling for the old chap. Take the evangelical church I slipped into as a stranger the other Sunday. 'Guide me, O thou great Jehovah'; I can understand that. 'When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside'; this reaches me where I am. My next stop is the hospice along the road.
But all the other songs (for songs they were) had at least a line or two that for me were unsingable, unspeakable, or unintelligible. They were all from the relevant, informal, swinging style of the late 20th century. 'And in Jesus's name I come to you, to share his power as he told me to'; who exactly are 'you'?
