OYH: Episode 3 – Journey of the Soul, Analyzing the Musical Landscape of “I’m a Pilgrim”

00:09. Intro

Welcome to Open Your Hymnals, exploring the purpose and value of Hymns so we can sing with Spirit and understanding. I'm your host, Irene Bennett.

00:20.

Have you ever tried picking up your hymnal and just let curiosity lead you to inspect all the other things that are in the hymnal, the hymn itself and everything included? Growing up, one of my favorite Sabbath afternoon past times was playing thru the hymnal. But it wasn’t always like that especially when I was just learning how to play hymns. Learning to play hymns was arduous and nerve-wracking — having to play all four notes at the same time. My mom made me practice, much to my dismay. Especially when the neighbor’s kids are peeking thru our window asking me when is practice over so we can play.

01:53.

I remember the hymnal we had back then was this old Filipino hymnal called “Awit sa Pagsamba” or in English, “Songs for Worship,” we also had an older English hymnal called, “The Church Hymnal.” And many years later, when I was finally getting better at playing hymns, thanks to my mom, someone brought over this new international SDA hymnal to our home. It was bigger, thicker, and had many songs I did not recognize. However, I noticed that a lot of them sounded pleasant and different from what I was used to. And so, the habit of playing through the hymnal every Sabbath afternoon stemmed from this curiosity.  That curiosity has not waned. In fact, over the years, whenever I would hear a nice tune from a choir or a piano arrangement that I particularly love, I would try to see if the tune was actually in the hymnal.

02:58.

I have this distinct memory of listening, particularly to John Rutter's arrangement of

"The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, is Ended." It was a Sabbath afternoon and the setting sun was casting a golden glow in the house. I had my Walkman and I had the CD "Sing Ye Heavens: Hymns for All Time" by John Rutter, and it was blasting through my earphones. But that hymn — "The Day Thou Gavest..." , gave me the chills because it was such a perfect accompaniment to the setting of sun as the Sabbath closed. First it started out really soft, and ended majestically with the pipe organ bellowing in accompaniment and I remember saying to myself after that ethereal experience — “I wish this hymn is in the hymnal.”

03:53.

I mean, I was a teenager at the time, probably around 16 or 17, and I should be addicted to Alanis Morrison to the Backstreet Boys, or Michael Learns To Rock.

04:05.

But I really found myself getting hooked on hymns and I'm chuckling because that was really the truth. One Sabbath afternoon, doing my usual routine, playing through a portion of the hymnal, I recognized the song I heard from Rutter's CD that for me sealed my love for hymns. From then on, whenever I listen to a sacred music CD sung by a choir, I always tune my ear and see if there are any hymns that they have included in their repertoire.

04:37.

Yeah, I'm such a dork that I remember when I was watching Prince Philip's funeral or even Queen Elizabeth's funeral that I was trying to see and trying to recognize if there were hymns in their funeral service. And I would actually research it and look it and confirm and see if it was actually in the hymnal and many, many of the songs were. And it gave me pleasure. So yeah, there you go. That's a hymn dork for you.

05:09.

But anyway, that was me many years ago, many, many years ago. But my journey with Hymns, researching it, playing it, sharing it, analyzing it, talking about it, I guess will be a never ending conquest to satisfy my curiosity for this genre. And now I get to take this journey with you through this podcast. And that being said, I think we are so blessed with how much knowledge and information we have in our fingertips, especially at the speed that we get it today.

05:47.

But just imagine with me for a few seconds, what if I had wanted to know more about the hymns and there is no internet to answer my curiosities? Well, I don't have to imagine it because I have actually experienced it. But looking at the lowly hymnal itself, we can see that it is such treasure trove of information. Here I'll show you what I mean. I have mentioned in the first episode that I’m A Pilgrim was a hymn included by a youthful James White in his 1849 hymnal.

06:27.

For many of us, our picture of a hymnal is like this, or at least maybe like this, with ancient looking notation. But no, they did not have this kind of luxury, you know, printing the musical notes. And so the hymnal was really just a compilation of words. How did they know what tune to sing it to? Well, one person will try to remember how a hymn sounded like and would try to teach it to the congregation, but since there is no notation, then they were really left upon good, that person is remembering the tune.

07:03.

