These are a Few of My Favourite Hymns
For fun, in some upcoming posts, I’ll share some of my personal favourites in the sphere of Sunday morning church music. There are some pieces which just seem to me a perfect combination of both melody and lyrics.
I’ll start by mentioning the hymn O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus, written by Samuel David Francis, an English preacher, in 1875. You can listen to a brief recording of my very own by clicking here. This grand tune is based upon an old Welsh melody called ‘Ebenezer‘ (and adapted by composer Thomas John Williams), but the words were penned by Francis, and based upon the powerful Scripture of Ephesians 3:17-19. As well, the sheet music for it is available here.
Although seemingly morose here in the key of F Minor, the lyrics gloriously remind of the insurpassable love of Christ:
O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me,
Is the current of Thy love;
Leading onward, leading homeward,
To Thy glorious rest above!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o’er His loved ones,
Died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth,
Watcheth o’er them from the throne!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Love of every love the best!
’Tis an ocean vast of blessing, ’tis a haven sweet of rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
’tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory,
For it lifts me up to Thee!
These words are very rich, providing some tremendous imagery of the love He has available to all. They certainly found their ideal melodic match! A fine recording (with singing) can be found here.
I look forward to sharing more soon.
Explore posts in the same categories: Scriptural Reflections
April 27th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
This is what I like: when someone likes music and makes it too. It seems that the more others play and sing for us, the less we play instruments and sing ourselves. It’s kind of ironic, that an abudance of melodies doesn’t make a composer of each of us…
August 31st, 2009 at 10:39 pm
[...] for newer music (past articles here indicate how I tend to have steeped myself in Schubert, hymns, and the Red Army Choir, with occasional forays into Johnny Cash and other classic bands), I would [...]