This was the first hymn written by Erik Routley (1917-1983); SEE ON SDAH 13) who is considered to be probably the most dominating force in twentieth-century church music.  In October 1966 Routley was at a music workshop in Dunblane, near Stirling, Scotland.  He was trying to compose a tune, but in the next room another composer was at who was unable to compose without singing out loud.  Frustrated, Routley turned to hymn writing.  He thought of a beautiful tune by Peter Cutts that had no text, and at the time of the American cities that were suffering from riots (specifically, Oakland, California).  The result was this text, which was published in the second volume of Dunblane Praises, 1967.  It is a hymn of caring and concern for the people and the problems of the cities, showing the peace and love that Jesus gives as the answer.  Routley also wrote SDAH 13 “New Songs of Celebration Render,” and the tune SHARPTHORNE, SDAH 571.

The tune BIRABUS was composed by Peter Cutts (1937- ; see Biographies) in the fall of 1962 to be used the following January with the text” In the cross of Christ I Glory” at the student Christian Movement Congress in Bristol, England. The tune name was the pet name given to the vehicle used by the composer and eight others while returning to England from a student conference I Austria in the summer of 1962. This tune is haunting and “different,” yet easy to sing and memorize.  

📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.