And many times the song service wasn't so good, that complaint reached the Review and Herald regarding the musical chaos that happens during the song service. I read the quote, “I lately attended a conference where bretheren and sisters from different sections were gathered and it was good to see them there. But alas! when we sang, one prolonged a quarter note until it consumed the time of a whole note with a bold and swell beside. Some are singing one verse, until others had progressed pretty well into the next;

07:41.

And the ending word of each verse echoed and re-echoed, each according to the different notions of propriety, which each locality administered for itself… It would be too much to suppose that different voices, from different places, with different styles of singing, should sing in perfect harmony; but certainly, it might be very much improved.” And despite Joseph Clarke who was also a singing school teacher, he was the one who forwarded his complaint to the Review and Herald and I can imagine, you know, the, you know, different times to end, and, you know, prolonging a note when it's not supposed to prolong.

08:21.

And then you have, you know, different people singing and it's understandable kind of, because they were from different places. It's not like they're in one congregation learning the song together. Each church as, um, Joseph Clark pointed, each one was coming from a different locality. And so whatever they got used to in their area, then that's how they would sing it. And so looking back at this hymn and looking back at this hymnal, the pages are really bare bones.

08:53.

Aside from a title and the lyrics, that's all you get or, and, and maybe a preface giving you sort of an idea what the editor's purpose was, in compiling the hymnal. For James White, his purpose was clear and we find it in the title. It's for the small group of believers who are eagerly waiting for Christ's return and who are keeping his commandments faithfully. Forward to several years later when Ellen White's nephew had all grown up to be a man and can contribute significantly to the advent movement; F. E. Belden, gifted with songwriting skills and leadership, he had been assigned to compile the largest ever most exhausted hymnal for the SDA church.

09:49.

What did he come up with? Well, hymns and tunes with over 1000 hymns inside it. And as if that wasn't enough, he also compiled a hymnal called “Christ in Song” that was even more popular and exhausted than the first one. If you have been blessed to have been born in a family where your grandma was an Adventist and your great-grandma was an Adventist, then they might recognize this hymnal. It was really popular among the Adventists and much of the hymns inside are songs that a conservative church will still sing today.

10:30.

It has special features like an index to favorite short choruses and favorite hymns of the church. They also made an effort to categorize it in a way that most hymnals don't have, like uh, children's songs, enthusiastic songs, soft songs, et cetera. Then it has a section with Bible verses in connection to praising God, an index showing the many varied topics the hymns cover or what we call as a topical index.

11:03.

So there's a lot more upgrades and features and an effort to organize the hymns in a way that allows song leaders to choose hymns that are relevant to the occasion. And when you go to the hymnal page itself, it has a Bible verse below, names of people who made the hymn text and tune and occasionally a text tune and a meter number. Then at the back you have responses, scripture readings, and then an index of first lines and titles, and then finally an index of the 330 tunes that was used.

11:40.

And this is pretty much standard in every hymnal. Now for a church musician, this details are really very important because it allows you flexibility and variety in a song service. It also helps the congregation to sing hymns that are more relevant to the messages discussed in the worship service. This kind of organization in the hymnal is an evidence that hymns doesn't have to be chosen haphazardly without thought and care.

12:13.

But let's move forward to the hymnal I grew up acquainted with, the church hymnal. Oh my, just holding this hymnal right now just brings so much memories. It's the hymnal where I first learned how to play a hymn and I think the first hymn I learned playing was “Master The Tempest Is Raging”. Many of you if you're younger and maybe born in the nineties won't even know it. And unfortunately that is not included in the current international hymnal.

12:45.

So as usual, um, here we have the preface by the general conference Committee followed by a contents page that gives us a brief overview of the broad topics the hymnal is covering. Just scanning through this page really quick and I can see a section that is not in the current hymnal anymore. Like a Sabbath school section or hymns for social worship. I think that the category was phased out, but the hymns in it are still included just under a different category.

13:23.

Skipping to the back, we have responsive readings, a topical index and index of authors, translators and sources, as well as an index of composers, arrangers and sources of tunes and alphabetical index of tunes, a metrical index of tunes, and finally an index of titles and first lines. Honestly, I grew up in a church culture where most of the time the worship service is, I would say, not prepared or maybe a creative way of saying it is, impromptu.

14:06.

