The right hand of God

The right hand of God. Patrick Prescod* (1932–2013).  This hymn text was written in 1973 for the inaugural gathering of the Caribbean Conference of Churches (CCC) to the tune LA MANO DE DIOS by Jamaican composer Noel Dexter (1938–2019). It was published in Sing a New Song, No. 3 (Bridgetown, Barbados, 1981), a collection edited by Prescod, who conceived the hymnal as a method for promoting indigenous Caribbean song (Daw, 2016, p. 335). Of the 137 selections, this has become the most well received both within the Caribbean context and beyond, especially in the Caribbean dispora. Indeed, ‘The right hand of God’ has become the ’Ein feste Burg’ of the CCC.  The inspiration for the incipit comes...