CHRISTIAN LIFE >> Love For One Another
SDAH 586
What joy it is to worship here,
And find ourselves at home,
Where God, who uses every gift,
Has room for all who come!
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For Worship Leaders
Make each hymn more meaningful with these helpful tools: Short, ready-to-use hymn introductions for church bulletins, multiple ways to introduce a hymn based on your worship theme and in-depth history and insights to enrich your song service.
📖 Reference: Feel free to share but please cite hymnsforworship.org when reproducing.
Introductions for Sabbath School Song Service (based on specific lesson quarterlies):
Fred Pratt Green (1903-; see Biographies), one of England’s most the members of East Finchley Methodist Church in London. It was for prolific contemporary hymn writers, wrote this one at the request of the occasion of the reopening of their church as a flexible working space. They wanted the hymn to emphasize the integration of people of diverse cultures and outlooks. It was sung there in 1980 to the tune TYROL, and in 1982 was included as a poem in The Hymns and Ballads of Fred Pratt Green, Hope Publishing. The original has three eight-line stanzas, the SDAH hymn consisting of only the first. The hymn echoes Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
For a long time, JEG ER SAA GLAD (I am so glad) was thought to be a German or Norwegian folk song. Also known as CHRISTMAS EVE because of its association with the first lines of the text “I Am So Glad Each Christmas Eve,” it was written by Peter Knudsen, born in 1819, the son of a parish singer in Voga, Norway. While still very young, he showed musical talent and was accepted in the Premilitary Musical Organization in Oslo. After study of the violin and several other instruments, he became choir director at Holinestraud. In 1854 he was appointed civic music director and school music administrator in Krager, where he organized Midsummer Eve music festivals. Moving to Olesund, he spent the next four years as organist/ choirmaster at the church there, during which time he composed this delightful tune. He died just before Christmas in 1863.
📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.
Text
1
What joy it is to worship here,
And find ourselves at home,
Where God, who uses every gift,
Has room for all who come!
2
Yet are no two of us alike
Of all the human race,
And we must seek a common ground
If we would share His grace.
Hymn Info
Biblical Reference
(b) Luke 19:41
Author
Fred Pratt Green (1903-)
Year Published
1980
Copyright
Words copyright 1982 by Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Hymn Tune
JEG ER SAA GLAD
Metrical Number
C.M.
Composer
Peter Knudsen (1819-1863)