Um, this is a piece in the church where I used to go, or maybe they prepared but not sufficient enough. But most of the times I am assigned to play the piano and accompany the song service. And a few minutes before the song service, the song leader would come scurrying to me and asking me, what song should this congregation sing? What's the topic for today? Can we sing this? Do you know this? And we would flip through the hymnal and panic and just choose the hymn where our thumbs happened to stop.

14:40.

And this is like probably 10 minutes before the song service starts. And I got so used to this panic mode that when I had the opportunity to play in a more prepared and organized worship service, I felt more nervous and uneasy because everything was calculated to the T. And I feared that if I slipped, then I would have ruined the program.

15:05.

I was probably 12 or 13 years old when my mom brought me to this retreat for the mission conference she works at. So we were staying in a room with this lady who was assigned to be the song leader every night and every day I watched her flipping back and forth through the hymnal, running her fingers through the index, making some notes here and there in her notebook. And she had her Bible beside her and she would occasionally open that as well.

15:37.

That evening I saw her stand in front of the congregation and I noticed that she did something different that a lot of song leaders never did, at the least the ones I got used to accompanying. She said some stuff about the hymns that I found really interesting and then she said, what, whenever we hear this word, it really meant this. And so we had to sing a little louder on that part. And then she made the congregation sing soft or loud or just the ladies or the men. I mean the song service was lit and everyone sang with gusto.

16:12.

And I remember feeling really happy. It was many, many years later that I realized what she was actually doing. She was using the indexes of the hymnal to her advantage, hence the flipping through the hymnal back and forth. And with enough experience, boldness and creativity, she was able to make her preparations come alive.

16:37.

But let's move on to the current hymnal, which is not so current since it was really published in 1985, but let's consider it current because no other hymnal has been published after it, at least on an international scale. I know hymnals have been produced by conferences that represent their country and in the vernacular as well. Like there's a Korean SDA hymnal and an Indian or French SDA hymnal and of course, we have the Philippine SDA hymnal as well.

17:08.

But these only work for a congregation who speaks the language. And for a people, for a body of people who are mostly familiar with the songs compiled, the compilations and the songs that are familiar for Filipinos may not be the same compilation and the same familiar songs for Koreans, but we're not going to dissect those specialized hymnals today. So anyway, here you see a more updated version of the church hymnal.

17:39.

We have the introduction where they give us a brief history of how hymnals and hymns played a role in the Seventh Day Adventist movement. They also have a brief explanation of how the hymns were chosen, how to use the hymnal, and what is the purpose of the hymnal. We see the list of people involved in compiling this hymnal as well. Then the following page includes sort of a topical index as well. However, not as expansive as the one in “Christ in Song”, but rather a two page content, just like the church hymnal. At the back is where a lot of other useful tools are included.

18:22.

So here we really, uh, see an extensive section for scripture readings and benediction. And this gives us an idea that worship leaders and music leaders can work together ahead of time using this section to make the song and the spoken words relevant to each other, connecting in their messages to each other.

18:46.

Then we see a topical index of the hymns and relevant readings, meaning it's arranged by topic first and then alphabetically. Then you have a scriptural index of the verses used in the scriptural readings. Then there's scriptural illusions in hymns, which gives us an opportunity to connect to hymn with relevant passages of scriptures from the Bible. First, it is arranged by books of the Bible, then indexed by hymn number.

19:21.

In the episodes to come, we will try to incorporate how we can really take advantage of this indexes and make hymns come alive in our churches. But for now, we're just going to do a quick tour of the hymnal. So here we also see a suggestive list and actually several suggestive lists like hymns suitable for sentences and responses. Then you have another list for cannons and rounds and then hymns suitable for young worshipers.

19:55.

Again, we see the index of authors, translators and sources of texts.

20:00.

And another one for composers, arrangers, and sources of tunes. So always a different index for those in charge of the words and another index for those in charge of the music. Then there's an index of tunes, a metrical index of tunes, and finally an index where the titles and the first lines of the hymns are arranged alphabetically. This is hard work, but they have really taken the time to organize it in such a way that will help music leaders to make everything organized and relevant in the worship service.

20:41.

Now if you go to the hymn page itself, we'll see that it is a treasure trove of information as well. Let's go first to hymn number 252 at the top here you see the Bible verse and then below it is the author and maybe, um, a translator like if you would look across the other page, um, I have the example of 226

21:07.

