The First Hymn

Eighteen hundred years ago, an unknown writer wrote a hymn of praise to God. 

“Let all be silent / The shining stars not sound forth / All rushing rivers stilled / As we sing our hymn / To the Father, Son and Holy Spirit / As all Powers cry out in answer / Amen Amen”.

We know almost nothing about the person who penned those words. But we can assume they were sung by an early community of Christians in the third or fourth century – in obedience to the New Testament command to “Speak to one another with the words of psalms, hymns, and sacred songs” (Ephesians 5:19, GNT). Yet for the vast majority of Church history these lyrics – written in Greek on a piece of papyrus – were lost, until they were dug up by archaeologists working in the Egyptian desert in 1918.

Incredibly, researchers discovered that this manuscript – known as ‘P. Oxy XV 1786’ – doesn’t only contain lyrics, but musical notation as well. That makes it the only surviving fragment of Christian Greek music from the first 400 years of the Church. 

In this 86-minute documentary, fronted by Australian pastor and Church historian John Dickson, two acclaimed worship leaders – Ben Fielding and Chris Tomlin – are charged with taking the lyrics of this ancient hymn and turning it into a modern worship song. 

On one level, this might sound like a rather geeky exercise. But the strength of this documentary is found in its presenter, whose enthusiasm for his subject is infectious. At times, Dickson appears almost giddy with excitement as he interviews experts, travels to view the papyrus in Oxford and personally commissions the worship leaders to restore a long-forgotten song. 

Hillsong’s Ben Fielding has somewhat of a track record in this area. He famously took the lyrics of the Apostles’ Creed and turned them into one of Hillsong’s most popular songs – ‘This I believe (The Creed)’. Similarly, Chris Tomlin is known for rewriting the classic hymn ‘Amazing grace’, adding his own chorus of “My chains are gone / I’ve been set free”.

The documentary doesn’t give as much time to Fielding and Tomlin’s writing process as some viewers may desire. But we are treated to insights from scholars relating to both Church history and music along the way. And certainly, if you’ve an interest in either (or both) of those topics, this is an ambitious documentary you won’t want to miss. 

The First Hymn will be available to stream in the UK on the Wonder platform (wonder.watch) from August, before being released to Amazon, Apple and Google Play in September. For more information visit thefirsthymnmovie.com