A secret chuckle in the numbers...

In our Russell Church we didn’t make much use of the board for the hymn numbers for the service, so each Sunday Ed set it up with the date for the day. It was interesting to note how long visitors took to catch on to it… In another church in the 1960s, my steward would always say to me as he put up my hymn numbers, “No, Dave, not today.” He was adding up the first numbers to see if the last one was the total. So, I guess I have a thing about hymn boards.

Thus it was that when we stayed in the lovely converted chapel in Beeley, UK, a few weeks ago I enquired if the numbers on the hymn board had any secret meaning. No, they were just random numbers.

So now I have taken a few moments to skim through the 1904 hymnbook that might have been used in the chapel decades ago and can suggest the following hymns for the hospitable chapel home of Janet and John and their venerable hymn board:
657 We love the place, O God
684 How happy are we!
853 Jerusalem, my happy home
854 Sweet place, sweet place!
899 O happy home
959 There's a glorious work before us
717 Abide among us
449 Come, o thou traveller unknown