CHRISTIAN LIFE >> Guidance
SDAH 548
Now praise the hidden God of love
In whom we all must live and move,
Who shepherds us, at every stage
Thro’ youth, maturity, and age.
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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 )titled this ” A Hymn For Use in Later Life.” It was written in 1975 and entered in a Hymn Society of America competition for a new hymn that could be sung in later life by Christians and non-Christians who believe in a living God.
In the light of the fact that the average age of most church congregations is very high, it seems amazing that more authors have not written hymns that would meet the needs of this group.
For comments on Robert Schumann (1810-1856) and CANONBURY see SDAH 541. SDAH also uses this tune for No. 686.
📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.
Text
1
Now praise the hidden God of love
In whom we all must live and move,
Who shepherds us, at every stage
Thro’ youth, maturity, and age.
2
Who challenged us, when were young
To storm the citadels of wrong;
In care for others taught us how
God’s true community must grow.
3
Who bids us never lose our zest,
Tho’ age is urging us to rest,
But proves to us that we have still
A work to do, a place to fill.
4
Then talk no more of wasted time,
But Godward look, and upward climb,
Content to sleep, when day is done,
And rise refreshed, and travel on.
Hymn Info
Biblical Reference
(a) Ps 23:1 (b) 1 John 2:13 (c) John 9:4
Author
Fred Pratt Green (1903-2000)
Copyright
Words copyright 1982 by Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Hymn Tune
CANONBURY
Metrical Number
L.M.
Composer
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Theme
GUIDANCE
Recommended Reading
The general idea when it comes to hymns is that there is a close bond between the author and the composer. That the author writes a hymn and the composer invents a tune to suit it, and then provides the harmony to accompany the tune. However, such wasn’t always the case.
Many hymns actually worked vice versa wherein authors would write verses according to existing tunes. Hundreds of hymns are sung from borrowed tunes, such as secular songs, chants, and even classical works. That being said, I went ahead and researched which hymns in the SDA Hymnal were originally classical works.
