In 2000, I was honoured to receive the Servant of Christ Award from the Lutheran Church of Australia.
The citation, and my response are given below.
Songs like Father welcomes; Comfort, comfort all my people; In the house of God; Feed us now; The way is low; and Jesus please watch over us, have worked their way into the regular worship life of the church. They have already become toe-tapping favourites and standard fare for us, yet their author is still regularly writing the music and lyrics for Christian community songs. Robin Mann started writing and singing for the church in the late 1960s. He could well be described as the prime mover behind the contemporary music scene in the LCA, to say nothing of his influence in the other churches of our land and beyond.
Robin was born in Murray Bridge in 1949, the ninth of 11 children born to Arthur and Elsie Mann, dairy farmers at Long Flat. He was baptised and confirmed at Christ Church, Murray Bridge. Robin married Dorothy Stiller in 1969. They have three adult children: Kristin, and twins Jon and Thom. Robin received his schooling at Long Flat and Murray Bridge Primary Schools, Murray Bridge High School, Immanuel College and Adelaide University. At university he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts (1971) and a Diploma in Education (1972). Apart from three years teaching at Royal Park High School (1973-75), Robin has devoted his working life to the church, as parish worker at St Stephen’s, as a chaplain with Lutheran Student Fellowship, and as worship-music coordinator at Golden Grove. Since 1995 he has worked as a freelance singer and song-writer.
What springs to mind most quickly when Robin’s name is mentioned? Is it the dynamic musical duo he and Dorothy have formed, starting from their days together at school? Is it the prodigious output of quality songs that Robin has written and sung into the hearts of thousands? Is it the band Kindekrist? Is it the monthly student services at St Stephen’s that Robin coordinated, continuing without a break from 1971 to 1998? Is it the four All Together songbooks that Robin, in collaboration with countless others, has brought to birth? A fifth is under way at this very moment. Is it Robin’s shocking pink electric guitar? Robin has had more than 100 songs published, including 16 in the LCA’s hymnal supplement, eight in the new Australian hymnbook Together in song, and almost 70 in the All Together series. He has also recorded 18 collections of songs, including Kindekrist, All Together, and solo albums.
To sing the songs of Robin Mann is to find oneself in the practised hands of a poet, a musician, and a theologian of the cross. At the heart of Robin’s songs stands the man Jesus, God incarnate, who rubs shoulders with the outcast and calls his followers to find God at the rough edges of society. In theology Robin is largely self-taught. He never ceases reading and listening, speaking and debating, reflecting and composing. He is at his lyrical best when describing the beauty and bounty of God’s creation or the breath-taking love of God in Jesus Christ. God’s forgiveness for the guilty, healing for the broken, comfort for the brow-beaten, and transformation of the human heart, are central themes. Robin starts and ends his songs with a sacramental celebration of the gospel; he gives his songs their heart by engaging the gospel in the struggles and challenges of life as disciples of Jesus, the most exhilarating journey Robin believes a person can ever embark on.
In gratitude to God the Lutheran Church of Australia, through Luther Seminary, today confers on Robin Mann the Servant of Christ award. In so doing the church recognises all church musicians who strive for excellence, who seek diversity in the music of worship, who sing the gospel in the language and idiom of today, and who encourage others to use their musical talents in the service of our Lord.
Thank you very much for this award.
I guess a real servant might say “no thanks, I was only doing my duty”. But ‘here I am’, pleased to accept it, also on behalf of numerous people who have served the church with non-traditional music these past 30 years or so.
I could say thanks to any number of people who have helped and encouraged me in this work — my children, Kris, Jon & Thom, members of Kindekrist, the pastors I’ve worked with.
But one stands head and shoulders above them all.
She thought the newly written baptism song I sang for her in Ashford hospital in July 1973 was pretty good. In May 1981 she asked if the song I was working on for a student service was for an approaching wedding. ‘May we be one’ became both.
She’s been the editor of countless songs, has sung so many of them much better than I could ever do. She’s had numerous suggestions to improve old songs, and ideas for new ones that I might write. She is sometimes sharp in her criticism, makes some good jokes at my expense, but she’s always constant in her encouragement. When I feel that others don’t care for the songs,
I know that she loves them — and me too.
I met Dorothy Joy Stiller in Sunday School when we were both 7 years old. Dorothy means God’s Gift; and a gift with Joy thrown in as a bonus. It’s been hard to cope with.
Before I sing you a new song about the one who is the great servant of each of us, and of the whole world, please join me in thanking Dorothy, Servant of Christ.