Rebel to Redeemed…Sharing HIS Kind of Love
Jesus Is Tenderly Calling You Home is a hymn often used as an invitational in the church. The hymn was written by Fanny Crosby and music was by George Coles Stebbins. Crosby had been blind since the age of six weeks and wrote over 8,000 songs in her lifetime. Jesus Is Tenderly Calling You Home first appeared in Gospel Hymns […]
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Praise Him, Praise Him, Jesus Our Blessed Redeemer is a hymn by beloved songwriter Fanny Crosby. Chester G. Allen married the melody to the lyrics written by Crosby. The hymn was first published in 1869 in the Bright Jewels songbook. This is a hymn that praises Jesus and reminds us to praise him. We are not told what inspired Crosby […]
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Robert Lowry was a composer more remembered for the more than 500 hymns he wrote instead of the sermons he preferred to give. He once stated: “Music, with me has been a side issue… I would rather preach a gospel sermon to an appreciative audience than write a hymn. I have always looked upon myself as a preacher and felt […]
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Rise Again was released in 1977 and shares the story of the crucifixion and resurrection from Jesus’ view point. The song was written by Dallas Holm, a singer-songwriter of Christian music. He has greatly influenced the contemporary Christian music genre. In an interview with the St. Augustine Record, Holm recalled: “I began to pray, which I should have done in […]
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Pass Me Not O Gentle Savor is another popular hymn by prolific and beloved hymn writer Fanny Crosby. Crosby had been blind since she was six weeks old, but wrote over 8,000 songs in her lifetime. One evening, Fanny Crosby was invited to speak to a group of prisoners at the state prison and heard one of the men say […]
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I Am Thine, O Lord is another beloved hymn by Fanny Crosby. Ira Sankey shared in his book that Fanny Crosby was visiting Mr. W.H. Doane, in is Cincinnati, Ohio home. They were talking about the blessedness and nearness of God. The sun began to set that evening and the evening shadows were gathering around them, during which time someone […]
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Happy Mother’s Day! I thought this was a fitting song for the day. You Raise Me Up almost vanished into obscurity, instead of becoming the hit song we know and love today. You Raise Me Up was composed by an Irish-Norwegian duo known as Secret Garden, performers of primarily instrumental music. The music was composed by Rolf Lovland. The song […]
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Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place is a praise hymn from the 1970s which is still popular today. The song was written by Lanny Wolfe and inspired by Genesis 28:16, “When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” Lanny Wolfe is an […]
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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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In honor of Epiphany, which we just celebrated, I thought We Three Kings would be a great song to take a closer look at. We Three Kings describes the journey of the Wise Men to see the baby Jesus. The names of the kings, passed down through tradition are Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar. The kings presented the Christ Child with […]
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Sweet Little Jesus Boy finds it’s roots in the African-American spirituals. The song was written by Robert MacGimsey. According to legend, MacGimsey left the midnight Christmas Eve service he’d been attending that cold night in 1932’s New York City. Walking the final blocks to his one room apartment, he passed the open doors of a private club. Glancing inside he […]
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The words and music of “O Come O Come Emmanuel” developed separately. The original text, which was in Latin, was first documented in 1710 in Germany. The tune has it’s origins in 15th Century France. In the early church something called O Anitphons were used. An antiphon is a response by the choir or congregation and used in the form […]
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What Child is This? was written by William Chatterton Dix in 1865 in England. Dix worked as a manager for an insurance company before being afflicted with a severe illness that left him bedridden and severely depressed. This near death experience brought about a spiritual renewal in him while he was recovering. During his recovery he would read the Bible […]
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Francis Scott Key We all know our National Anthem, but do you know how it originated? The author, Francis Scott Key, was at Fort McHenry when the British Royal Navy bombed the fort in 1814. Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and amateur poet, and John Stuart Skinner were on a mission for President James Madison on September 3, 1814. The […]
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Irving Berlin’s patriotic love song to his adopted homeland was hidden away for over twenty years before being publicly made known. Irving Berlin was a Russian immigrant living in New York City. Growing up, Berlin often heard his mother say “God Bless America.” Berlin later said about his mother, “without America, her family would have had no place to go. […]
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I was recently discussing this beloved hymn with a family member. However, I can so relate to the story. There have been times when I had no one to tell my sorrows except Jesus. I must tell Jesus was written by Elisha Hoffman. He was born in 1839 Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. His love of God and music were both learned from […]
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Have you wondered where I got my tag, “Sharing HIS Kind of Love” from? The phrase comes from the song by the same title. His Kind of Love was written by Marijohn Wilkin. For 15 years I was Daddy’s accompanists on the piano. This was a song we performed on a regular basis. After his death, I took the Easter […]
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