Father's Day Songs of Praise

On Songs Of Praise this week, we're celebrating fathers and fatherhood.

And, as this is my first programme, welcome to my part of the world.

This is Jordanstown on the shores of Belfast Lough.

This week, I'll be chatting with hymnwriters Keith and Kristyn Getty.

There's music from Matt Redman.

And our choirs will sing some great hymns

especially for Father's Day.

Jordanstown is one of several small towns that stretch northwards

along Belfast Lough.

In the 1960s, the population swelled

as Northern Ireland's second university made the town its home.

Today, Jordanstown is a popular residential area within

easy commuting distance of Belfast.

And it's here at St Patrick's Parish Church

that choirs from Jordanstown and the surrounding areas

have gathered to sing their songs of praise.

And this Father's Day,

we'll begin with that great hymn,

Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind.

Keith and Kristyn Getty's hymns are sung by millions of Christians

in churches all over the world.

Although they're based in Nashville,

their roots are firmly in this part of the world.

Kristyn's father is the pastor of a local church.

They've just finished their latest tour of North America, accompanied

this time by a new addition to the family, Charlotte Juliana Getty.

How has the journey been? How difficult has it been

juggling life on the road and having the kids with you as well?

This last tour has been interesting

because our youngest was only three months old

when we took her on the tour bus,

so it was a lot of fun bouncing along all the different roads

from state to state, trying to feed a baby at 3am,

it was pretty challenging!

-He was fast asleep, he loved it.

-Of course.

-He slept like a baby.

-Well, unfortunately...

-He sleeps like the baby and the baby was awake.

The baby didn't sleep like a baby!

We've got two buses. One's called the family bus

and one's called the fun bus, so we are now on the family bus.

This is Father's Day, we're celebrating Father's Day.

How has that changed you, Keith, would you say?

I think children just broadens and deepens life in a unique way

that really makes you realise what a gift it is.

We for many years didn't know if we could have kids, so I think

-it makes you just so grateful when that opportunity comes.

-Absolutely.

And your own fathers have been a huge influence in your careers.

That's right. We're just so incredibly blessed.

We're both had dads who are strong believers

and brought us up to understand faith and music and life.

My dad is a pastor, and so we grew up

with many people coming to our house for dinner, for example,

and these people just became the most inspirational influence in my life

and I know that you were the same. We just had very busy kitchens

in our house growing up, and busy dining room tables

and lots of conversation and that's just all fed into our faith

on a personal level but also in our songwriting

and our leading and all that, so we are very grateful for that.

You sit down to write a hymn. Where does it come from?

I do lean initially in the fact that we are Irish, we write melodies,

that groups of people sing at a football match,

in a pub, in a family home.

Right throughout church history,

the liturgies and the hymns and the songs of God's people have defined

how they think about God, and thus how they think about themselves,

so I think in this 21st century,

where there are more Christians now in the world

and the Bible is in more languages than at any point in history,

I think there is an even bigger need now for a new and fresh canon

of hymns that Christians around the world can sing,

that teach us what we understand about God

and that tell this incredible story of Christ.

Writing songs, do you have more of an understanding

of God as the Father?

I think in some ways, and the sense of God's love is overwhelming

because those girls are just everything to you.

You can't imagine you could love somebody so much,

you can't manage you could think about somebody or talk incessantly

about somebody as much as you do these beautiful little girls,

so it brings God's love out in a broad and a deeper,

and almost, at times,

it's almost too much at times to think about such things.

The three best tunes I've written in the last two years,

my daughter was singing around the house before I decided to use them,

so she listens to me play the tunes,

and the ones that I think are good, she doesn't sing,

you actually know, cos that's the amazing thing about a song.

A song, as Kristyn says, reaches deep into humanity.

A three-year-old and a 93-year-old know a great song,

even though they're not musically educated.

Your latest one, My Worth, tell me about how that came about.

It's a very, I think, poignant topic.

We struggle continually, I struggle continually,

every day with my worth and how I look, how I don't look,

what I have, what I don't have,

all those things that can trouble us so quickly and steal our peace,

all those ideas and yet continually coming back to Christ

and what he's done for us and where we're going,

it's much bigger than how I'm feeling today, what I'm going through today.

Yes, God speaks through that, he's not far away from us,

and that's how music can be used to keep reminding us of that

because we forget so easily.

