God who spoke in the beginning

God who spoke in the beginning. Frederik Herman Kaan* (1929-2009). First published in the author’s Pilgrim Praise (1968), where it was the first hymn in the book and was entitled ‘The first and final word’. It was taken up immediately by the Methodist supplement Hymns and Songs (1969), and became more widely known in Britain by being included in MHfT in 1980, and thus in A&MNS (1983). It received some textual alteration in The Hymn Texts of Fred Kaan (1985) and a further alteration in RS. The hymn is based in part on the Hebrew word ‘dabar’, which signifies ‘word’ as well as ‘deed’. Kaan quotes Psalm 33:9: ‘For he spoke and it was; he commanded and it stood firm’. In Canada it was...