The Producer - Hilda And Caedmon

SEVENTH CENTURY

Throughout history, great artists have always needed supporters—people to recognize their talent and give them opportunities, to encourage them and even fund their work. Hilda of Whitby was someone like that, and her support was seen most significantly in the work of an unlikely songster named Caedmon.

He was a common laborer, tending the livestock at a farm near the monastery that Hilda managed. As the story goes, he was at a banquet one night when everyone got to singing, and he left in a funk because he had nothing to sing. But that night he had a vision in which a mysterious stranger ordered him to sing a new song “of the beginning of creation.” Caedmon composed it in his sleep and sang it the next day to his foreman—who decided the song was worthy of Hilda’s attention.

Apparently Hilda gathered a group to listen to Caedmon, “and they all determined that God had granted him heavenly grace,” writes the historian Bede. “They would then explain a passage of sacred history or doctrine, asking him to put it into verse if he could. Agreeing to this, he left and returned the next morning, giving them the assigned passage in beautiful verse form.”

Caedmon’s gift was recognized by Hilda, and she invited him to join the monastery. There he continued to write original Bible-based songs, establishing a reputation that continues today as one of the first Old English poets. “He tried to draw people away from the love of sin and arouse in them a commitment to good deeds and perseverance,” Bede writes.

Hilda’s role in Caedmon’s career was not unusual for her. Respected by princes and peasants alike, she mentored five different men who became bishops in the region. You might call her the “Barnabas” of Old England, encouraging others to develop their own ministries, just as Barnabas did for Paul and others. We need more like her today.

So, do you know anyone who, like Caedmon, has a hidden talent and a dream? Perhaps you can offer encouragement, not only to use that talent, but to use it in the service of the Lord.

Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul.

Acts 9:27