REVIEWS

ASSIST OUR SONG Music Ministries in the Local Church

Written by: Douglas Galbraith

Published by: Saint Andrew Press

Price: £19.99

Douglas Galbraith is no stranger to anyone interested in worship within the Church of Scotland. As a minister, composer and former lecturer in practical theology, he also headed the department of the Church of Scotland then responsible for worship, music and doctrine.

He has also been a familiar face at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland as precentor leading worship for over 20 years and is an adviser to the Royal School of Church Music and has served as Chair of its Scottish Committee.

This book is therefore likely to be a valued and valuable resource for anyone involved in worship and music in local churches and is not just aimed at church musicians looking for a little guidance. Indeed, whilst the book was many years in development, the list of thanks from the author for support and assistance is not unlike a ‘Who’s Who’ of church music in Scotland. It is a practical handbook that can be called upon again and again and seeks not just to offer a guide, but to encourage those involved in worship to think more deeply about the profound spiritual formation effected by worship.

Whilst offering guidance on choosing music for worship, the book is also intensely practical, with the best tips and hints on, for example musical accompaniment to hymns and psalms and on how to choose instruments for services, best suited to each service and location. There is some blindingly obvious guidance – get your musical choices to the director of music or person charged with organising music is one example – but also helpful tips on the importance of shaping services with careful music choices.

It is also deeply encouraging and not a little challenging: as a long-time lover and supporter of church music and worship, Douglas calls for worship leaders to be ‘better at’ music and worship to foster spirituality and the growth of faith.

This work will be useful both to regular worship leaders but also to those facing the challenge of leading worship and planning services for the first time.

Lynne McNeil

THE PADRE WAS A HOOKER – REFLECTIONS ON 40 YEARS AS AN ARMY CHAPLAIN’

Written by: Stephen A Blakey

Published by: Austin Macauley Publishers

Price: £12.99 [paperback and ebook also available]

This must be one of the most eye-catching titles for an autobiography. It would not have had the same cachet had the title been: ‘The Padre was number two on the rugby field’, even though that is what the hooker is. For the uninitiated the hooker is the one who throws the ball into the lineout and who supported by the prop forwards hooks the ball during the scrum to obtain possession for his team.

What comes across in this book is how Stephen used his God-given talent on the rugby field and with it his sense of humour to create opportunities to get alongside the ‘jocks’ – his congregation and parish. Just a few weeks into his first posting with the Royal Highland Fusiliers [1RHF] he played in the first round of the Army Rugby Cup against the Kings Own Scottish Borderers [1KOSB] at Fort George, Inverness. The journey to Inverness was by train. Stephen was the only officer in attendance and had little or no experience of the wily ways of ‘jocks’. What unfolded on the journey could be termed a success – of sorts! But the real success of that day was elsewhere as a football playing battalion 1RHF, beat a rugby playing battalion 1KOSB at their own sport. In so doing it created a legend for playing as hooker 1RHF had fielded their padre, God’s representative. It showed that divine leadership was not just a good sermon, or sensitive pastoral care but about being alongside the people with whom he had been called to minister.

Stephen’s journey in military ministry took him from the peace of Edinburgh to the troubles of Northern Ireland and from the Cold War tensions of Berlin to the dangers of the Gulf War of 1990-1991. In each episode there is an expression of the Chaplain addressing God’s Call, in whatever way he believes will connect with those in the battalion or the formation to which he has been appointed.

Whilst ‘much has changed since the 1970s in the life of the Army Chaplain, it does not alter the fact that, as a colleague observed, this book bears ‘the hallmarks of good planning, good research, frankness’, as well as the author’s ‘ability to tell an interesting story’, a comment I would fully endorse.

Dr Iain C Barclay (Rev)

WHERE THE LIGHT FELL A MEMOIR

Written by: Philip Yancey

Published by: Hodder & Stoughton

Price: £16.99

Philip Yancey is a well-known Christian writer with a background in journalism.

Like all journalists he prefers to ask the questions, rather than be on the receiving end, but this intensely personal work – tracing his own difficult roots – means he will have to endure the spotlight for different reasons.

As a writer used to tackling difficult and sometimes confusing aspects of faith, he has bared his soul in a compelling tale sown from the seeds of tragedy with the death of his preacher father from polio, which also traces the changes across post-war America – the rise of the civil rights movement and reveals the background and influences which have shaped his journey in a compelling narrative.

Lynne McNeil