One of my favourite hymns at primary school was ‘At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow.’ The words are so uplifting and inspiring, and had me researching to discover more about Caroline Maria Noel, the author. It’s quite a story. This this deeply sensitive and anointed hymn-writing lover of God spent the last 25 years of her life bedridden and in great pain, but with an enormous heart for the bereaved, the suffering and the lonely.

I thought many of you would appreciate hearing her best-known hymn again and pondering the powerfully crafted words.

At the name of Jesus
Ev’ry knee shall bow,
Ev’ry tongue confess him
King of glory now;
‘Tis the Father’s pleasure
We should call him Lord,
Who from the beginning
Was the mighty Word.

Humbled for a season
To receive a name
From the lips of sinners,
Amongst whom He came.
Faithfully He bore it,
Spotless to the last,
Brought it back victorious
When from death He passed.

In your hearts enthrone Him!
There let Him subdue
All that is not holy,
All that is not true.
Crown Him as your Captain,
In temptation’s hour;
Let His will enfold you
In its light and pow’r.

Kindred, this Lord Jesus
Shall return again
With His Father’s glory,
With His angel train,
For all wreaths of empire
Meet upon His brow,
And our hearts confess Him
King of glory now.

Here are three different tunes for the hymn, each of which make it sound somewhat different. First comes William Monk’s lovely version, to the tune of Evelyns, as sung by the Chet Valley churches.

Second is this rendering by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

And then here is the one that you will almost certainly be most familiar with, to the tune of Camberwell.

(For the really keen – here is the Vaughan Williams again, but this time with an added descant)

Thank You, Lord, for the great power and clarity of these words that speak out timeless truths! Caroline drew inspiration from that great passage in Philippians 2:5-11, which speaks of Jesus’ exaltation through His humility in coming to Earth. As surely as most people in life can’t wait to seek upward paths towards human ‘glory,’ this passage shows the exact opposite – for the Kingdom of Heaven, as Jesus constantly taught and modelled – is a sweeping series of powerful paradoxes.

The sinless God becomes sin for our sakes, strength is found in and through weakness, freedom through becoming slaves of Christ, many of those who are poorest in the things of this world being rich in the eternal treasure and so on.

I love this powerful invitation to learn by paradox as Arthur Bennett put it in ‘The Valley of Vision,’ which is a really special collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. (Don’t let satan’s propaganda department prejudice you against that word ‘Puritan’!

Here is the poem that serves as a prologue to the book.

And here is a pdf of this gem of a book. Why not store this link away and return to it from time to time? You will find so much to feed your spirit on.

I happened to read this prayer this morning called Christ the world: (but there are so many goodies to discover!)

How sweet it is to be near Him, the Lamb,
filled with holy affections!
When I sin against Thee, I cross thy will, love, life,
and have no comforter, no creature, to go to.
My sin is not so much this or that particular evil,
but my continual separation, disunion, distance from Thee,
and having a loose spirit towards Thee.
But Thou hast given me a present, Jesus thy Son,
as Mediator between Thyself and my soul,
as middle-man who in a pit
holds both him below and Him above,
for only He can span the chasm breached by sin,
and satisfy divine justice.
May I always lay hold upon this Mediator,
as a realized object of faith,
and alone worthy by His love to bridge the gulf.

Bearing in mind that Caroline Noel was a vicar’s daughter serves as a reminder of the initiative that friend and intercessory leader Lyndall Bywater and team feel the Lord calling them to share with praying friends to make Tuesday 23rd of September a special day of prayer concerning the appointing of the next Archbishop of Canterbury. (The 22nd to 24th is the Feast of Trumpets). Apart from praying on our own, the idea is for groups to pray in every cathedral in the country.

Do make a note of this date, and join in praying for the extensive worldwide Anglican communion, which displays so much zeal and faithfulness in so many places (don’t forget there are something like 20,000,000 Anglicans in Nigeria alone!) but which is also only too willing to embrace, er, shall we say very much less orthodox and spiritually dynamic practices in only too many other parts. As many are warning, the Lord is having to strip away so much in order to make it a vessel fit for His purposes. May the Lord further His purposes from one end of the Anglican communion to the other.

May the Lord inspire Pope Leo XIV, too, as He exercises the spiritual headship of well over a billion Catholics, passionately defending the cause of the migrants he has so long been led to work with and for, whilst at the same time having to navigate and negotiate the delicate terrain of appearing thereby to be anti Trump as he sounds the cause of the gospel and of justice and mercy and points people towards the Lord Jesus.

Photo by Lina Volkmann on Unsplash