Brits have chosen Graham Kendrick’s hymn, ‘Shine, Jesus, Shine’, as their all-time school favourite, according to a BBC Songs of Praise poll.
Other well-known hymns in the top twenty included: ‘All things bright and beautiful’; ‘Oh, Jesus I have promised’; ‘He who would valiant be’; and ‘We plough the fields and scatter’.
Currently, state-funded schools in England and Wales must conduct acts of collective worship that are “wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character”.
‘Hymn of hope’
Announcing the winner at The Big School Assembly Singalong, Aled Jones hailed Graham Kendrick’s 1987 composition: “A ‘hymn of hope'”.
In a previous interview, Kendrick described the song as “a prayer for revival” that “caught a moment when people were beginning to believe once again that an impact could be made on a whole nation”.
He explained that the verses, which were written before the chorus, were intended to reflect God’s desire “for us to live continually in his presence” alongside the recognition that “we cannot stand in God’s presence without ‘clean hands and a pure heart’”.
The hymn, addressed to “Jesus, Light of the world”, acknowledges that we may only enter into the radiance of God’s awesome presence by the blood of Christ, and testifies to the work of the Holy Spirit in transforming the people of God “from glory to glory”.