# My worth is not in what I own

# Not in the strength of flesh and bone

# But in the costly wounds of love

# At the cross

# My worth is not in skill or name

# In win or lose, in pride or shame

# But in the blood of Christ that flowed

# At the cross

# I rejoice in my Redeemer

# Greatest treasure

# Wellspring of my soul

# I will trust in him, no other

# My soul is satisfied in him alone

# As summer flowers we fade and die

# Fame, youth and beauty hurry by

# But life eternal calls to us

# At the cross

# I will not boast in wealth or might

# In human wisdom's fading light

# But I will boast in knowing Christ

# At the cross

# I rejoice in my Redeemer

# Greatest treasure

# Wellspring of my soul

# I will trust in him, no other

# My soul is satisfied in him alone

# Two wonders here that I confess

# My worth and my unworthiness

# My value fixed, my ransom paid

# At the cross

# I rejoice in my Redeemer

# Greatest treasure

# Wellspring of my soul

# I will trust in him, no other

# My soul is satisfied in him alone

# My soul is satisfied in him alone. #

Well, it's a bit of a hike to get here,

but the view is certainly worth it.

This is Knockagh monument,

and from up here, you get a really good idea

of just how Jordanstown fits in

to the rest of the communities that stretch up the lough to Belfast.

This monument was erected to remember the young men

who lost their lives in two world wars, and today, on Father's Day,

we remember those who never had the opportunity to become a father,

and we also remember those who have lost loved ones this year

and who today will have an empty seat in their home.

This week across the country,

schoolchildren have been busy secretly making cards and presents

to give to their dads.

This is a great picture.

Tell me about your daddy with his lovely spiky hair here.

He plays with me a lot

and takes us swimming.

And what's your favourite thing about your daddy?

Because he gives me snuggles and kisses and hugs.

I love Daddy because he's very funny

-and he plays tickle monsters.

-Oh!

So he chases us and then when he gets me and Katie, he tickles us.

I like the look of this picture.

Now, tell me, who's in this picture?

That's me helping my dad fix my bike,

and it had a skiddy flat, so we had to change a new wheel.

-I also like playing pool.

-Ooh.

-Are you good?

-Yeah.

Who's better, you or your daddy?

Both.

What's he like, your dad?

He kisses me and gives me snuggles and gives me a story at bedtime

and I like that, that's why he's the best daddy in the world.

As we're here at school, it's a good chance for us to announce

details of our next School Choir of the Year competition.

We're looking for the best junior and senior school choirs

to enter from right across the UK,

and if you think your school choir has what it takes,

then we would love to hear from you.

You'll find all the details you will need to apply on our website...

And you can even check out the standard your choir should aim for

by watching clips of all of last year's finalists.

Daddy!

When adult relationships end in separation or divorce,

sometimes the children are not able to see their mum or dad

because they no longer live in the family home. In these circumstances,

it's places like this that can be a real lifeline,

helping to maintain those important family ties.

A contact centre is basically where

parents who no longer live with their children can come and have contact

and develop relationships with them.

How important is it to keep those lines of communication open?

Without contact centres

there would be a lot of children simply not having the contact,

because the contact here is a result of relationship breakdowns.

How important is it to have a neutral environment for these families?

The main reason they're here is because they haven't been able

to come to an accommodation of where to meet.

It's great because it gives dads a chance to see their kids.

We're all here for obvious reasons.

She loves it down here.

She's met loads of friends. It's basically a nursery school to her.

-Only with daddy in tow.

-Only with daddy, yeah!

How important is it for you to keep up the contact with Emily?

It's very important, because I was very close with Emily,

you know, from the day she was born. I've always been close to her.

'I look forward to Saturdays so much,

'Everybody looks forward to the weekend,

'but I look forward to Saturdays a lot more because I know that'

on a Friday night, I get to see the child in the morning.

'At Mothers' Union one night, someone asked for more volunteers,

'and I thought I could do this.

'A lot of these young fathers who are coming in,'

they have no experience with their children.

I, as a grandparent, have had the experience of my own children

and my grandchildren.

We may have very young fathers who have never lived with the child

and may need help or assistance with changing nappies or feeding,

or anything like that. On many occasions,

the fathers are very nervous, especially on the first visit.

Once I tell her, "Lunchtime," she puts on her coat,

and she knows straightaway that it's picnic time, to go outside

and we have our picnic outside.

-No matter what the weather?

-No matter what the weather.

-We've got ham and cheese!

