There is something about hymns. Whenever I feel life's harsh reality and down or when I am happy, hymns come to my mind. Some hymns have stories attached to them. Today I want to share about this very old hymn written by Charles Wesley. Listen to the majestic choir's rendition. However there is no story to this hymn.
The New Testament tells us that hymns (from the Greek word 'hymnos' meaning songs of praise) were sung by Jesus and the disciples (Matthew 26:30) and that hymns are different from Psalms (Ephesians 5:19). Other than that not much is known about Christian hymns during the first three centuries of the Church.
Here is another favourite of mine:
The story is that:
rish born Joseph M. Scriven (1819-1896) was 25 years old, in love and to be married. The day before his wedding his fiance died in a tragic drowning accident. Heartbroken, Joseph sailed from his homeland to start a new life in Canada. While in Canada working as a teacher, he fell in love again and became engaged to Eliza Roche, a relative of one of his students. Once again, Joseph's hopes and dreams were shattered when Eliza became ill and died before the wedding could take place.Although one can only imagine the turmoil within this young man, history tells us that his faith in God sustained him. Soon after Eliza's death Joseph joined the Plymouth Brethren and began preaching for a Baptist church. He never married, but spent the remainder of his life giving all his time, money and even the clothes off his own back to help the less fortunate and to spread the love and compassion of Jesus wherever he went.
Around the same time that Eliza died, Joseph received word from Ireland that his mother was ill. He could not go to be with her, so he wrote a letter of comfort and enclosed one of his poems entitled What a Friend We Have in Jesus.
So the next time you sing a hymn try and see if you can also find the story of the song writer.
