Jesus Paid It All
If you do a Google search for the story behind this hymn, you’ll come across some 30 million results. You might be surprised to learn that I read all of them. No. “Ain’t nobody got time for that.” Some hymns, like “Fairest Lord Jesus,” come from an unknown author, making the true history hard to trace. This hymn is young enough, at just shy of 160 years old, that there is strong historical evidence of its inspiration. That story is well told and repeated across a vast array of authors and historians. Author Elvina Hall was inspired in the choir loft of Monument Street Methodist Church, in 1865, during either a sermon on the crucifixion or a long-winded prayer following said sermon. She wrote the 4 stanzas quickly and fluidly. Excited she showed them to her pastor, George Shrick, who remembered the organist, John Grape, had brought a song with no lyrics to his attention the week before. In God’s providence, the lyrics and music matched with only a refrain needed, that Hall wrote to comp