This hymn about the work of the Holy Spirit has an unusual triple rhyming scheme, finishing its stanza with a five-word refrain: “Spirit, now live in me.” The author writes from his home in Santa Barbara, California: O Holy Dove’ was written in Fred Bock’s office [in Tarzana, California] when we were producing Hymns for the Family of God and was my attempt to write a hymn for Pentecost [a Christian festival on the seventh Sunday after Easter, commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles; also called Whitsunday]. The tune name, LOIS denotes that this hymn is dedicated to Fred’s wife, Lois Bock, herself a very talented woman with two books to her credit.”
Bryan Jeffery Leech was born May 14, 1931, in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, England, and educated in private schools in Yorkshire. After graduation from London Bible College in 1955, he attended Barrington College (Rhode Island) and North Park Seminary (Chicago), a denominational school for the Evangelical Covenant Church of America. An ordained minister for more than 30 years, he has served churches of that fellowship in Boston; Montclair, new Jersey; and San Francisco and Santa Barbara, California. In 1975 he left the parish ministry for a free-lance career and ministry as a writer, lyricist, composer, and broadcaster.
Leech has written more than 200 songs, hymns, and anthems. He is the author of two books, It Must Have Been McNutt, and Lift My Spirit, Lord, Augsburg, 1984, and has just completed a book for children, John Jeremy Colton. He is the author, composer, and book writer for full-length musical play, Ebenezer (his version of Dicken’s Christmas Carol); Resurrection (the story of Peter); A Tale of Two Brothers (the prodigal son parable in musical drama), and Bethlehem (a Christmas play that deals with the problem of unanswered prayer). With Fred Bock, he edited Hymns for the Family of God, and also produced the companion volume to that service book and hymnal. Previously Leech was one of the editors of The Covenant Hymnal 1973. He has some 50 published anthems to his credit. His radio program, Morning Song, is broadcast on station in Santa Barbara and Oxnard, California, as well as on shortwave from HCJB, Quito, Ecuador. He also does what he calls “Holy Ghostwriting” for the Haven of Rest broadcast. Many denominations call upon him to speak at worship, conferences, and seminars.
When asked for his philosophy of hymn writing, whether it be a song lyric or a piece of prose or a dramatic play, is that the first priority of the Christian writer is that of the authenticity and integrity in basing one’s material soundly on the Word of God. Having preached for more than 30 years, I now have a deep well from which to draw.
“Next to faith, one must remind oneself that writing is a craft. God seldom gives me a song directly. Usually He uses His gifts to me of writing skills and experience of grace and of life, and out of these He enables me to fashion something of worth. If something succeeds, it is because He enabled me to do it. If something fails, my limitation came into play. So many Christians seem to want to avoid learning the basic skills, and to avoid the agonizing struggle of writing and rewriting and writing again.
“Thirdly, learning to write takes time. I am almost 55 (will be next and I feel that all of my life goes into what I compose now. When someone asks me how long it took to create a certain song, I reply ’55 years and two weeks’ or whatever age I happened to be when the piece was completed. A Christian writer ought never to dry up or peter out, when he or she is in daily contact with Christ, the Living Word, and with the written Word. We can get better as we grow in in experience, and in this age of youth culture. That is delightfully opposite from the trend among so many worldly people.
“I write with people in mind, of course, but I write to please the Lord primarily. I want to feel that he takes delight in what I create that in my lyrics I express in verse truths from His word. His approval is what I seek.”
Leech’s other hymn in SDAH is No. 575, “Let Your Heart Be Broken.”
