More power to Blake’s Jerusalem (From The Northern Echo)

More power to Blake’s Jerusalem

11:36am Tuesday 20th July 2010 in

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PETER Moger, Worship Development Officer for the Church of England, has declared that there are good reasons for allowing William Blake’s hymn, Jerusalem, at weddings.

I welcome this statement as Jerusalem has been banned in many churches, notably in Southwark where the authorities operate rather more like a soviet republic than a cathedral. In 2008, the Dean of Southwark, the Very Reverend Colin Slee, put Jerusalem on the list of hymns not allowed, saying: “It is not in the glory of God.”

Lefties love banning stuff, don’t they? But what’s wrong with Jerusalem, one of the nation’s best-loved hymns, the anthem of the Women’s Institute for so many years? Well, it begins: “And did those feet in ancient times walk upon England’s mountains green?” The feet referred to are, of course, those of Jesus Christ. And some of those who object to Jerusalem do so because they say the answer to Blake’s first line is definitely “No”.

But that is not the point. There are fools and, worse, those literal-minded people who are so unimaginative they wouldn’t recognise a poetic image if it bit them on the leg.

Blake was referring to the Glastonbury legend, an old tale which has it that Jesus was brought to Somerset by Joseph of Arimathea.

The legend is probably just that: a legend, a pious tale and not literally true. That doesn’t matter in the slightest.

The idea of Jesus striding over England’s green and pleasant land, just as he did stride the hills of Galilee, is very evocative and fertile.

For a Christian, this idea brings home in a powerful pictorial way the fact that what Jesus taught in Galilee applies here in England too, even among the dark satanic mills.

Couples often ask for Jerusalem at their wedding here at St Michael’s. I am delighted when they do, because it is one of the hymns which the congregation is sure to know; and so the singing will be lusty and strong.

Some vicars have a whole list of hymns they will not allow, such as I Vow to Thee My Country. The lefty, politically-correct clergy hate this hymn above all others for the simple reason that it is unashamedly patriotic.

But this sort of banning clergyman has no time for his own country and prefers instead a vacuous and fanciful internationalism and an attachment to unattainable ideals rather than to the landscape and history of the place where he lives and has his being.

But no – I’ve made a mistake. I Vow to Thee is not hated above all other hymns. That accolade goes to the Remembrance Day hymn, O Valiant Hearts, because among the trendy Revs if there is one thing worse than loving your own country it is commemorating with gratitude the soldiers who died for it.

We always have O Valiant Hearts at our church on Remembrance Day. The place is filled with Royal Fusiliers, parading with cadets and, most moving of all, the veterans, their noble number naturally decreasing year by year. There is nothing so stirring in the whole of the rest of the church’s year.

The squeamish doubters can do as they like. As for me, I’m with Blake any day.

So: Bring me my bow of burning gold, bring me my arrows of desire;/Bring me my spear O clouds unfold, bring me my chariot of fire./I will not cease from mental fight, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,/Till we have built Jerusalem in England’s green and pleasant land.

■ Peter Mullen is Rector of St Michael’s, Cornhill, in the City of London, and Chaplain to the Stock Exchange.