Marching to Zion

Scripture and Biblical Echoes

The Beauty of the Hymn

This is a hymn with forward motion. Its repeated phrases, echoes and responses allow a leader and congregation to generate momentum together. It thrives when sung with energy and can live quite happily without instrumental accompaniment.

My Reflection

Oh, Marching to Zion. What a beautiful hymn. For Seventh-day Adventists of my generation it could feel almost like a theme song. We sang it at prayer band, praise service, crusades, Communion, testimony meetings, youth services, funerals, thanksgiving services, camps and vespers. It was one of those hymns a leader could use to test the temperature of a congregation.

With the right leader or musician it came alive. There is a strong, almost militant beat beneath its soaring language, and its repetitions invite echoes and responses. At its best, voices were in riotous, righteous harmony. The hymn did not merely describe faith. It made faith mobile.

And sometimes it literally travelled. In those days people were more abundant than vehicles, and kind brethren arranged rides to church, collecting people from their homes and returning them afterward. Brother Morgan was exceptional at this. His old Morris Oxford seemed to operate by one rule: if you could fit, you could travel. And fit we did.

The car was usually crowded, the humour good, and Marching to Zion ruled the road. We might sing it two or three times in succession. No piano, no organ, no formal song leader was required. The movement of the car, the company and the sheer pleasure of singing were enough.

Only later did I appreciate how perfectly the experience matched the hymn. We were travelling together. Some provided the transport, some found the harmony, some led, some followed, and everybody made room. That remains one of my favourite pictures of the church.

Faith is not merely something we possess. It is a journey we undertake. And some of its greatest joys come from discovering that we do not have to make the journey alone. We are going together. And sometimes, if the song leader is good and the congregation is ready, you can already hear the destination in the singing.