The hymnbook revisited — in the company of Anne Ashworth Guard us, guide us, keep us, feed us, For we have no help but Thee.
The church has been in the business of encouraging dependency. Christianity, as traditionally formulated, reduced adults to a state of infancy, deliberately diminishing responsibility. This, a cynic might suggest, suited ecclesiastical hierarchs very well, establishing a power structure conveniently validated by divine authority. Less cynically, we can acknowledge that probably most clergy and church leaders have believed in the puniness of humankind before Almighty God; we may even allow that in arrogating the ‘almighty’ bit to themselves they acted only half consciously. As for the sheep of their flock, they colluded willingly. It was a comfortable enough doctrine. The human psyche has an undeniable urge to revert to infantile dependence. “Take from us,’ we cry, ‘the burden of decision-making, the demands of adulthood! Save us from the mental efforts of understanding and the social efforts of taking responsibility!’ Oh! what peace we often forfeit, Oh! what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer.
Hymn after hymn invites us to cast our burdens upon the Lord; and what a relief it often seemed.
No wonder we felt better for our singing: stronger indeed. But feelings can mislead. In point of fact we were not stronger for our devotions, but weaker: cumulatively weakened in the long term, after each such abnegation of human dignity.
What seemed gospel was psychological bad news.
And secular society lives with this legacy. I hold no brief for Tory politics, but slogans deploring a ‘dependency culture’ resonate at a deeper level than that of the benefits system. The void which opened with the rejection of the church and religion has been plugged by reliance upon experts. Incapable of decision or direction, we turn to doctor, psychiatrist, social worker, Relate counsellor, Samaritan, post-traumatic stress therapist.
Guide us when perplexed And free us from all ills In this world... we still pray, though the petitions are addressed to | fellow humans. It is true, admittedly, that we need specialist expertise. The sheer volume of modern knowledge requires that. But it does not follow that communities can therefore shrug off collective responsibility, not that individuals should shrink from supporting one another. Experts may be the ordained priests of secular society, but what about that excellent protestant principle, the priesthood of all?
Hold Thou my hand! So weak am I and helpless, I dare not take one step without thine aid.
Precisely. Lacking courage, our Christian steps forward have indeed been faltering. Granted, the community of the faithful was a source of support, and that is clearly explicable in human terms. When we marched in step we felt ourselves part of the ‘mighty army’ of righteousness. But as the popular parody of that ‘mighty army’ verse has it:
Like a mighty tortoise, moves the Church of God.
Brothers, we are treading where we ‘ve always trod.
From time to time, however, prophets do emerge.
These are the individuals who are out of step, who break ranks and call the troops to change direction. Some have names: Amos, Jesus, Francis, Fox, Gandhi, Bonhoeffer, Schumacher, Cupitt. Some are nameless. Who first conceived that slavery was wrong? That the mentally ill needed kindness? That women are people? That we must care for our planet or perish? These prophets are grown-ups. They invite us to shoulder responsibility for ourselves, for each other, for the world. They have no need to bleat with the sheep, I need Thee every hour, or Hangs my helpless soul on Thee.
Rather, if they still have a use for hymnbooks today, such people may warm to the ‘true valour’ and the ‘oaken staff’ of the pilgrim songs, singing Believe not those who say The upward path is smooth...
He who seeks... Must all his powers employ.