Behind the Hymn: We’re Marching to Zion
We’re Marching To Zion is sometimes referred to by it’s opening line, Come We That Love the Lord. The hymn was written by Isaac Watts. Watts was an English minister, hymnwriter, theologian and logician. He…
Behind the Hymn: The Solid Rock
The Solid Rock or My Hope is Built on Nothing Less was written by Edward Mote. He was a pastor at Rehoboth Baptist Church in Horsham, West Essex, England. Mote was born in 1797 and…
Behind the Hymn: Sweet Hour of Prayer
William Walford was a simple uneducated wood carver with a great memory. He spoke and wrote poem in his England home and shop. He was so in tune with God and scripture that he was…
Behind the Hymn: Trusting Jesus
Trusting Jesus was written by Edgar Page Stites. The music was written by Ira D. Sankey. Edgar Page Stites was a direct descendant of John Howland, one of the Mayflower passengers. Stites served in the…
Behind the Hymn: Praise To the Lord The Almighty
Praise to the Lord the Almighty is a hymn based on Joachim Neander’s German hymn “Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren”, published in 1680. Neander was born in 1650 Bremen, Germany. In his…
Behind the Hymn: Safe in the Arms of Jesus
Safe in the Arms of Jesus was written by Fanny Crosby. On April 30, 1868, William Howard Doan, a composer and friend of Crosby’s knocked on her door. He said, “Miss Fanny, I have exactly…
Behind the Hymn: Jesus Is Tenderly Calling You Home
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…
Behind the Hymn: Jesus Our Blessed Redeemer
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…
Behind the Hymn: Nothing but the blood
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…
Behind the Hymn: Pass Me Not O Gentle Savor
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…
Behind the Hymn: I am thine, O Lord
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…
Behind the Song: You Raise Me Up
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…
Behind the Song: Surely the Presence
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…
Behind The Doxology: Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow
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.…
Behind the Christmas Carol: Angels We Have Heard on High
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…
Behind the Christmas Carol: Go Tell It on the Mountain
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…
Behind the Christmas Song: The Birthday of the King
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…
Behind the Christmas Carol: O Little Town of Bethlehem
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…
Behind the Christmas Carol: Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
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…
Behind the Song: O Holy Night
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…