It would have a translator, especially if the original was written in, um, I don't know what language, German or French, right? And then across the page would be the hymn tune name, the metrical number, and then the composer or sometimes a source of tune if it is also um, available. Then at the bottom here you have the copyrights and then you have an alternate tune or lower key.

21:43.

Okay, so, so because sometimes the hymnal would have the same tune for several songs and we'll be talking about that in the next um, episodes, but here they provide that information as well. Not every hymn would have this, but only when it is available. And then of course you'd have the theme. Now so let's apply all this knowledge to the hymn of the hour, I’m A Pilgrim. So let's turn our hymnals, let's open our hymnal to SDA hymn number 444.

22:18.

Now from the get go, we already have been discussing about um, Mary Dana Schindler and her life and the circumstances in which this, um, hymn was born. But across that we don't really have a lot of information. Arranged from an Italian air, that seems a bit vague, right? And a basic Google search can, can really be a futile effort. Hence this is where the SDA hymnal companion is useful.

22:50.

Have you ever come across this book? A lot of people that I've asked said that they have never thought that a book of this kind even existed, but yes, this SDA hymnal companion is basically a commentary for the hymns that are in the SDA hymnal. And for each hymn that is included in the hymnal, Wayne Hooper and his team took the time to do the necessary research to provide ample background giving us a wider but not too wide and deeper, but not too deep of the circumstances that happened behind the making of each hymn.

23:31.

Tonight we are mainly interested in I’m A Pilgrim like I said, and we're trying to find more information about the music that Mary Schindler used for this hymn and alas, we have one line that says this old Italian air was entitled “Buona Notte”.

23:51.

That's all that we have for music. Alright, we'll take that and that's a really good clue because at least we have a title. And since this episode is really delving into the role of music in the hymn, I'm still a bit curious what this Italian Air was all about. And so deeper research led me to the archives of John Hopkins University and in a collection called Levi Sheep Music, where we see this song together with other songs popular in America during 1780 to 1960.

24:28.

I know that's a really wide range of time, but it gives us an idea that it can be possible, that due to its popularity and singability that Mary Schindler chose it. So here's what we found out about the origin of the Hymn. Buona Notte is basically the Italian way of saying goodnight. I did not say it right, but you get the idea. Is this about a song saying goodnight to her kids or is it about something else?

25:00.

Well, here's the lyrics translated to English. It says Goodnight. Oh dear Nina, goodnight, goodnight. Go to sleep. Oh, do not remember my sorrows, that you do not feel my pain anymore. I only ask you to remember your tear and faithful lover who sincere and always constant will know how to live and die. Therefore, I leave you. Oh dear Nina, I only wish to give you another farewell, goodnight. Go to sleep.

25:39.

It's basically a sad love song. Either it's a separation because they're far away from each other or someone, uh, died. You know, the lyrics of “Buona Notte” really is expressing a sentiment of bidding farewell to a loved one, especially addressing a person named Nina. The speaker asks Nina not to remember their sorrows and assures her of this constant love and devotion. And despite parting ways the speaker's promises to remain faithful and sincere expressing a willingness to live and die for their love. Awwww .

26:18.

Um, so the phrase one, Notte is repeated throughout the song, emphasizing the wish for Nina to have a good night's sleep. Overall, the lyrics convey that mixture of longing and affection and resignation in the face of separation. So here's a sample of this Italian air. I wish I have a singer that can sing this for us tonight, but I just resorted to recording a midi version just so we can have a slight idea of how it might have been originally sung.

28:07.

So the published version of this song describe it as an Italian Air. In the SDA hymnal, it is also labeled as originating from an Italian Air. What is an air? Something we breathe in? Of course, one will emphatically say, yeah, that's right. But in a musical context though, the term “air” refers to a melody or tune, particularly one that is lyrical, expressive, and often of a song- like quality.

28:39.

Originally the term air was used to denote a song melody that could be sung with or without words. The term air has been used in various musical context throughout history. In the Baroque period, for example, an “air” might refer to a solo vocal piece with instrumental accompaniments such as an aria in an opera or cantata. In the context of folk music, an “air” might refer to a traditional melody or tune that is often associated with a particular region or cultural tradition like London Dairy Air.

29:21.

If you're familiar with that song. Overall, an “air” is essentially a musical composition or melody that is intended to be expressive and emotive, whether it is performed as a vocal piece, instrumental solo, or parts of a larger ensemble. And so as a poet, Mary Schindler needed to find an expressive tune that can evenly match her text about pilgrimage. Or maybe she found the tune first and wrote the text according to the flow of the tune.

