At the dawning of creation

At the dawning of creation. David Fox* (1956-2008).  This hymn for Baptism first appeared in a hymnbook in the United Reformed Church’s Rejoice and Sing (RS, 1991). Robert Canham confirms that it came from the First Edition of Fox’s Thy Various Praise (1986). It seems to be the only hymn by Fox that has crossed the Atlantic, in the hymnal of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, edited by Donald Anderson and Andrew Donaldson*, The Book of Praise (1997). It was entitled ‘Water means Life’, which is of course true in the physical world: here the need for water for human beings to survive forms a significant background to the hymn, and encourages an imaginative reading. Water indeed means life...