Shirley Murray with the NZ Hymnbook Trust hymns books she contributed to.
Shirley Murray with the NZ Hymnbook Trust hymns books she contributed to.
World-renowned New Zealand hymn text writer Shirley Murray is about to be honoured with a book telling the story of her life.
Retired journalist and past editor of a nationwide nursing journal Anne Manchester, who knew Shirley and her husband John for many years, is writing the biography and shewill be sharing some of that journey with anyone interested on March 4 from 7pm at Pathways Presbyterian Church, 388 Church Street in Palmerston North.
“While her husband was minister of St Andrew’s on the Terrace in Wellington Shirley discovered she had a gift for writing the words of hymns. That congregation was a great place to try out her new hymns. She collaborated with composers from around the world, to get her words set to music,” said Anne.
One of her collaborators, a great friend and admirer, was the late Colin Gibson, himself a prolific hymn writer and composer, and it was Gibson who suggested Shirley needed a biography done.
“Until his death last December he was a great encourager for me,” said Anne. “I interviewed him a few times as he had collaborated with her a lot and he admired her as a hymn-writing poet.”
She said Murray’s hymn writing really took off when she and husband John retired to the Kāpiti Coast. “An American publishing company wanted to publish her hymns. A lot of people from mainstream churches will be familiar with many of her hymns. She had already made a major contribution to the New Zealand Hymnbook Trust.
“About 30 years ago hymns underwent a bit of a revolution. Everyone had had enough of hymns from the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. They wanted something more relevant to life.
“Personally I found Shirley’s hymns fresh, new and it kept me in the church as her hymns made faith relevant to my life. She used new symbols, picturing God as a mother or a living spirit for example. She used computer words, such as cursor, and used a bit of te reo, words like aroha and mana.
“She also used inclusive language as she wanted everyone, including women, people with different skin colours, refugees, the less abled, those in pain or lonely to recognise their situation in her words.”
Anne reckons she might just be halfway through her biography. “There is a lot of material available on Shirley and her hymns, including a few audio tapes where she talks about her hymns. She also wrote and explained her hymns over the years, her motivation for them as well as her own life. She’s had an impact here but also in North and South America, the UK and Asia. I have all the material I need, I think.”
Anne Manchester is working on a biography of New Zealand hymn text writer Shirley Murray.
The presentation in Palmerston North will be interactive, she said. “I will share some of my discoveries, such as how she and her mother got to be named Erena, and I will teach a hymn or two and how to use them in church. You do not necessarily have to sing hymns. They can be read by one or more people or used as a prayer. The presentation is intended as a way of meeting Shirley.
“It will be the third and final presentation. They have helped me focus.” The presentation will have photos and video clips too.
Shirley Murray is the author of the text of more than 400 contemporary inclusive hymns that are sung around the world.
She wrote hymns for the church year, so there is a lot about Christmas and Easter. “But, justice and peace were important themes to her. She also wrote on commission and called the craft of hymn writing a tough one.”
A UK Methodist hymn website said Shirley is one of their top 10 most respected authors and the only woman in the group. It calls Murray’s writing A Jolt of Reality.
She wrote a hymn that has national significance, originally named A Hymn for Waitangi Day. Here is one verse.
She also wrote a memorable hymn for Anzac Day, which was controversial at the time as she also mentioned conscientious objectors, people who generally were despised at the time of the first world war.
This is a verse from that hymn:
Honour the brave whose conscience was their call,
answered no bugle, went against the wall,
suffered in prisons of contempt and shame,
branded as cowards, in our country’s name.
Anne said her biography-writing journey began at Shirley’s funeral in early 2020 a bunch of church musos and hymn writers reminisced together until one of them, Colin Gibson, said “Someone should write her life’s story… but it is not going to be me. It must be someone much younger…”
He left it hanging in the air, only for the idea to float home with Anne. “I knew and admired Shirley, so when I eventually thought it might as well be me, I sought Colin’s thoughts on my writing that biography before starting. He was delighted.”
The Details:
What: Presentation on the life of hymn writer Shirley Murray
When: March 4 from 7pm
Where: Pathways Presbyterian Church, 388 Church Street in Palmerston North.