29:55.

I don't really know, and I'm not really sure how her process worked either, maybe both ways. But the important thing to consider is that the tune and the text should match just like your hand to your favorite gloves. The syllabication should fall on the right beats or else it won't flow. It won’t go smoothly and people will have a hard time singing it. And Mary had a knack for it because apparently, although she's not a songwriter, she was able to fit many tunes to her poems.

30:31.

This is evidenced by her sold out book Southern Harp and by popular demand, the Northern Harp. Now let's put on some magnifying glasses and analyze the music itself. The hymn itself. Is this hymn hard to learn or not? Can my congregation learn this in one sitting or do we have to spend several months including it in our service so the congregation will learn it? So let me just play the melody for you really quick.

31:43.

So if you look at the melody of I’m A Pilgrim, it is characterized by its straightforward diatonic nature. Diatonic, meaning that the note used in the melody primarily belonged to the diatonic scale associated with the key of the music, which in this case F Major. And then it briefly went to the C major, but quickly went back to its original key. It mainly stayed within its boundaries, so to speak, because C major is still related to F. There was a secondary dominance somewhere, but that was just like one chord just to lead us back to the F major.

32:21.

Now, if you're not a musician and you're like getting lost with a theory, don't worry. That was it. Okay. And um, anyway, the melody primarily moves stepwise with occasional leaps to create interest and emotion. And the melody is memorable and easy to sing, making it well suited for congregational singing. The harmony of I'm A Pilgrim typically follows a basic chord progression.

32:54.

Often music chords from the major key of the song common chorus include the one or the tonic, the five, which is the dominant, and the five seven, occasionally. Let me play the hymn for you again, but this time with harmony, and I'm gonna try and flash on the screen the chords as as it happens. And so you're gonna see that the basic pattern is really 1, 5, 1, 5.

34:09.

The rhythm of I’m A Pilgrim, is typically simple and regular. With the steady tempo conducive to singing and congregational participation. It often features the combination of eight notes and quarter notes and occasional dotted notes. But this momentum, this forward sense of momentum is given by the eight notes. And even though you know, we're singing, we're seeing a lot of eight notes, it still remains to be accessible to singers of all levels.

34:44.

And then the song follows also a typical hymn form consistent of multiple verses with a recurring chorus or refrain. And each verse typically presents a new aspect of the pilgrim journey or a Christian life. And like what we have discussed last week, while the chorus reinforces the central theme and the message of the song, this is a consistent reminder that we are pilgrims on this earth. The music is well suited to the lyrics of the hymn.

35:15.

The syllables are falling on the correct downbeats. And that is very, very important. I think I mentioned it a while ago, the syllables not holding on the correct beats will make it very hard to sing. And sometimes this happens to translations, you know, in English the sound of the melody is perfect, but then once it translated, you know, the, somehow the beats are moved and shifted and it sometimes it's completely like sounds completely wrong and weirder.

35:51.

And so with the melody complimenting the text, it helps to convey its meaning and emotional depth. The simple yet effective melody allows for clear enunciation of the words, facilitating congregational singing and participation. And this is such an important thing in worship music. And so basically this hymn is so, so, so simple that it makes it a good springboard for teaching the congregation a new song that can be learned under an hour.

36:23.

For church musicians looking for new songs to introduce to the congregation, consider I’m A Pilgrim. For pastors contemplating on a topic for a sermon, consider emphasizing the message of being a pilgrim on earth and the kind of lifestyle that that it entails and choose this as a closing hymn. It's so easy that I teach it to my students all the time. Let me give you a sneak peek of one of my students in a lesson. This is lesson two of learning this hymn

36:54.

and he has listened to it several times. He can hum it by himself. So to me, as a teacher, that tells me he is already, he already knows how to play the song basically just by knowing the tune, because the tune is already ingrained in his brain, it’s easy for him to find it on the piano. He doesn't know how to read notes yet, a little bit, but uh, everything in this lesson is learned by ear and by rote.

37:24.

Okay, so let's review. I'm a pilgrim. Did you practice this? Good. Okay, so can you just play just the melody first, right hand alone left, um, right hand alone. Okay. I don't know, I can't hear your piano anymore. Sorry. Let's try.

