So much of what we love has been stripped away. We will look at these over the next few blog posts. There are also wonderful songs such as the song of Miriam and Moses, and David’s song of repentance which is psalm 51. There are a number of songs in scripture which are sung regularly in church, such as the Benedictus (Zachariah’s song, which we sing at Matins), The Magnificat (Mary’s song, sung at Evensong), and the Nunc Dimittus (Simeon’s song, sung at Evensong and Compline). There are songs of lament, hope, triumph and love. The Bible contains around 185 songs, and 80% of these are in the book of psalms, which is the hymn book of the Hebrew Scriptures. Most of us will have songs that remind us of particular moments in our lives, and song that we draw on in hard times. And it taps into something deep within us. You may have noticed that if you put something to a melody it becomes easier to remember. Medics can explain this further but normal speech uses the left hemisphere of the brain and melody the right. Singing taps into a different part of our brain than normal speech. When we sang one of those, she would stand at the front and lead the singing with great gusto.

She knew ‘Thine be the Glory’, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’, ‘All things Bright and Beautiful’ and ‘Great is thy Faithfulness’. Yet she had an incredible memory when it came to hymns: she was word perfect.

She didn’t recognise her children and no recall of recent events.

There was a wonderful woman called Marion, in the late stages of dementia. When I was a curate I used to visit a nursing home every week to take communion and lead the community in hymn singing. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God… be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Consider the lilies hymn