I come with joy 

Brian A. Wren (b. 1936), who wrote this communion hymn in 1968, was educated in the Grammar school of Romford in Essex, where he was born. He then studied modern languages at New College, Oxford, and theology at Mansfield College, Oxford, earning a B.A. in 1962 and a D.Phil. in 1968.  Ordained in what is now the United Reformed Church, Wren was pastor of a Congregationalist church in Essex and then served for 13 years in various U.K. charitable organizations.  Two of his books, Education for Justice (1977) and Patriotism and Peace (1983) grew from this work.  He turned to free-lance ministry and academic work until appointed the inaugural James and Miriam Conant Professor of Worship in the Columbia Theological Seminary,  Decatur, Georgia.  In addition to his many hymns and hymn collections, Wren has written much on theology and hymnody.  His strong advocacy of inclusive language resulted in What Language Shall I Borrow? - God-Talk in Worship: A Male Response to Feminist Theology and his conviction of the importance of theology in hymns in Praying Twice: The Music and Words of Congregational Song, of which the title alludes to “qui cantat, bis orat,” a phrase often attributed to St Augustine.

 

The first version of this hymn was written in 1968 with the first line “I come with joy to meet my Lord”; it was slightly revised in 1970 and published in The Hymn Book of the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada (“the red book”) in 1971; Wren significantly revised the text in 1980 in his Mainly Hymns and again in 1993 or 1994 for Faith Renewed.  In the last, the first line became “I come with joy, a child of God,” omitting “my Lord” because “I recognize that the language of lordship is tainted, and join those who are seeking truthful alternatives . . . .”

(Introduction to Faith Renewed).  The hymn carefully uses repetition and allusion in order to transform the “I come” of stanza one to the “we’ll go” of stanza four, a transformation effected within the hymn by the sharing of communion bread.

 

The tune “St Botolph” was composed by Gordon Archbold Slater (1896-1979) who was a student of Edward Bairstow.  He became FRCO at age 20.  After serving in the army for three years Slater was  appointed organist of St. Botolph's Parish Church in Boston, Lincolnshire (often known as “the Boston Stump” in reference to its large and imposing tower).  He played there from 1919 to 1927 as well as conducting the Boston Choral Society.  He then became organist and choirmaster of Leicester Cathedral for three years and, from 1930 to 1966, of Lincoln Cathedral.  Slater’s tune was published in 1929 in Songs of Praise for Boys and Girls of Dearmer, Vaughan Williams and Shaw.  The tune was paired there with a single-verse children’s hymn, “Dear Father, keep me through this day.”  It was first paired with Wren’s words in More Hymns for Today (1980).