Come, Christians, Join to Sing
Composer: Randall Kempton
Text: Christian Henry Bateman (1843); tune MADRID, a Spanish melody
Season: Sung October 20, 2024, Beverly Heights Sanctuary Choir
Bateman wrote the hymn for children. He was a young minister in Edinburgh, raised among the Moravians, and the first line was “Come, children, join to sing”; the hymn appeared in a collection for Sunday schools in 1843. Later editors widened it to “Christians,” which is why a hymn built on one-syllable words and a shout of “Alleluia! Amen!” now stands near the front of so many hymnals. The tune is older than the words, a Spanish melody that reached English-speaking churches through an American arrangement in the 1820s.
Beverly Heights sings it often, as an anthem and as a choral introit, and this is the recording most people have found. Randall Kempton’s setting keeps the hymn’s plainness and lets the choir lean into the refrain. The Alleluia is the point: praise that needs no explanation, sung by people who intend to keep singing it, “on heaven’s blissful shore.”
Scripture: Psalm 148; Revelation 19:6