New Zealand hymn text writer Shirley Erena Murray grew up Methodist and studied music and classics at university. She became a Presbyterian upon marrying her husband, a minister in the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. Her work with Amnesty International and the Labour Party of New Zealand has influenced her hymn text writing and the focus on human rights, creation care, and justice. Murray was made a Fellow of the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada in 2009.
Murray’s hymn text “For Everyone Born” speaks to God’s inclusive spirit and everyone’s need to receive and to give justice and is a hymn text well connected with Micah 6 and its admonition to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. This text has been set to a few different tunes; Ascension sings this text to the tune written by Brian Mann in 2006. We will be singing this hymn as our gathering hymn on Sunday, November 13, 2022.
