God is here! as we his people

God is here! as we his people. Fred Pratt Green* (1903-2000). Although this hymn was written in 1978 at the request of Russell E. Schulz-Widmar* for a service to dedicate a new communion table, font and reading desks in a Methodist church in Texas, USA, it has found a much wider use. Often used as the opening hymn for services, it reminds us of the presence of God within the physical surroundings of the church. Few other hymns focus on the familiar furniture of the church, ‘table, font and pulpit’, but they are used here partly as symbols of stability that identify a place of worship. The use in stanzas 2 and 3 of the repeated ‘here’ helps to centre the attention on the place itself as...