-We've got ham and cheese!

MELANIE: Because I'm here every week,

I can see the development of the relationships,

and I've yet to see a child who doesn't want to have contact with

their other parent, and I suppose that's the most important bit,

the fact that the child deserves to have a relationship

with both parents in spite of their relationship breakdown.

And your faith, what role does that play

in helping you perform your duties as a volunteer here?

My faith is that the Lord is always here,

kind of sitting on my shoulder, and watching out for me,

and I would like to think that because I have that faith,

maybe I could be a help to them in some way.

# I have heard so many songs

# Listened to a thousand tongues

# But there is one that sounds above them all

# The Father's song, the Father's love

# You sung it over me, and for eternity

# It's written on my heart

# Heaven's perfect melody

# The Creator's symphony

# You are singing over me

# The Father's song

# Heaven's perfect mystery

# The king of love has sent for me

# And now you're singing over me

# The Father's song

# I have heard so many songs

# Listened to a thousand tongues

# But there is one that sounds above them all

# The Father's song, the Father's love

# You sung it over me, and for eternity

# It's written on my heart

# Heaven's perfect melody

# The Creator's symphony

# You are singing over me

# The Father's song

# Heaven's perfect mystery

# The king of love has sent for me

# And now you're singing over me

# The Father's song

# The Father's song, the Father's love

# You sung it over me, and for eternity

# It's written on my heart

# It's written on my heart. #

Every year, thousands of students come from near and far

to study here at the University of Ulster.

For many of them, it's their first taste of independence.

I'm here to meet to people

who are on hand to make sure that transition is as smooth as possible.

'I just find life here among students so rewarding. They keep me so young.'

'I love chaplaincy because

'it's not confined to a specific worshipping community.

'For me, the church doesn't just stay within the walls

'of church buildings. It's very much out here in the real world.'

We stand back

and give them their space.

We observe, we see what's going on,

but we don't intrude.

We let them get on, and when they're ready to raise the question,

whatever it is that they need to raise,

we're there as a sort of presence.

Presence is a very important word for me,

so that whenever they are in need, we're ready to respond.

-Morning.

-Morning.

-How are you?

-Aye, not too bad.

-Good to see you.

Every week I come here for this lunch,

and they always ask me how I'm doing and how my coursework is going.

The chaplains are kind of like our parents when we're over here

because a lot of us sometimes have hard times

when we're studying abroad this far away from home,

and they're the first people that we'll approach or go to.

'God makes his presence felt in the physical presence of Jesus Christ

'and through the spirit of Christ. We were being'

offered the opportunity as chaplains to be physically present

in the university, physically

listening, loving,

drawing people not by clever gimmicks but by love.

'Terry's like this really cute grandpa figure, you know, like,'

always asking how you are, if you need anything,

and trying to feed you more food, you know.

Help yourself to whatever you see.

'It's really nice to know we have a kind of support system away from home.'

'Cheryl and Terry, they're very giving and loving people.

'I don't think anybody could really replace one's parents,

'but they do a lot of really important and necessary work'

for the students here.

It can be really lonely, and they do a great job.

But one of the moment I'll always treasure is helping a young man

to become a better Muslim,

and that, for a Christian, is a very worthwhile thing to be able to say,

and I know he appreciated it.

How does that make you feel?

It makes me feel warm inside,

as if the spirit is saying, "Yes, you did well."

There are all those Bible stories

of Jesus telling his disciples to come and be fishers of men,

and for me, being here in the university gives us opportunities

to bring good news, to be drawn into God's work

of bringing healing and wholeness to people.

'God the Father, bless all fathers today with wisdom,

'with patience, with courage,

'and above all, with love for their children.'

'Father God, bless all children today with openness to learn

'and above all, with love for their fathers.'

'Father God, bless all who are fatherless today.'

'Surround them with godly men and women to teach, affirm them,

'and above all, to love with the love of a father.'

The blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,

be with each of you and with all whom you love this day and always.

-ALL:

-Amen.

And that's it from our Father's Day Songs Of Praise.

For our final hymn, our choirs have chosen that great Fanny Crosby hymn

To God Be The Glory. Happy Father's Day.

Next week, Diane and David are off on their summer holidays

as they visit Butlin's

and discover how chaplains played an important role at the resorts.

Diane also learns more about the nation's favourite hymn

and there's music from across the country to lift your spirits

come rain or shine.