Pākehā hymn writers are a rare breed, all the more so since losing Shirley Erena Murray in 2021 and her musical collaborator Colin Gibson in 2022.

But their music lives on, and with 400 hymns to her credit, Shirley Murray leaves an indelible legacy.

Anne Manchester’s new biography explores the formation of a musical vision locally grounded in Aotearoa, yet universal in its appeal. Her hymns feature in 30 different hymnals in the USA alone.

This book traces the birth of that vision from school days in Invercargill, university in Dunedin, marrying John and beginning a lifetime of shared ministry with him around New Zealand, from Taihape to Christchurch,  but most enduringly for eighteen years at St Andrew's on the Terrace in Wellington.

Anne draws on Shirley and John’s own words to tell part of the story, from parish life to protest marches, and enlists a range of Shirley's friends and fellow musicians to unravel what makes these hymns so enduring.

Why does singing from Alleluia Aotearoa shape discipleship here in ways that Hymns Ancient and Modern can’t provide?

Archbishop Paul Reeves is quoted as saying the issue for local hymn writers is to “match the energy and vibrancy of the world and give us something real to sing about”.

Shirley does that.

Karl Barth was not her favourite theologian, but she liked to quote him where he says, “the community that does not really sing...can at best be a troubled community that is not sure of its cause.”

The hymns she leaves us serve to focus our faith and ground it uniquely in this place, “where mountains rise to open skies”.

“If you don’t sing it, you don’t believe it” she says.

Let her have the last word.

“Who will there be to sing
If we do not sing well,
if all we know as true
has no sounding bell?”

Peace is her song - the life and legacy of hymn writer Shirley Erena Murray by Anne Manchester was published by Philip Garside Publishing Ltd 2024.

Rt Rev John Bluck is the retired Bishop of Waiapu.