Description
The identity of Christians is intimately tied up with what they sing. Hymns and songs affect our understanding of the width or narrowness of the Gospel, whether faith is couched in archaic language or reflects contemporary culture and whether the church is essentially monochrome or mosaic.
The identity of the Body of Christ is thrown into new relief when we realise that the presumed complexion of the Church is no longer white and affluent, but black and poor.
This has compelled the Wild Goose Resource Group, an associate body of the lona Community, to ensure that in its work with church music and musicians as broad a panoply of material as possible is represented.
One Is the Body, therefore, encompasses songs from as diverse places as Hawaii and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while also representing the home-grown fruit produced in and around Glasgow.
These songs are primarily for congregational use, for it is to the congregation which God directs the commandment, 'Sing me a new song.'