God is our strength and refuge

God is our strength and refuge. Richard Thomas Bewes* (1934-2019). This paraphrase of Psalm 46 was written in 1970 for Family Services at St Peter’s Church, Harold Wood, Essex, where the author was vicar. It was written for, and sung to, Eric Coates*’s DAMBUSTERS’ MARCH, composed in 1954 and used in a then well-known war film. For copyright reasons it was not at first possible to print the tune with this text, so in 1973 Psalm Praise provided Michael Baughen*’s DEVA. Coates’s tune has been the normal setting from HFTC onwards. The words were published in Family Worship (1971) and Psalm Praise (1973), followed by a large number of mainstream hymnals and supplements. These include BPW, the...