The Text “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) The First Hymn O little flock, fear not the foeWho madly seeks your overthrow;Dread not his rage and pow'r.And though your courage sometimes faints,His seeming triumph o'er God's saintsLasts but a little hour. Be of…
With the Lord Begin Your Task
Text: anon. German (1734); tr. Gustave Polack (1890–1950), alt. [Public domain in the EU]Music: Peter Frank (1616–75) [Public domain]
Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me
A hymn by Paul Gerhardt (1607–76). The loose translation is by John Wesley (1703–91), who changed the meter of the poem significantly. Gerhardt's original consists of nine lines (87 87 87 4 68), and is traditionally set to the tune 'Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ', which was first published in 1535. In Wesley's…
Good Hymns Take Time
As part of this morning's devotions, I decided that I would sing a Christmas hymn that (a) I don't often sing, (b) is still appropriate on the 11th day of Christmas (i.e. not of the "this night/morning" variety), and (c) is really, really good. Alas, such hymns are not so easy to find. Not chiefly…
From God Can Nothing Move Me
Some notes on the hymn that will be sung at Our Saviour Lutheran Church and Brighton Lutheran Mission as the hymn of the day tomorrow, Trinity 14, 2016: This hymn was written by Ludwig Helmbold (1532–98), a teacher, academic, poet and (in later life) pastor in central Germany. While he was serving as headmaster in…
Jesus, My Husband?
Another story of a hymn 'improved' by hymnal editors. John Newton, of 'Amazing Grace' fame, wrote another well-known, and a far better, hymn on the name of Jesus. It was published as part of Olney Hymns, a collaboration between Newton and William Cowper. The original text of this hymn is given below. I have put…
How to sing the faith, and how not
Have I told you lately that I'm no great fan of 'All Things Bright and Beautiful'? What strikes me about that, and some other famous and very popular hymns by Cecil Alexander, is that they were written to help her young godchildren to understand the Creed. A laudable goal indeed. Setting anything to rhyme, rhythm…
For the children’s funeral
HT: The following thought process was triggered by a series of tweets by Kathryn Because the church I serve is very small and not very well known, and it's part of a denomination that no one in this country has ever heard of, my ministry has a slightly unusual shape. Unlike my CofE colleagues, I…
Not until their taste improves
George W. Briggs (1875–1959) was an Anglican priest and hymn-writer, one of the founders of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland. His best-known hymn is 'God Hath Spoken by the Prophets', although my personal favourite is 'Now Is Eternal Life'. It turns out that he was a man of good judgement, too. In…
Abide with Me—some notes and original text
As a sort of follow-up to a past post on bad things done to good hymns (and more so), a positive story about how a great hymn came about. Abide with Me, by Henry Francis Lyte, is, by one measure, the most popular English hymn in the world (according to this table [PDF] from Christianity…
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