Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Composes A New Hymn in the time of COVID-19 epidemic

Publish Date: 12-Mar-2020

Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui has suspended her public services and group events in response to the spread of COVID-19 until further notice. To unite everyone in the spirit in this dark time, the House of Bishops decided to write a new hymn to encourage parishioners to fight the epidemic with one heart and one spirit.

In order to have the new hymn available as soon as possible, clerics involved in the project decided to use the tune of Michael by Herbert Howells (1892 – 1983), which is familiar to most Anglicans, and fill in new lyrics to encourage people to fight the epidemic.

After a discussion in the House of Bishops, the Rt Revd Andrew Chan, Bishop of Western Kowloon, wrote the Chinese lyrics for the hymn, which was translated into English by Mr Jonathan Yip, sub-organist of St John’s Cathedral. The new hymn was performed by St John’s Cathedral Choir and was recorded under the supervision of Mr Felix Yeung, music director of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui. Video of the performance has been uploaded by Echo to Youtube.

The new hymn contains four stanzas. The first stanza praises the beauty of God’s creation. The second stanza encourages parishioners to give thanks at time of stability, good health, and things going well; but to reflect and pray at the time of difficulties. The third stanza is a prayer for medical workers, patients and their families. The fourth stanza is a pledge that unity, instead of division, would be achieved among humankind at the time when the world is facing the epidemic.