Rebel to Redeemed…Sharing HIS Kind of Love
The Way of the Cross Leads Home was written by Jessie B. Pounds. Jessie Hunter Brown was born on August 31, 1861 in Hiam, Ohio. She is described as having been a “poorly” child in health and was educated at home. At age 15, she began submitting articles to Cleveland newspapers and various religious publications. She married John Pounds, a pastor of […]
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God tells us that he will use our trials and tragedies for his good. I Will Sing of My Redeemer was born of tragedy, but had the lasting effect of good. I Will Sing of My Redeemer was written by Philip Paul Bliss was an American conductor, composer, Gospel singer and hymn writer. Philip Bliss was born on July 9, […]
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Can you imagine what the disciples and followers of Jesus must have said as word spread that he was not in the tomb? The words, “He lives” seem to be one option that is plausible. The hymn was composed in 1933 by Alfred Henry Ackley. Alfred Ackley was born on January 21, 1887. His father was a Methodist Minister who […]
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Are you washed in the Blood was written by Elisha Hoffman. Elisha Hoffman was born on May 7, 1839 in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. He was a Presbyterian minister and composer of over 2,000 hymns and 50 song books during his 90 years. Music historian Jacob Hall described Elisha Hoffman’s musical ability in the following manner, “When a melody is born in […]
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When I survey the wondrous cross is a great song to concentrate on as we near Easter and remember the true meaning of the season. Jesus death on the cross is the greatest gift God could give to us and is a gift we can continue to accept today as we accept his salvation. However, the song was not originally […]
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The Doxology is a short hymn many of us that grew up in church sung during the offering. Today some churches have moved away from this tradition while others continue to maintain this tradition. So, where did the Doxology originate? Doxology is a Greek word that is described as a “short hymn of praise to God”. Today the Doxology […]
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Leaning on the Everlasting Arms was published in 1887. The lyrics were written by Anthony J. Showalter and Elisha Hoffman. The music was also written by Showalter. Showalter said that he received letters from two of his former pupils saying that their wives had died. When writing letters of consolation, Showalter was […]
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“Standing on the Promises” was written and composed by Russell Carter in 1886. Carter was a professor at the time at the Pennsylvania Military Academy, a school in which he had been a member of the first graduating class. Carter had a variety of jobs from sheep herding to professor of Natural Science, Civil Engineering, Chemistry and Mathematics. While sheep […]
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Kum ba Yah is a spiritual song dating back to at least the 1920s, when the earliest known recordings took place. According to the Library of Congress the two earliest versions were both collected in 1926. Both of these versions now reside in the Library of Congress American Folklife Center. It is unknown when in 1926 either version was recorded […]
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All the Way the Savior Leads Me is one of the songs that runs through my mind at times. The hymn was written in 1875 by Fanny Crosby. “A frequently told story about this hymn relates that it came to Fanny as a result of a prayer. Struggling financially, she desperately needed some money. As her usual custom, Fanny began […]
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We’ve dissected some difficult subjects in the past in our conversations on depression, domestic violence and prodigal living. If you’ve read my blog for a while you will know how important music is to me. My Behind the Hymn on Sunday is a very popular feature. We’re going to delve into another subject that is just as important, but not […]
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Angels We Have Heard on High commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ found in the Gospel of Luke. The song focuses on the shepherds encounter with the angels foretelling of the birth of the newborn child. Reports say that in 129 A.D. Pope Telesphorus ordained that the “Gloria” be sung at the Christmas Eve midnight mass. The phrase became known […]
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African Americans have a rich musical history through the use of passing down stories in the guise of a song. These songs are called spirituals and the slaves often sung them in the fields, while working and in their celebrations. These songs have a feeling of “incredible majesty and haunting beauty.” Go Tell It on the Mountain originated as a […]
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This is a beautiful Christmas song that Daddy and I performed together many times. The lyrics and music were written by William H. Neidlinger in 1890. No other information is known about this beautiful Christmas carol. The song has been recorded and performed numerous times over the years by various artists. Maybe his work was inspired by the passage in […]
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Imagine traveling to the Holy Land and being inspired by the places where Jesus was born, walked, died and rose from the grave. To ride by horseback out to the fields where the shepherds attended their sheep and the angels appeared to them. That’s exactly how the lyrics for O Little Town of Bethlehem were inspired. Later the author wrote […]
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The hymn we sing today as Hark! The Herald Angels Sing has had many alterations since it originated. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing first appeared in the 1739 Hymns and Sacred Poems. This is one of the few Christmas hymns written in the 17th and early 18th Centuries, after the English Puritan’s abolished Christmas Carols for being part of a […]
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In 1847, Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure was most likely shocked when the parish priest asked him to write a poem for Christmas Mass. De Roquemaure was the commissioner of wines in a small French town and well known for his poetry. He was an unlikely person for the priest to ask to write this poem, in the fact that he was […]
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We Gather Together is a popular hymn sung at Thanksgiving. The song was written in 1597 by Adrianus Valerius. The original title of the Dutch hymn was “Wilt heden nu treden“. The song was written to celebrate the Dutch victory over the Spanish forces in the Battle of Turnhout. The song acknowledges the triumph over the nation’s turbulent history. In […]
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Franz Schubert composed the popular Catholic hymn in 1825, as part of his Opus 52. He titled the song “Ellens dritter Gesang” or Ellen’s Third Song. Philip Adam Storck translated and published the poem Lady of the Lake into German in 1819. This was the inspiration for Schubert’s work. The song was composed as a setting for Sir Walter Scott’s […]
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In honor of Veteran’s Day this week, I wanted to look at a beloved Patriotic hymn. Katharine Lee Bates and a group of colleagues ascended up Pike’s Peak by prairie wagon in the summer of 1893 while on a working vacation. She was so inspired by the view that beheld her that she began to write the poem to America […]
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