Noteworthy Blog

This hymn by Anne Steele has found a new revival in the past decade. Originally published in 1760, this is one of Steele’s most popular hymns. It was set to newer music by Matt Merker in 2014. Steele’s life was full of pain. Quite literally she lived with pain in the form of symptoms of malaria throughout most of her life. Stomach aches, headaches, fever, and never-ending physical pain. This was on top of losing her mother at age 3, a potential future husband at age 20, her stepmother at 43, her sister-in-law at 45, and her father, whom she cared for when she was 53. In excruciating pain, she whispered, “I know that my Redeemer liveth” before her final breath in 1778. Despite all her hardships, she remained engaged with society as much as possible. She chose to be single, turning down a proposal at age 26 so that she could focus on her writing. She could hold her own theologically, one might say, in literary circles of Dissenting ministers. Suffice it to say, she doesn’t appear to have...

According to the Hymnology Archive the original Welsh text of this hymn was first published in 1847. It was originally written by William Rees and has become known as the hymn of the Welsh revival of 1904-1905. It was translated into English in 1899 and adapted in 2004 with a new chorus by Matt Redman. Here is love, vast as the ocean Loving kindness as the flood When the Prince of Life, our Ransom Shed for us His precious blood Who His love will not remember? Who can cease to sing His praise? He can never be forgotten Throughout Heaven’s eternal days The opening imagery of this hymn gave me pause as I began to look at it. Using the word “ocean” when crafting a lyric is certainly nothing new. Neither is the word “flood”.  But I had to stop and think about “loving kindness as the flood” for a moment because so often the only reference to floods in our culture is negative. Certainly, watching your home and memories float away is devastating, and it’s worse losing a loved one to a rel...

A written copy of the text from the 12 th  century of Rop tú mo Baile (Be Thou My Vision) is kept in the National Library in Ireland. Some believe the hymn was originally written sometime in the 6 th century. It’s unquestionably one of the oldest hymns we sing today. This hymn, like many others, is the result of collaboration over time. With the original author unable to be verified, we do know that Mary E. Byrne translated the prayer into literal prose in 1905. Later, this translation was adapted by Eleanor Hull in 1912. In 1919, it was put to the Irish folk tune SLANE and published in the Irish Church Hymnal. Since then, it has found its way into over 150 hymnals. We sing all types of hymns with prose that can be used as prayers. But with “Be Thou My Vision”, the entire hymn is a prayer, with five main points; Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart Be Thou my wisdom, Thou my true word Be Thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise High Ki...