'Hymns are the poetry of the people’, said Sir John Betjeman in the 1970s. This Poet Laureate is now memorialised in Westminster Abbey, along with many other poets, writers and performers in a space known as Poets’ Corner. In this series, join us as we explore a few of these poets whose words were turned into hymns and anthems, which are sung in Christian churches around the world.

Hello, I’m the Reverend Amanda Bourne, I’m a digital content manager in the Minor Canons Department at the Abbey and today I’m going to explore poet Charles Wesley and the hymn ‘Rejoice, the Lord is King’.

Charles Wesley was born in 1707 in Epworth, Lincolnshire, and as a boy attended Westminster School – then a part of Westminster Abbey. He lived at a time when many Christians in the Church of England were wondering how to live more faithfully. Ordained as a priest in 1735, Charles and his brother John founded a group within Anglicanism called the Methodists, with a goal of reform, calling on people to commit to a holier way of life and share testimony about God’s work in their lives.

In addition to being a famous preacher and leader, Charles was an eloquent writer and poet. He wrote over 6,000 hymns, often composed while traveling on horseback, and written down when he arrived at his destination. While many of these hymns use traditional folk or classical tunes from his day, he collaborated with composer John Frederick Lampe beginning in 1745 to set them to music.

The hymn ‘Rejoice, the Lord is King’ was first published in 1744 in a collection of Methodist verse called ‘Moral and Sacred Poems’. It was originally written as an Easter hymn, a time in the Christian year when we remember Jesus Christ’s triumph over death. Wesley’s hymn is celebratory, prompting worshippers to sing with joy that Christ has triumphed over death and is King and Lord of all. In the second stanza, we recall the events of Good Friday, when Christ has, “purged our sins”. Rather than Jesus’ death and resurrection being a surprising or unnerving event, Wesley reminds us that this is a moment to rejoice at, since it means we no longer need to fear death.

At the Abbey, we sometimes sing this hymn on Christ the King Sunday, a 20th century addition to the church calendar year, which reminds us of the very thing that Wesley talks about – that even when the world is at its darkest, we have reason to hope and rejoice, because our God of truth and love is the King of the world. When we feel disheartened by the actions of people in power, or fearful of what might happen next in the world, we are invited again to rejoice in the knowledge that God’s ‘kingdom cannot fail’. Even in death, the hymn says, there is still cause to rejoice because our ‘Lord and judge shall come/ And take His servants up/ To their eternal home’.

Every time I hear the opening chords, I feel a sense of being uplifted into the world that Wesley’s hymn describes. I think sometimes I find it easy to become focused on the world as it is now – all the news headlines, the length of my to-do list, and the worries I have. And I think sometimes when I feel the weight of it all, it’s because I’ve forgotten this much bigger story which Christians believe we are all a part of. This hymn reminds me to ‘rejoice in glorious hope’ about something that all the worries of this world can never take away – that our God of love is king of all, even beyond the shadow of death itself. Charles Wesley’s poetry reorients me to this worldview, and reminds me to carry on with hope for a better world today, tomorrow, and in eternity itself.

Thank you for joining me today. To listen to the full hymn, and other recorded performances, please search for “The Choir of Westminster Abbey” on your chosen music streaming platform. Alternatively, you can purchase CDs from Westminster Abbey’s shop. We’d love to welcome you at one of our services at Westminster Abbey.