38:32.

Very good. Do you remember how to play the left hand? Can you hum the melody while you're doing it so that you have a better idea of the chords?

38:56.

I know, but we're trying to just review it this way.

39:00.

Okay,

39:43.

Very good. Now try to break it apart. Mommy will still sing, but now you're gonna break your left hand apart. Okay.

39:51.

Ready? Go. Ready, tell me when.

40:40.

Good job. Okay, now can you play it? The, can you play the right hand with your left?

41:30.

Quit. Another case in point as we wrap up this episode on music of the hymn. The tune of the hymn is the idea of Contrafacta or the basic idea of using a preexisting melody and partnering it with a new text. Most popular example of this is when a secular song is used and baptized with a religious text. Now the practice of contrafacta particularly was utilized by Martin Luther and it has often been misunderstood, misused, or outright denied.

42:07.

And it has sparked debates both in favor of integrating secular styles in the church music and against such practices. It's so crucial to dispel these misconceptions in order to understand Luther’s application of contrafacta and to glean valuable insights for today's circumstances. Unfortunately, I don't want to cram in so many, uh, juicy stuff in one episode. So we're going to dedicate one episode for Contrafacta, but I just want to briefly mention that just to comprehend contrafacta, we must acknowledge

42:45.

its ancient fruits as a technique in both classical and folk music composition. This practice, dating back to antiquity involved creating something new from preexisting elements. The Latin term “componere” is the precursor to our word to compose. It encapsulates this notion of putting together. And so throughout the Middle Ages, contrafacta typically involve repurposing secular melodies for sacred purposes.

43:17.

Though not exclusively so many religious songs predating the reformation were trace back to secular origins and vice versa. And in numerous cases, the author or copyist of the new text, clearly indicated the borrowed melody intended for the song text. And why would they do this? Well, secular melodies were chosen for their melodic appeal and familiarity. Facilitating memorization and dissemination. Tunes were adopted to supplant immoral lyrics with virtuous ones serving as tools for moral instruction and edification.

44:01.

And also there was a shortage of suitable melodies for the growing body of reformation texts.

44:08.

Interestingly, the majority of songs based on secular truths were originally intended for settings beyond the church, such as the homes, the work places, the schools or public spaces. The reformers aimed to imbue every aspect of life with positive change, permeating daily activities with religious significance. And so basically contrafacta with this complex and newest practice that is employed by Martin Luther and other reformers to transform secular melodies into vehicles for conveying sacred messages and Luther's approach involved maintaining connections between old and new texts while adapting theological content and refining personic elements to suit the musical framework.

45:02.

And you will see that many hymn writers followed this example. I mean, we see Mary Schindler using Contrafacta in her hymn. A lot of our Adventist pioneers also did it. When we talk about Annie Smith or Uriah Smith in other episodes, we see them turning to the popular songs of the day and making it a vehicle for the messages that the Advent Church wanted to spread.

45:30.

And so in summary for today's episode, we have learned that the hymnal is a tool that we can use to deepen the congregation's understanding of God's word. And by taking advantage of the numerous indexes and information that the hymnal itself offers, we can put together an inviting, satisfying, and well-prepared song service in our churches. We also learned that this particular hymn, I’m A Pilgrim, was derived from a secular tune that was popular during the hymn writer's day.

46:02.

And that its musical structure, though simple and predictable, can be an important springboard for congregations including children to learn it right away. And finally, we explored the use of contrafacta, a practice that was specifically utilized by Martin Luther to help spread the gospel message faster in a day and age without phones, internet, and social media. While secular songs were used, it was used judiciously and with expertise, with the express intent to highlight God's word and not the music that was used.

46:45.

Father in heaven, we thank you for the gift of music you have given. You are the great musician and would just like to emulate and make music the way that would please You. Help us to use music to hasten Your soon return and to use it for Your glory and to use it even more to bring people closer to You. Father, there may be members of the church listening now wanting to make a real difference in their church through music and I’m praying for the music leaders and these churches especially, may these information help them as they navigate through musical decisions in their church and in their personal lives.

47:24.

And finally, Lord, may our music glorify You and may You sustain our faith so that we can always have the privilege to sing. Amen.

47:34.

This media is brought to you by Hymns for Worship, a website dedicated to help church members sing with spirit and understanding. If you want more resources on hymns, please go to www.hymnsforworship.org